Dwight Taylor (writer)

Dwight Taylor
Born	Dwight Bixby Taylor January 1, 1902(1902-01-01) New York, USA
Died	December 31, 1986(1986-12-31) (aged 84)
Occupation	Playwright Screenwriter Author Journalist
Years active	1928-1967
Spouse	Natalie Visart
Children	Daughters: Audrey, Laurel Son: Andy
Parents	Mother: Laurette Taylor Father: Charles A. Taylor Stepfather: J. Hartley Manners

Dwight Taylor (born January 1, 1902, in New York, USA, died December 31, 1986, Woodland Hills, California) was an American author, playwright, and film and television screenwriter.^[1][2][3][4]

Background

Taylor was the son of playwright Charles A. Taylor and actress Laurette Taylor, and attended Lawrenceville School in Lawrence Township, New Jersey where he began drawing and painting and wrote a book of poetry.^[3]

After refusing an opportunity to work as a cub reporter for The New York World, he began his career as a journalist for The New Yorker magazine, serving as one of the first editors for their "Talk of the Town". He began screenwriting for Hollywood films in in 1930 and for television in 1953. His first produced play was Don't Tell George^[5] (1928). Other plays included such as Lipstick^[6] and Gay Divorce.

Taylor's first screenplay was Jailbreak. First National Pictures bought the project in 1929 while it was still in manuscsript form and had Alfred A. Cohn^[7] and Henry McCarty adapt it to become the 1930 film Numbered Men starring Conrad Nagel and Bernice Claire.

In 1934, Taylor adapted his play Gay Divorce for RKO Studios, which renamed it The Gay Divorcee and used it as the vehicle to debut the dance team of Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers.^[2]

He was a founding member, and had served one term as president, of the Writers Guild of America, West.^[1]

On December 31, 1986, one day short of his 84th birthday, Taylor died of a heart attack at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California where he had resided since 1981.^[1]

Filmography

Film

• Numbered Men (1930) (play "Jailbreak")^[7]
• Secrets of a Secretary (1931)
• Are You Listening? (1932)
• If I Were Free (1933)
• Today We Live (1933)
• Lady by Choice (1934)
• The Gay Divorcee (1934)
• Stingaree (1934)
• Long Lost Father (1934)
• Top Hat (1935)
• Paris in Spring (1935)
• Follow the Fleet (1936)
• Gangway (1937)
• Head Over Heels in Love (1937)
• The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939)
• When Tomorrow Comes (1939)
• Rhythm on the River (1940)
• I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
• Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1941)
• Nightmare (1942)
• Conflict (1945)
• The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
• We're Not Married! (1952)
• Something to Live For (1952)
• Pickup on South Street (1953)
• Vicki (1953)
• Special Delivery (1955)
• Boy on a Dolphin (1957)
• Interlude (1957)
• The Cape Town Affair (1967)

Television

• The Loretta Young Show (1 episode, 1953), "Trial Run"
• Schlitz Playhouse (1 episode, 1957), "The Girl in the Grass" (1957)
• The Thin Man (2 episodes, 1957), "Fatal Cliche", "Angels in Paradise"
• 77 Sunset Strip (1 episode, 1959), "A Check Will Do Nicely"
• Batman (1 episode, 1967), "Louie, the Lilac"

Theatre

• Don't Tell George (1928)^[5]
• Phyllis Feels Frlghtened (1928)^[8]
• Trevelyn's Ghost (1929)^[9]
• Lipstick (1929)^[6]
• Gay Divorce (1932)^[10]
• Paris in Spring (1935)^[11]
• Where Do We Go From Here? (1938)^[12]
• Out of this World (1950) (co-written with Cole Porter)^[4]
• Billie: a play in three acts (1960)^[13]

