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American Theater Guide:

George [Francis] Abbott

Abbott, George [Francis] (1887–1995), director, playwright, and producer. Born in Forestville, New York, he studied with Professor George Pierce Baker in the famous 47 Workshop. Some of his early plays were mounted by the Harvard Dramatic Club by theatres in Boston, and in 1913 he made his acting debut in New York in The Misleading Lady, continuing to perform until the mid‐1920s. Thereafter his onstage appearances were rare, although in 1955 he played Mr. Antrobus in an important revival of The Skin of Our Teeth. Apart from helping to rewrite Lightnin' in 1918, he did not resume serious playwriting until 1925 when he collaborated with James Gleason on The Fall Guy and with Winchell Smith on A Holy Terror. Abbott scored a huge hit with Broadway (1926), which he wrote with Philip Dunning and which he also staged. His lean, taut direction, followed by his forceful staging in the same season of another hit, Chicago, established him as a master of swift‐paced melodrama. That reputation was consolidated when he collaborated on and directed two more popular pieces, Four Walls (1927), written with Dana Burnett, and Coquette (1927), with Ann Preston Bridgers. Turning to farce, he triumphed with his staging of Twentieth Century (1932), Three Men on a Horse (1935), which he wrote with John Cecil Holm, Boy Meets Girl (1935), Brother Rat (1936), Room Service (1937), and What a Life (1938). Meanwhile he also turned his talents to directing, and sometimes writing, musical comedy, at first working often with Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. He staged, among others, Jumbo (1935), On Your Toes (1936), The Boys from Syracuse (1938), Too Many Girls (1939), Pal Joey (1940), On the Town (1944), High Button Shoes (1947), Where's Charley? (1948), Call Me Madam (1950), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951), Wonderful Town (1953), The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), Fiorello! (1959), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962). Between 1932 and 1954, he produced many of the shows he wrote or directed. He was librettist and director of the failed musical Music Is (1976), then at the age of ninety‐five co‐produced and staged yet another revival of On Your Toes in 1983. In 1987 he directed a revival of Broadway, but the mounting was a quick failure. Abbott's last hurrah was a successful Broadway revival of his Damn Yankees in 1995 in which he nominally served as artistic consultant. Exceptional in his ability to keep his shows moving, while never seeming heavy‐handed or forced, Abbott was a strict, somewhat formal disciplinarian. Lehman Engel wrote of him, “He always wore a necktie and never removed his jacket at rehearsal. What he said was positive and absolute.” Autobiography: Mister Abbott, 1963.

 
 
Writer:

George Abbott

  • Born: Jun 25, 1887 in Forestville, New York
  • Died: Jan 31, 1995 in New York City, New York
  • Occupation: Writer, Director
  • Active: '20s-'50s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Musical
  • Career Highlights: All Quiet on the Western Front, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees
  • First Major Screen Credit: Love 'em and Leave 'em (1927)

