S.N. Behrman(1893-1973)

The playwright, screenwriter, essayist, raconteur and consummate wit Samuel Nathaniel Behrman became known as Broadway's pre-eminent author of sophisticated high comedy. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of a devout Jewish grocer, he grew up in fairly impoverished circumstances. He attended Clark College from 1912 but was suspended two years later for refusing to participate in compulsory physical education classes. Undeterred, Behrman enrolled at Harvard, studied drama at "47 Workshop" and English under Professor Charles Townsend Copeland, eventually publishing and selling (for $15) his first story "La Vie Parisienne". Having earned his bachelor's degree he moved to New York to further hone his writing skills. With the financial backing of his older brothers he was able to complete his M.A. at Columbia University in 1918. He then took on a position with The Times where he was put in charge of the Book Review 'queries and answers' section. Bored, he left this job and for the next few years "lived from hand to typewriter" near Times Square, turning out short stories and magazine articles.

Behrman was on the verge of accepting a teaching position at the University of Minnesota in 1926 when he was persuaded by a friend to write his first play, "The Second Man". Initially rejected by the Theatre Guild's script reader, this three-act comedy was brought to the attention of producer Lawrence Langner who recognised its potential. Starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, it did indeed become an instant success on Broadway and was equally lauded in London with Noël Coward in the lead role as the second-rate novelist Clark Storey. Many English theatre-goers at the time became convinced that Coward himself had written the piece under the pseudonym 'S.N. Behrman'. After "The Second Man" came other hits, including "Brief Moment " (1931), "Biography" (1932) and "End of Summer" (1936). The latter -- a satire on inherited wealth -- firmly established Behrman as a master of ironic, cosmopolitan drawing room comedy. His plays were invariably populated by larger-than-life characters, possessed of mordant wit and intellect and enacted by top stars of the stage. They also usually tended to be rather well-heeled. As the actor Hiram Sherman once pointed out: "even his bums are affluent" (NY Times, Sept.10, 1973).

Inevitably, Behrman was invited by Hollywood to adapt some of his own work for the screen (specifically, Brief Moment (1933) and Le pirate (1948)). His talent for dialogue was also gainfully employed via contributions to such literary classics as La reine Christine (1933), Le chevalier de Londres (1934), Anna Karénine (1935) and Le marquis de Saint-Evremond (1935). First signed with Fox (1930-33), Behrman spent the majority of his time at MGM (1933-37 and 1939-41) where he became Greta Garbo's favourite screenwriter. His last noteworthy effort for the studio was the script for the epic Quo Vadis (1951), co-written with John Lee Mahin and his frequent collaborator Sonya Levien.

Behrman published his first novel "The Burning Glass" in 1968. However, his interests now veered increasingly towards biographical work. He wrote several profiles of famous personalities for The New Yorker, including one of his late friend George Gershwin. Two biographies (one of the influential British antiques dealer Sir Joseph Duveen and another of the caricaturist and dandy Sir Max Beerbohm) were compiled in book form, respectively in 1952 and 1960. Behrman died in New York in September 1973 at the age of eighty.