Maxwell Anderson Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
James Maxwell Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, on December 15, 1888 to William Lincoln Anderson and Charlotte Perrimela (Stephenson) Anderson. The second child born to the couple, Anderson spent his formative years on his maternal grandmother's farm in Atlantic before the family moved to Andover, Ohio when he was three years old. His ...
I believe with [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe] that dramatic poetry is man's greatest achievement on earth so far, and I believe with the early [George Bernard Shaw] that the theatre is essentially a cathedral of the spirit, devoted to the exaltation of men and boasting an apostolic succession of inspired high poets which extends further into the past than the Christian line of St. Peter.
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If you practice an art, be proud of it and make it proud of you It may break your heart, but it will fill your heart before it breaks it; it will make you a person in your own right.
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Fact
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Maxwell Anderson (at age 61 in 1949) first considered a musical adaptation of "High Tor" for television in 1949. Mid-1954 Bill Paley (CBS) first approached Maxwell Anderson with the intent to produce the play for his newly planned anthology series "The Ford Star Jubilee". During production development, Maxwell Anderson (at age 66) and John Monks Jr. (at age 44; b.1910-2004, 94) adapted the play specifically as a made-for-television musical fantasy in early 1955, with music composed by Arthur Schwartz (at age 54) and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. Another factor to consider in the relationship and history between Bing Crosby (b.1904-1977, 77) and William S. Paley (b.1901-1990, 89) should be noted: In the mid 1930s, Bill Paley signed and contracted Bing Crosby (at age 32) to be a regular radio performer on his daily-and-weekly CBS radio network schedule. Bing Crosby (at age 51 in 1955) became the leading drive for the "High Tor" project which brought indirectly creative film talents at Paramount Studios where Crosby's Production office was situated. Because Crosby was uncomfortable with the exigencies of live television, performing 90 minutes non-stop in front of a television studio audience, he insisted that it be filmed. Bing Crosby did not want to use the CBS Hollywood Television City studio facility nor the New York Studio 72 stage. Situated adjacent to Paramount Studios is the former RKO-Pathé Film studio/stages. renamed Desilu Studios when husband and wife comedy team Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball acquired the studio to film their CBS television series "I Love Lucy." The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz television "filmed" production unit had pioneered a number of methods, still in use in television production - filming before a live studio audience with a number of cameras; this established the multiple camera filming procedure to produce, edit, and deliver their filmed show to the CBS network. Paramount Studios negotiated with the Desilu studio facilities to utilize the Desilu "I Love Lucy" production unit facility system, their feature-film production crew in staging, filming, editing and delivering the color film musical special to CBS. Network executives considered the use of film an unnecessary extravaganza. Bing Crosby convinced CBS to allow him to cover all additional costs with filming "High Tor". The total cost of the CBS production was $450,000.00, the most expensive television production up to that time, and the first special filmed for broadcast by CBS. Bing Crosby was reportedly paid $375,000.00. The production was filmed during the month of November 1955 on the Desilu Studios' lot-stages with 35mm cameras. Director of photographer Lester Shorr (at age 48,1907-1992, 85) experienced in filming filmed productions for network clients was part of the Hollywood Paramount-Desilu production package. Two Hollywood directors James Neilson (at age 46, 1909-1979, 70) and Franklin J. Schaffner (at age 35, 1920-1989, 69), both had television-film experience with network filmed productions, shared directorial reigns. Discovered in 1948 on stage at UCLA, Paramount signed Nancy Olson (b. 1929) to a studio contract. Nancy Olson as a relatively inexperienced starlet was given the role of a lifetime as script girl Betty Schaefer, who attracts never-do-well writer William Holden and irks reclusive diva Gloria Swanson in the towering classic "Sunset Blvd. (1950). Her pairing with Holden, in fact, went over so well, they were teamed in a succession of