Biography

Born in rural New York, George Abbott was 11 when he moved with his family to Wyoming. Despite a fairly wild and wooly upbringing, Abbott had little trouble adapting to the bookish atmosphere of Harvard. Having developed an interest in drama while an undergraduate at Rochester University, Abbott studied playwriting with Harvard's George Pierce Baker, who taught the aspiring writer to dispense with such excess baggage as motivation and subtext and to get down to "the practical matter of how to make a show." And that, for the next 80 years, is what Abbott did best: He made shows, thousands of them, as an actor, writer, and director. He made his acting bow in 1913's The Misleading Lady, the first of several Broadway appearances, including the leading role in the 1924 Pulitzer Prize-winner Hell Bent for Heaven. Abbott began dabbling in playwriting during this period, scoring his first success as co-author (with James Gleason) of 1925's The Fall Guy; he would not return to acting until a 1955 revival of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. To list all the plays on which Abbott worked, in his various aforementioned capacities, would take about a week, but a sampling would include Broadway, Coquette, Three Men on a Horse, Pal Joey, Wonderful Town, Where's Charley?, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Never Too Late; in 1959, he was director and co-author of the Pulitzer-winning musical Fiorello. The hallmarks of Abbott's stage work included rapid-fire pacing, economy, and willingness to give up-and-comers the best possible breaks; among those whose careers were boosted by Abbott were Van Johnson, Betty Field, Carol Burnett, Edie Adams, Desi Arnaz, Phyllis Thaxter, Gwen Verdon, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Jerome Robbins, and Leonard Bernstein. A benevolent despot as a director (he was called "Mr. Abbott" by one and all), Abbott was ruthless in making the sort of instant decisions that would benefit a production. When one well-known actress threatened to walk out of a show if she wasn't given a supporting player's show-stopping song, Abbott replied, "Pack!" His film career began with his direction of Why Bring That Up? (1929), a bizarre early talkie starring the blackface comedy team of Moran and Mack (some sourcebooks place his entree into movies as early as 1918, but it's likely that this was a different George Abbott). In 1930, Abbott collaborated on the screenplay of the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front; around the same time, he directed remakes of two Cecil B. De Mille silents, Manslaughter (1930) and The Cheat (1931). Never truly comfortable in Hollywood (as the uncertain pacing of his films will attest), Abbott returned to the stage full-time in 1932. Thereafter, he directed only three more films, each of them adaptations of his previous Broadway hits: Too Many Girls (1940) (the picture on which Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz met), The Pajama Game (1954), and Damn Yankees (1958), the latter two films co-directed by Stanley Donen. Outside of these, Abbott was well represented in Hollywood by film versions of most of his stage successes. In 1963, the 76-year-old Abbott celebrated his 50th year in show business by writing his autobiography, Mister Abbott; three years later, New York's Adelphi Theatre was renamed the George Abbott Theatre. Still in harness well past the century mark, George Abbott began curtailing his directorial activities only a few months before his death at the age of 106. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: George Francis Abbott

(born June 25, 1887, Forestville, N.Y., U.S. — died Jan. 31, 1995, Miami Beach, Fla.) U.S. theatre director, producer, and playwright. In 1913 he began acting on Broadway, and he soon turned to writing and directing plays, achieving his first of many hits with The Fall Guy (1925). He also wrote, directed, or produced many popular musicals, including The Boys from Syracuse (1938), Pal Joey (1940), Where's Charley (1948), Wonderful Town (1953), and Damn Yankees (1955). He was active in the theatre into the 1980s, directing a revival of On Your Toes at age 95.

For more information on George Francis Abbott, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Abbott, George,
1887–1995, American theatrical producer, director, and playwright, b. Forestville, N.Y. He began (1913) in the theater as an actor and, during a career that spanned eight decades, was celebrated as a coauthor, director, or producer of more than 100 Broadway plays, including The Fall Guy (1925), his first authorial credit; Broadway (1926), his first smash hit; and the popular farce Three Men on a Horse (1935, revival 1969). He produced several musicals by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, notably On Your Toes (1936, revival 1954, 1983) and The Boys from Syracuse (1938). His later successes include Call Me Madame (1950), Wonderful Town (1953), The Pajama Game (1954, film 1957, revival 1973), Damn Yankees (1955, film 1958, revival 1994), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, film 1966). From 1948 to 1962 Abbott won 40 Tony awards. Fiorello! (1959), a musical he coauthored with Jerome Weidman, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1960. He won a Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1982.

Bibliography

See his autobiography, Mister Abbott (1963).

 
Dictionary: Abbott, George
1887–1995.

American theatrical producer and playwright who cowrote and directed many productions, including Fiorello!, which won a 1959 Pulitzer Prize.