Bibliography

• Some Pierrots Come from Behind the Moon (1923) (Poetry)^[14][15]
• Joy Ride (1959) (novel)^[16][4]
• What Sank the Dreamboat^[17][18][4]
• Blood and Thunder (1962) (novel)^[4][1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Tim Page (January 6, 1987). "Dwight Taylor Dies; Playwright, Author, and Screenwriter". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/06/obituaries/dwight-taylor-dies-playwright-author-and-screenwriter.html. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Playwright Dwigfht Taylor DIes". API (Lewiston Journal). January 5, 1987. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9LwgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rmkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3414,244518&dq=dwight-taylor&hl=en. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Screenwriter Dwight Taylor; wrote top films for Astaire". UPI (The Vindicator). January 3, 1987. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O2hcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nlYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1361,569056&hl=en. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Dwight Taylor; Wrote Screenplays, Novels". Los Angeles Times. January 03, 1987. http://articles.latimes.com/1987-01-03/business/fi-2089_1_dwight-taylor. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Boston on the wire". The New York Times. July 22, 1928. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "lans of Brady and Wiman; "Lipstick," by Dwight Taylor, and Weigall Dramatization Added". The New York Times. July 31, 1929. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Louella O. Parsons (December 24, 1929). "Lillian Gish Lauds Ann Harding's Work". Rochester Evening Journal And The Post Express (Google News Archive). http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iHNYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xD0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=914,1801192&dq=dwight-taylor&hl=en. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
8. ^ "Jo Mielziner's design contract". New York Public Library. http://www.nypl.org/ead/4534. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
9. ^ "To Give Play in Vanderlip Theatre". The New York Times. April 14, 1929. 
10. ^ James Agate (1972). Immoment Toys. Ayer Publishing. pp. 8, 98. ISBN 0405081898. http://books.google.com/books?id=z7WddlVnfNUC&pg=PA98&lpg=PA98&dq=%22Dwight+Taylor%22,+%22Gay+Divorce%22&source=bl&ots=q9b_ppdVUq&sig=y8725AvsUVVGxapeqaEGjToJSro&hl=en&ei=oFW2TdmkF6PciAKQ2_Er&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Dwight%20Taylor%22%2C%20%22Gay%20Divorce%22&f=false. 
11. ^ F.S.N. (July 13, 1935). "Paris in Spring (1935)". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9904E2DA173CE33ABC4B52DFB166838E629EDE. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
12. ^ "Theatre: New Play in Manhattan". Time. November 28, 1938. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771220,00.html. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
13. ^ Dwight Taylor (in Bilie). Billie: a play in three acts. http://books.google.com/books?id=IRlhHQAACAAJ&dq=%22Dwight+Taylor%22,+%22Billie%22,+play&hl=en&ei=9la2TZLDHKrUiAKk44wx&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA. 
14. ^ Ernst Hofer (1924). The lariat. 3. pp. 149. 
15. ^ Bookfellows (1923). Flora Warren (Smith) Seymour. ed. The Step ladder, Volumes 7-8. The Bookfellows. pp. 114. http://books.google.com/books?id=M1PPAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Some+Pierrots+come+from+behind+the+moon%22&dq=%22Some+Pierrots+come+from+behind+the+moon%22&hl=en&ei=bFe2TcmgEs_PiAKj48E2&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg. 
16. ^ Dwight Taylor (1959). Joy Ride. Putnam. http://books.google.com/books?id=q-oiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Dwight+Taylor%22,+%22Joy+Ride%22&dq=%22Dwight+Taylor%22,+%22Joy+Ride%22&hl=en&ei=9li2TcrwLYPTiALQ39Ac&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA. 
17. ^ A. B. bookman's weekly. 79. AB Bookman Publications. 1987. pp. 297. http://books.google.com/books?id=mj3oAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Dwight+Taylor%22,+%22What+Sank+the+Dreamboat%22&dq=%22Dwight+Taylor%22,+%22What+Sank+the+Dreamboat%22&hl=en&ei=Xlm2Tb74CojniAKlvMU3&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA. 
18. ^ Jay Robert Nash (1987). The Motion Picture Guide 1987 Annual: The Films of 1986. The motion picture guide. Cinebooks. pp. 366. ISBN 0933997159. http://books.google.com/books?id=aYgqAAAAYAAJ&q=%22What+Sank+the+Dreamboat%22&dq=%22What+Sank+the+Dreamboat%22&hl=en&ei=ulm2TaPrLeTeiAKB7cwi&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ. 

External links

• Dwight Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• Dwight Taylor at Allmovie
• Dwight Taylor at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dwight Taylor at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

Persondata
Name	Taylor, Dwight
Alternative names	Dwight Bixby Taylor
Short description	Screenwriter Playwright Author
Date of birth	1 January, 1902
Place of birth	New York, USA
Date of death	December 31, 1986
Place of death	Woodland Hills, California, USA