Once in a Lifetime

Kaufman, was born in Pittsburgh, attended law school for two years, failed as a business person, and became a humorist for Franklin P. Adams's column before joining the New York Times, whose drama editor he became in the 1920s. Kaufman was sole author of one long play and two one-act plays, including the popular The Butter and Egg Man (1926), but he collaborated on more than 25 plays, most importantly with Moss Hart, but also with Marc Connelly, Edna Ferber, and others, including Ring Lardner and John P. Marquand. These plays range from the hilarious madness of Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1928), two Marx Brothers shows that Kaufman worked on, to the comic pathos of Stage Door (1936) (with Edna Ferber). Commenting on why he did not write true satire, Kaufman said, "Satire is what closes Saturday night." Kaufman, Morris Ryskind, and Ira Gershwin won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for Of Thee I Sing (1932) and Kaufman and Hart for You Can't Take It with You (1937).

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