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Moss Hart's American Dream
- Abstract
In America, no narrative, whether real or fictional, is more characteristic and compelling than the tale of the poor boy from nowhere who, solely by dint of his own efforts, becomes rich and famous. From Ben Franklin to Rocky Balboa, such stories embody the rags-to-riches vision of worldly success that has come to be known as the American Dream. Yet American artists have grown conspicuously uncomfortable in recent years about portraying the American Dream as anything other than a snare and a delusion, and they are still less likely to look to their own lives for proof that it is both real and desirable. Hence it is both surprising and revealing that the best-loved of all theatrical memoirs—and indeed, one of the best American memoirs of the 20th century—should be a book by a man who not only lived the dream but also believed devoutly in its essential truth.
The critical reputation of Moss Hart, who died in 1961, has long been in eclipse. In his lifetime, though, he was one of America’s best-known and most successful playwrights and screenwriters. In addition to a string of hit stage comedies written in collaboration with George S. Kaufman, he wrote the screenplays for Elia Kazan’s Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) and George Cukor’s musical remake of A Star Is Born (1954). But none of the plays that he wrote alone was more than modestly popular, and by the time of his death in 1961, he was mainly active as a musical-comedy director.1 Today he is remembered almost entirely for his work with Kaufman, and only two of their eight shows, the Pulitzer-winning You Can’t Take It with You (1936) and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939), remain in the American repertory.
About the Author
Terry Teachout, our chief cul-ture critic, wrote about David Mamet in the last issue. He is at work on a biography of Duke Ellington.
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