HART, Moss.

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Once in a Lifetime. The author's version, predating his collaboration with George S. Kaufman, and an insight into the creative process for the satirical comedy about the coming of the talkies. The text is significantly different from the published version. The Broadway production, co-written and directed by Kaufman, opened in 1930, and a film adaptation was released in 1932.The play was the first Broadway hit for Moss Hart (1904-1961), the director, playwright, and librettist. Hart would later receive a Tony Award for his direction of Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady and would also work on their Camelot. He was widely acknowledged for his direction of Julie Andrews during My Fair Lady. Andrews is reported to have said "I credit Moss with the rest of my theatrical life because he made it all possible. He showed me. He cajoled, he bullied, he pleaded, he encouraged, he did everything and was the kindest, clearest human being" (Durang).When he first wrote Once in a Lifetime, Hart was represented by the agent Frieda Fishbein (1886-1981). This copy has wrappers printed with her name and address. The title page also carries her ink stamp. It was the producer Sam Harris who then arranged for Kaufman to work with Moss on rewrites. Moss's original is here structured as a prologue, Act 1 (two scenes), Act 2 (one scene), and Act 3 (four scenes). The version published by Farrar & Rinehart in 1930 comprises Act 1 (three scenes), Act 2 (one scene) and Act 3 (three scenes). Fishbein would br

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