Norman Krasna
Oxford Companion to American Theatre:
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Norman Krasna
Krasna, Norman (1909–84), playwright. Born in Corona, New York, he studied at Columbia and at St. John's Law School before becoming a dramatic critic for the World and then the Evening Graphic. After seeing two of his plays on Broadway, Louder, Please (1931) and Small Miracle (1934), Krasna went to Hollywood, returning for The Man with Blond Hair (1941) before finally finding success with the wartime comedy Dear Ruth (1944). Thereafter all of Krasna's best work was of a similar order: John Loves Mary (1947), Time for Elizabeth (1948), Kind Sir (1953), Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? (1958), Sunday in New York (1961), and Love in E Flat (1967). His final Broadway entry was the short‐lived melodrama We Interrupt This Program (1975).
AMG AllMovie Guide:
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Norman Krasna
Biography
Producer, writer, director and bon vivant Norman Krasna was educated at NYU, Columbia and the Brooklyn Law School. He worked as a film and theatre critic in New York before heading to Hollywood to join Warner Bros.' publicity department. Developing a talent for turning out funny material in a minimum amount of time, Krasna became a valuable man to have around for producers of such economical comedy films as Wheeler and Woolsey's So This Is Africa (1933) and Miriam Hopkins' The Richest Girl in the World (1934). He proved equally adept at drama, turning out the original stories for director Fritz Lang's powerful anti-lynching tract Fury (1936) and Lang's Brechtian You and Me (1938).As busy on Broadway as he was in Hollywood, Krasna penned several popular stage plays, many of which (Dear Ruth, Kind Sir, Who Was That Lady?) were later committed to film. Krasna turned director for four films -- Princess O'Rourke (1943), The Big Hangover (1950) and The Ambassador's Daughter (1956) -- and served as producer for many more. A longtime friend of comedian Groucho Marx, Krasna collaborated with Groucho on the screenplay of the 1937 film comedy The King and the Chorus Girl and the later stage play Time for Elizabeth. Norman Krasna won a "Best Original Screenplay" Academy Award for Princess O'Rourke, and earned nominations for The Richest Girl in the World, Fury and The Devil and Miss Jones (1941). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Norman Krasna
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Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Norman Krasna
| Norman Krasna | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 7, 1909 Queens, New York, USA |
| Died | November 1, 1984 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Years active | 1932–1964 |
| Spouse | Ruth Frazee (1940–1950) Erle Chennault Galbraith (1951–1984) |
Norman Krasna (November 7, 1909 – November 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, and film director. He is best known for penning screwball comedies, melodrama, and early films noir. Krasna also directed three films during a forty-year career in Hollywood. He garnered four Academy Award screenwriting nominations, winning once for 1943's Princess O'Rourke, a film he also directed. Later in his career, he also wrote plays, including Time for Elizabeth (1948) cowritten with Groucho Marx, and the popular Kind Sir which he adapted into the movie Indiscreet (1958). He married Al Jolson's widow Erle in 1951,[1] and they remained married until Krasna's death.
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Contents
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Selected filmography
- Bombshell (1933, screenplay)
- Meet the Baron (1933, co-author of screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz)
- The Richest Girl in the World (1934, screenplay and story)
- Hands Across the Table (1935, screenplay)
- Four Hours to Kill! (1935, screenplay)
- Wife vs. Secretary (1936, screenplay)
- Fury (1936, story)
- The King and the Chorus Girl (1937, co-writer with Groucho Marx)
- Bachelor Mother (1939, screenplay)
- The Flame of New Orleans (1941, screenplay)
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941, screenplay)
- The Devil and Miss Jones (1941, screenplay and producer)
- Princess O'Rourke (1943, screenplay and director)
- Bride by Mistake (1944, original story, remake of The Richest Girl in the World)
- The Big Hangover (1950, screenplay, director, and producer)
- Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
- The Blue Veil (1951, producer)
- Clash by Night (1952, producer)
- The Lusty Men (1952, producer)
- White Christmas (1954, screenplay)
- The Ambassador's Daughter (1956, screenplay, director, and producer)
- Indiscreet (1958, screenplay and play)
- Let's Make Love (1960, screenplay)
- My Geisha (1962, screenplay)
- Sunday in New York (1963, screenplay and play)
Theatre Credits
- Louder, Please (1932)
- Small Miracle (1935)
- The Man with Blond Hair (1941)
- Dear Ruth (1945)
- John Loves Mary (1947)
- Time for Elizabeth (1949) - written with Groucho Marx
- Kind Sir (1954)
- Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? (1958)
- Sunday in New York (1962)
- Love in E-Flat (1967)
- Watch the Birdie! (1969)
- Bunny (1970)
- We Interrupt This Program (1975)
Academy Awards
Won
- Best Original Screenplay (Princess O'Rourke, 1943)
Nominated
- Best Original Story (The Richest Girl in the World, 1934)
- Best Original Story (Fury, 1936)
- Best Original Screenplay (The Devil and Miss Jones, 1941)
References
- ^ "Jolson's Widow Elopes With Producer". The News and Courier. 8 December 1951. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=taY1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=0BMLAAAAIBAJ&pg=4347,1883348&dq=al+jolson&hl=en. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
External links
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Oxford Companion to American Theatre
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Mentioned in
The Flag
(1989 Film)
The Ambassador's Daughter
(1956 Comedy Film)
The Richest Girl in the World
(1934 Comedy Film)
John Loves Mary
(American Theater)
The Devil and Miss Jones
(1941 Comedy Film)
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