Paramount standard features. With these film credentials Nancy Olson (at age 26) was cast in the musical project. Nancy married to renowned lyricist Alan Jay Lerner knew that Julie Andrews (age 20; b. 1935) had been discovered by her husband lyricist Alan Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe having seen Andrews' Broadway debut in the British hit musical "The Boy Friend" (1954-1955, 485 performances). Julie Andrews had been signed to perform the Eliza Doolittle role in their Broadway bound musical "My Fair Lady". Bing Crosby (at age 52; b.1903-1977, 74) had also seen Julie Andrews in her Broadway debut in "The Boy Friend" and invited her to appear in his television-musical "High Tor". It was Andrews' first work in a Hollywood color film-production, and her American television debut. Hollywood film and Broadway stage performers Hans Corned (age 38; b.1917-1982, 65), Keenan Wynn (age 39; b.1916-1986-70), Everett Sloane (age 46; b. 1909-1965, 55), John Pickard (age 42; b. 1913-1993, 80), Lloyd Corrigan (age 54; b. 1900-1969, 69) completed the illustrious cast; James Neilson (age 46; 1919-1979, 70) was an established Hollywood film director. Arthur Schwartz, who had also produced films for Columbia Pictures, was a highly successful stage/film composer. The songs Arthur Scwartz composed in collaboration with Maxwell Anderson as lyricist for "High Tor" follow: "Living One Day at a Time"/"When You're in Love" - Bing Crosby; "Sad Is the Life of the Sailor's Wife - Julie Andrews; "When Yo
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"High Tor" is a 1936 play by Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959, 70). Twenty years after the original Broadway production, Maxwell Anderson adapted the stage play into a television musical play with stage and film composer Arthur Schwartz (1900-1984, 83), providing the score. Presented on CBS's "The Ford Star Jubilee" in a 90 minute "color film" television special, transmitted electronically as a broadcast presentation starring Bing Crosby. This 35mm-camera color Hollywood filmed production was the only television special NOT performed as a normally scheduled 90 minute-live-color electronic-broadcast-transmission in front of a live studio audience in a CBS video studio facility. The play "High Tor" is named for a summit overlooking the Tappan Zee portion of New York's Hudson River, near where Anderson lived in Rockland County. The story was inspired by the real life controversy over quarrying the palisades along the lower Hudson. The play also shares the plot element of a ghostly crew of Dutch sailors on the Hudson with Washington Irving's short story Rip Van Winkle. Anderson (at age 58) began writing the play in May 1936. The play "High Tor" was first presented on stage in Cleveland, Ohio, in December 1936. Maxwell Anderson's neighbor in Rockland County, actor Burgess Meredith and Peggy Ashcroft appeared in the stage play's lead roles. The Cleveland production moved to Broadway ten days later on January 9, performed through June, 1937, where it played 171 performances at the Martin Beck Theatre. Anderson won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the best American play of the 1936-1937 season. The award included this citation: 'In its decision the circle celebrates the advent of the first distinguished fantasy by an American in many years. Imaginative and as comic as it is poetic in both spirit and expression, High Tor is a singular accomplishment, giving rare grace to this theatrical season in New York'. In 1942, Anderson helped organize and served as the chairman of the Rockland County Committee To Save High Tor, which helped raise money to purchase the property in 1943 for the creation of a public park.
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Won the 1933 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "Both Your Houses".
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His oldest son Quentin (with wife Margaret; b. 1914 in Minnewauken, North Dakota; d. 2003) was a professor at Columbia Univiversity from 1939-1981. A noted literary critic and cultural historian, he was an expert on 19th-century American literature. Among his books are "The American Henry James" (1957), "The Imperial Self" (1971), and "Making Americans" (1992).
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His papers are housed in the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at the University of North Dakota's Chester Fritz Library in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
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One of the few 20th-century American playwrights to write many of his plays in blank verse ("Elizabeth the Queen", "Mary of Scotland", "Anne of the Thousand Days", etc.).
