Guy Bolton

For more information on Guy Reginald Bolton, visit Britannica.com.

Bolton, Guy [Reginald] (1884–1979), playwright. Born in England to American parents, he studied architecture, which he practiced briefly before turning to playwriting. Although Bolton is best remembered as the librettist of innumerable successful musicals, he also has several important straight comedies among his credits. With P. G. Wodehouse, he scripted Oh, Boy! (1917), Leave It to Jane (1917), Oh, Lady! Lady!! (1918), Oh, Kay! (1926), and Anything Goes. Bolton's other frequent collaborator was writer Fred Thompson, with whom he wrote Lady, Be Good! (1924), Tip‐Toes (1925), Rio Rita (1927), The Five O'Clock Girl (1927), and Follow the Girls (1944). His other works include Hit‐the‐Trail Holliday (1915), written with George Middleton and George M. Cohan; Very Good Eddie (1915), with Philip Bartholomae; Polly with a Past (1917), with Middleton; Adam and Eva (1919), with Middleton; Sally (1920); Polly Preferred (1923); The Ramblers (1926), with Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby; Simple Simon (1930), with Ed Wynn; and Girl Crazy (1930), with Jack McGowan (1934). Bolton's last Broadway show was Anya (1965), a musical version of his previously successful adaptation from the French, Anastasia (1954). His main claim to fame may well be the literate, witty, and cohesive librettos he created for the Princess Theatre shows between 1915 and 1918. Far advanced for their time, in combination with Wodehouse's brilliant lyrics and Kern's superior melodies, they helped move an adolescent genre to maturity. Autobiography: Bring on the Girls! The Improbable Story of Our Life in Musical Comedy, with Wodehouse, 1953.

(1884-1979)

1915	Nobody Home. Its realism makes this comedy about courtship complications, with music by Jerome Kern (1885-1945), one of the pioneer works in the development of the American musical. It is also the first of what would become known as the Princess Theatre musicals, a reference to the intimate Broadway theater where groundbreaking musical dramas were staged. It is followed by the season's smash hit, another Bolton and Kern collaboration, Very Good Eddie, about mismatched couples on a Hudson River cruise. Bolton was a prolific librettist and author of stage comedies whose last Broadway production, Anya, would appear in 1965.
1920	Sally. This musical comedy, with music by Jerome Kern, concerns an orphan and a dishwasher who achieves success as a performer in the Ziegfeld Follies. One of the most popular productions of the decade, it features the songs "Look for the Silver Lining," "Whip-Poor-Will," and "Wild Rose."
1924	Lady, Be Good! The first collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin to reach Broadway features a jazzy, realistic score, a characteristic of musical comedy, which is becoming distinct from operetta. It features standards such as "Fascinating Rhythm" and "Oh, Lady, Be Good!"
1930	Girl Crazy. The Gershwins supply the score for this popular musical about a New York operator who flees to an Arizona dude ranch. It features the star-making debut of Ethel Merman and classic songs such as "Embraceable You" and "I Got Rhythm."

• Born: Nov 23, 1885 in Wilmington, Delaware
• Died: Sep 05, 1979 in London, England, UK
• Occupation: Writer
• Active: '20s-'40s
• Major Genres: Comedy, Musical
• Career Highlights: The Love Parade, Rosalie, Easter Parade
• First Major Screen Credit: The Cave Girl (1921)

Biography

American writer Guy Bolton (often misidentified as an Englishman) was born to a prosperous Delaware family. He began his career as an architect, studying architecture in Europe. Turning to playwrighting in the World War I years, Bolton became, along with such notables as Jerome Kern and P.G. Wodehouse, a mainstay of New York City's Princess Theatre, home to "intimate" musicals and revues. Bolton was among the first Broadway librettists to "integrate" his plots with the songs in his musicals, allowing the songs to advance the story--though the songs (by the likes of Kern, Gershwin and Cole Porter) were usually far more compelling than those stories. He would later recall his early musical comedy years in his breezy autobiography Bring on the Girls. Launching his screenwriting career in 1925 (many of his plays and novels had previously been adapted for the screen by others), Bolton was an on-and-off visitor to Hollywood throughout the 1920s and 1930s, though his heart remained on the New York stage. His biggest success in the 1950s was his stage play Anastasia, which was later filmed with Ingrid Bergman in the lead. After many years' absence from films, Guy Bolton returned to screenwriting with the ill-fated Franco-Austrian co-production Adorable Julia (62). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anastasia Buy this Movie	Easter Parade Buy this Movie	Words and Music Buy this Movie	Till the Clouds Roll By Buy this Movie
Ziegfeld Follies Buy this Movie	Weekend at the Waldorf Buy this Movie	Girl Crazy Buy this Movie	Rosalie Buy this Movie

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