Nathan Cohen

For the athlete see Nathan Cohen (rower)

Samuel Nathan Cohen known as Nathan Cohen (April 16, 1923 - March 26, 1971) was a Canadian theatre critic and broadcaster.

Cohen was considered the country's only serious drama critic during the decades following World War II, a period in which Canadian theatre became established.^[1]

Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia to an immigrant Jewish family, Cohen was educated at Mount Allison University, which he entered at the age of 16. He studied law at the University of Toronto but returned to Nova Scotia without graduating and edited the Glace Bay Gazette, a union newspaper for two years. He moved to Toronto in the 1940s and worked for the Canadian Tribune and Vochenblatt, a Yiddish communist weekly newspaper, writing political articles, book reviews and then theatre reviews.^[2] He came to the attention of Mavor Moore who recommended Cohen to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where, as a theatre critic,^[1] he hosted Across the Footlights, The Theatre Week and CJBC Views the Shows.^[2]

In the 1950s, he also published his own magazine, The Critic.^[2]

Cohen was known for his integrity as a critic and did not hesitate to give negative reviews, breaking with the common practice of criticism of the time which consisted mostly of uncritical praise.^[2] Cohen received national prominence as host of Fighting Words, a popular but intellectual panel show on CBC Television from 1953 to 1962.^[3] Cohen also worked for CBC Television in the 1950s as a script editor for the anthology series General Motors Presents and continued with CBC Radio conducting interviews on the show Audio.^[2]

Cohen began writing a theatre column for the Toronto Telegram in 1957 and was hired away by the Toronto Daily Star two years later, remaining there until his death.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Samuel Nathan Cohen". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001742. Retrieved September 4, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Gould, Allan. "Homage to Cohen: Nathan Cohen Remembered". allangould.com. http://www.allangould.com/magazines/profiles/nathancohen/magazines_profiles_nathancohen.html. Retrieved September 4, 2011. 
3. ^ "Fighting Words". CBC Digital Archives. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. http://archives.cbc.ca/programs/2314/. Retrieved September 4, 2011.