Max Wilk

Max Wilk (July 3, 1920 – February 19, 2011)^[1][2] was an American playwright, screenwriter and author of fiction and nonfiction book. Formerly a resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, he moved to Westport, Connecticut, where lived until his death February 19, 2011, at age 90. In all, Wilk was the author of 19 books, four films, three produced plays as well as many TV shows and magazine articles.^[3]

Biography

During World War II he served in the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces.

In the 1960s, he wrote the novelization of The Beatles' cartoon Yellow Submarine. His fiction includes Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River; the movie version starred Jerry Lewis and shifted the locale from "Green Haven" (based on Ridgefield) to London, England.^[4]

On the original bookjacket is the warning:

While the locale of this book is Connecticut, it has nothing of importance to say about Suburbia, Exurbia, the Exploding Metropolis, or the stifling wave of Middle Class Conformity which, it is augured, will soon engulf the whole of Fairfield County.^[4]

In the '90s, he published a coffee table book tracing the origins of the musical Oklahoma! Later he wrote Schmucks with Underwoods--Conversations with Hollywood's Classic Screenwriters.^[4]

For decades Mr. Wilk was a dramaturg for playwrights at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwright's Conference under the leadership of Lloyd Richards.

Books

• The Sound of Music: The Making of Rodger and Hammerstein's Classic Musical, Routledge (2006), ISBN 0-415-97934-X
• OK! The Story Of Oklahoma!: A Celebration of America's Most Beloved Musical, 292 pages, Applause Books; (2002) ISBN 1-55783-555-1
• Schmucks with Underwoods: Conversations with America's Classic Screenwriters,, 338 pages, Applause Books (2004), ISBN 1-55783-508-X
• The Golden Age of Television: Notes from the Survivors, 274 pages, Delacorte Press (1976) ISBN 0-440-02950-3(Paperback: Truck Press; 3rd edition, 1999, ISBN 0-916562-49-2)
• Overture and Finale: Rodgers & Hammerstein and the Creation of Their Two Greatest Hits (Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music) Paperback: 192 pages, Watson-Guptill Publications (April 1999) ISBN 0-8230-8820-0
• American Treasure Hunt: The Legacy of Israel Sack co-author, Harold Sack, 270 pages, Little Brown & Co (November 1986), ISBN 0-316-76593-7
• A Tough ACT to Follow, co-author, Jim Connor, 346 pages, Norton (January 1986) ISBN 0-393-02219-6(paperback, PaperJacks (1988) ISBN 0-7701-0736-2)
• And Did You Once See Sydney Plain?: A Random Memoir of S.J. Perelman, 83 pages, Norton (1986), ISBN 0-393-02343-5
• Get Out and Get Under, 317 pages, Norton (1981), ISBN 0-393-01425-8
• Represented by Audrey Wood: A Memoir, (co-writer with Audrey Wood) Doubleday: Garden City, NY (1981), ISBN 9780385152013
• The Moving Picture Boys, 287 pages, Norton (1978), ISBN 0-393-08814-6
• Every Day's a Matinee: Memoirs Scribbled on a Dressing Room Door, 288 pages, Norton (1975) ISBN 0-393-07491-9
• They're Playing Our Song: The Truth Behind the Words and Music of Three Generations 295 pages, Atheneum (1973), ISBN 0-689-10554-1
• Memory lane, 1890 to 1925: Ragtime, Jazz, Foxtrot and Other Popular Music and Music Covers, 88 pages, Studioart (1973), ISBN 0-902063-13-8
• The Wit and Wisdom of Hollywood: From the Squaw Man to the Hatchet Man, (compiler) Scribner (1971) ISBN 0-689-10370-0
• The Beard, a novel, Simon and Schuster, (1965) LCCN 65-23246
• Cloud Seven,: A Comedy, 84 pages, Dramatists Play Service, (1958) ASIN: B0007E1WQK (Note: NOT an ISBN)
• Yellow Submarine novelization (1960s)
• Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River

Plays

According to the "Internet Broadway DataBase":^[5]

• Mr. Williams and Miss Wood: A two-character play, 42 pages, Dramatists Playservice (1990), ASIN: B0006EYAJW (Note: NOT an ISBN). This tribute to Audrey Wood and Tennessee Williams received staged readings at the National Playwrights Conference of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and New Dramatists in 1989^[6]
• A Musical Jubilee (Musical, Revue) ran November 13, 1975-February 1, 1976
• Cloud 7 (Comedy) ran February 14, 1958-February 22, 1958
• Small Wonder (Musical, Revue) book by Wilk, ran September 15, 1948-January 8, 1949

Footnotes

1. ^ Obituary, WestportNOW.com, Feb. 21, 2011. [1]
2. ^ Obituary, Variety, Feb. 27, 2011.[2]
3. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118032949?refCatId=13
4. ^ ^{a b c} [3]"When Connecticut was Cool," by Christopher Arnott, article in the New Haven Advocate, July 29, 2004
5. ^ [4] "Max Wilk" Web page at "Internet Broadway DataBase" accessed August 13, 2006
6. ^ Source: Initial performance details from notes in the published script's front matter, page 3.

External links

• "When Connecticut was Cool," by Christopher Arnott, article in the New Haven Advocate, July 29, 2004
• "The Yale of My Day: New Haven On-Stage," article by Max Wilk '41, Yale Alumni Magazine, March 1997
• http://www.playbill.com/news/article/148002-Max-Wilk-Playwright-Showbiz-Journalist-and-ONeill-Center-Dramaturg-Dead-at-90

Persondata
Name	Wilk, Max
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 3, 1920
Place of birth
Date of death	February 19, 2011
Place of death