 
Works: Works by George Abbott

1954Pajama Game. Based on Richard Bissell's novel 7 1/2 Cents (1953), the musical is set during a threatened strike at a pajama factory. It presents the Broadway choreography debut of Bob Fosse (1927-1987) and his signature number, "Steam Heat," and features the songs of songwriting team Richard Adler (b. 1921) and Jerry Ross (1926-1955). It wins the Tony Award for best musical and would be filmed in 1957.
1955Damn Yankees. Based on Douglas Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant (1954), this clever musical concerns a frustrated Washington Senators fan who sells his soul to the devil to become a star player and lead his team in trouncing the hated Yankees. It is the second and last Broadway success for the songwriting team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, the composers of Pajama Game (1954).

 
Wikipedia: George Abbott
This article is about the Broadway showman. For others named George Abbott or George Abbot, see George Abbot.

George Francis Abbott (June 25 1887 - January 31, 1995) was a theatre producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than seven decades.

Abbott was born in Forestville, New York, near the town of Salamanca, which twice elected his father mayor. In 1898 his family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he attended Kearney Military Academy. Within a few years his family returned to New York, and he graduated from Hamburg High School in 1907. Four years later he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rochester, where he wrote his first play, Perfectly Harmless, for the University Dramatic Club.

Abbott then went to Harvard University where he studied playwriting under George Pierce Baker. Under his tutelage he wrote The Head of the Family, which was performed at the Harvard Dramatic Club in 1912. He then worked for a year as assistant stage manager at the Bijou Theatre in Boston where his play The Man in the Manhole won a contest.

Abbott first appeared as an actor on Broadway in The Misleading Lady in 1913. While acting in several plays in New York City he began to write, with his first successful play being The Fall Guy (1925). He worked in Hollywood as a writer and director while continuing with his theatre work. Among those who crossed paths with Abbott early in their careers are Desi Arnaz, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne, Bob Fosse, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Liza Minnelli.

Abbott acquired a reputation as an astute "show doctor." He frequently was called upon to supervise changes when a show was having difficulties in tryouts or previews prior to its Broadway opening.

Abbott married his first wife Ednah Levis in 1914. They had a daughter Judith, who became an actress and married actor Tom Ewell in 1946. Ednah died in 1930 and Abbott married Mary Sinclair in April 1946; they divorced in 1951. On November 21, 1983, five months past his 96th birthday, he married Joy Valderrama.

In 1965, the 54th Street Theatre was rechristened the George Abbott Theater in his honor. The building was demolished in 1970.

Abbott died of a stroke in Miami Beach, four months and three weeks short of his 108th birthday. The New York Times obituary read, "Mrs. Abbott said that a week and a half before his death he was dictating revisions to the second act of Pajama Game with a revival in mind. Last year, at a mere 106 years old, he walked down the aisle on opening night of the Damn Yankees revival and received a standing ovation. He was heard saying to his companion, "There must be somebody important here."

Abbott is one of the most admired men in the history of Broadway and has been inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Selected theatre credits

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

  • 1987 Special Tony Award on the occasion of his 100th birthday
  • 1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (On Your Toes, winner)
  • 1982 Kennedy Center Honors
  • 1976 Special Tony Award (Lawrence Langer Award)
  • 1968 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (How Now, Dow Jones, nominee)
  • 1963 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, winner)
  • 1963 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (Never Too Late, nominee)
  • 1960 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (Fiorello!, winner)
  • 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical (Fiorello!, winner)
  • 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Fiorello!, winner)
  • 1959 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Damn Yankees, nominee)
  • 1958 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical (Damn Yankees, nominee)
  • 1958 Tony Award for Best Musical (New Girl in Town, nominee)
  • 1958 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical (The Pajama Game, nominee)
  • 1956 Tony Award for Best Musical (Damn Yankees, winner)
  • 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical (The Pajama Game, winner)
  • 1930 Academy Award for Best Achievement in Writing (All Quiet on the Western Front, nominee)

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

Did you mean: George Abbott (American dramatist), George Abbott (surgeon)

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Copyrights:

American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Writer. Copyright © 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Works. The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "George Abbott".  Read more

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