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Meet Joe Black
1998
earlier screenplay - inspiration
The Bad Seed
1985
TV Movie based upon the play by
Valley Forge
1975
TV Movie play
Lost in the Stars
1974
play
Teatro de siempre
1970
TV Series 1 episode
Anne of the Thousand Days
1969
play
Elizabeth the Queen
1968
TV Movie play "Elizabeth the Queen"
Barefoot in Athens
1966
TV Movie play
The Star Wagon
1966
TV Movie play
Playdate
1963
TV Series play - 1 episode
Vintersolhverv
1963
TV Movie based on play
Kötü tohum
1963
play "The Bad Seed"
Golden Showcase
1962
TV Series play "Saturday's Children" - 1 episode
Festival
1962
TV Series 1 episode
Play of the Week
1961
TV Series play - 1 episode
Ben-Hur
1959
contributing writer - uncredited
Winterset
1959
TV Movie play
Grande Teatro Tupi
1959
TV Series 1 episode
Vintersolhverv
1959
TV Movie play
Johanna aus Lothringen
1959
TV Movie play "Joan of Lorraine"
Never Steal Anything Small
1959
play "The Devil's Hornpipe"
Vertigo
1958
contributing writer - uncredited
ITV Play of the Week
1958
TV Series play - 1 episode
TV de Vanguarda
1957
TV Series 1 episode
Playhouse 90
1957
TV Series play - 1 episode
The Wrong Man
1956
screen play / story
The Alcoa Hour
1956
TV Series play - 1 episode
The Bad Seed
1956
play
Ford Star Jubilee
1956
TV Series writer - 1 episode
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
1955
TV Series play - 1 episode
Shower of Stars
TV Series adaptation - 1 episode, 1954 teleplay - 1 episode, 1954
Omnibus
1952
TV Series 1 episode
What Price Glory
1952
play
Celanese Theatre
1951-1952
TV Series play - 2 episodes
Pulitzer Prize Playhouse
TV Series play - 4 episodes, 1951 book - 1 episode, 1950
Lux Video Theatre
1950
TV Series play - 1 episode
The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
1950
TV Series play - 1 episode
Kraft Theatre
1950
TV Series play "Valley Forge" - 1 episode
Joan of Arc
1948
play "Joan of Lorraine" / screenplay
Key Largo
1948
based on the play by
A la sombra del puente
1948
play
The Masque of Kings
1946
TV Movie play
Winterset
1945
TV Movie play
The Eve of St. Mark
1944
based on a play by
Knickerbocker Holiday
1944
from the play by
Saturday's Children
1940
based on the play by: Pulitzer Prize
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
1939
from the stage play by
Winterset
1936
play
Mary of Scotland
1936
from the play by
So Red the Rose
1935
Maybe It's Love
1935
based on a play by
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
1935
contributing writer - uncredited
We Live Again
1934
screen adaptation
Death Takes a Holiday
1934
screenplay
Hot Pepper
1933
characters
Washington Merry-Go-Round
1932
story
Rain
1932
screen adaptation
The Guardsman
1931
excerpt from play "Elizabeth the Queen" - uncredited
Women of All Nations
1931
characters
One Romantic Night
1930
adaptation
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930
adaptation & dialogue
The Cock-Eyed World
1929
play "Tropical Twins"
Saturday's Children
1929
play
What Price Glory
1926
play
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Texasville
1990
writer: "September Song"
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
1988
Documentary lyrics: "September Song" From the musical play "Knickerbocker Holiday"
Radio Days
1987
lyrics: "September Song" 1944
One Magic Christmas
1985
lyrics: "Lost In The Stars"
Parade of Stars
1983
TV Movie lyrics: "September Song"
Saturday Night Live
1979
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
The 31st Annual Tony Awards
1977
TV Special lyrics: "September Song"
Sinatra and Friends
1977
TV Special lyrics: "September Song" - uncredited
Novela
1974
TV Series writer - 15 episodes
The Mike Douglas Show
1970
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Catch-22
1970
lyrics: "September Song" - uncredited
Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing
1968
TV Movie lyrics: "Lost in the Stars" - uncredited
Judy Garland in Concert
1964
Documentary lyrics: "Lost In the Stars"
The Ed Sullivan Show
1963
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
1961
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Route 66
1961
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
Pepe
1960
lyrics: "September Song"
Midnight Lace
1960
"What Does a Woman Do?"
Never Steal Anything Small
1959
lyrics: "Never Steal Anything Small", "I'm Sorry, I Want a Ferrari", "I Haven't Got a Thing to Wear", "It Takes Love to Make a Home", "Helping Our Friends"
Make Room for Daddy
1956-1958
TV Series lyrics - 2 episodes
The Edsel Show
1957
TV Special lyrics: "September Song" - uncredited
The Nat King Cole Show
1957
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
Ford Star Jubilee
1956
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
The Jimmy Durante Show
1955
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
The Jack Benny Program
1954
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Season's Greetings
1953
TV Movie lyrics: "September Song"
Tales of Tomorrow
1951
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
September Affair
1950
lyrics: "September Song"
The Swift Show
1949
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
I'll Close My Eyes
1947
Short lyrics: "September Song"
Knickerbocker Holiday
1944
lyrics: "September Song", "There's Nowhere to Go But Up", "It Never Was You", "The One Indispensable Man" - uncredited
American Horror Story
2014
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
Smash
2012
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
A Trip to Swadades
2008
lyrics: "September Song"
Bragging Rites: The Carolina-Clemson Rivalry
2003
Documentary lyrics: "September Song"
My House in Umbria
2003
TV Movie lyrics: "September Song"
Sinatra: The Classic Duets
2002
TV Movie documentary lyrics: "September Song" - uncredited