George S. Kaufman

George S. Kaufman (Pittsburgh, 1889 - New York, 1961) was an American playwright, theatre director, humorist and newspaper critic. Between the two world wars he was one of the most successful comic writers on Broadway, and his work shaped American stage and screen comedy for decades.

The son of a Jewish hatband manufacturer, he went to public schools and began as a humour writer in New York and Washington. From 1917 to 1930 he was the drama critic of The New York Times. He made his Broadway debut in 1918 with Someone in the House, and from 1921 through 1958 every season had at least one play he had written or directed.

Kaufman usually worked in partnership, and producers hired him to rework other writers' scripts into hits. With Marc Connelly he wrote Merton of the Movies, a satire of Hollywood, and with Edna Ferber The Royal Family, a parody of the Barrymore clan. His style, built on irony and sharp, short lines, drew on the Algonquin Round Table, the group of writers who lunched at that New York hotel.

He also worked with the Marx Brothers and on political satirical musicals such as Of Thee I Sing, which won the Pulitzer Prize. He won the Pulitzer twice and the 1951 Tony for directing Guys and Dolls. He disliked his time in Hollywood, though he did write the screenplay for A Night at the Opera.

His legacy lies in fast, dry comedy that is still performed today. Most critics would say that only Neil Simon rivals him among the Broadway comic writers of his era.