Winchell Smith
| Winchell Smith | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
5 April 1871 Hartford, Connecticut, USA |
| Died | 10 June 1933 (aged 62) Farmington, Connecticut, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Known for | Brewster's Millions and Lightnin' |
Winchell Smith (5 April 1871 – 10 June 1933) was an American playwright, known for smash hits such as Brewster's Millions (1906) and Lightnin' (1918). Many of his plays were made into movies. He spent freely but left a large fortune at his death,
Winchell Smith was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on 5 April 1871. He graduated from Hartford Public High School. He began his career in the theater company of William Gillette, his uncle. He became an assistant property man when he was eighteen, and then stage director. Three years later he played his first small role in The Prodigal Daughter.
After twelve years as an actor, in 1906 Smith began a career as a dramatist with a play based on the novel Brewster's Millions. Smith was an assistant to Frederick Thompson, owner of the New York Hippodrome, who had a stage version of Brewster's Millions in rehearsal. Thompson was advised by the successful dramatists George Howells Broadhurst, Augustus Thomas and William Gillette that the play would fail, and the novel could not be dramatized. Smith disagreed, saying it "would make a swell play". He was given the job of rewriting the play, which he did with the help of Byron Ongley. The experts disliked the new version too, but Thompson was persuaded to stage it anyway, and it proved highly successful.
Smith often collaborated with other playwrights. In his career of over twenty years he wrote one original play, but adapted or "doctored" numerous hits. In 1913 Smith and Victor Mapes staged a revised version of The Henrietta, Bronson Howard's 1887 success. The New Henrietta starred William Henry Crane and Douglas Fairbanks. Smith wrote or co-wrote The Fortune Hunter (1909–10), The Boomerang (1915–16), Turn to the Right (1916–17) and Lightnin' (1918-20), all of which were great successes on Broadway. Smith became associated with the producer John Golden. Smith's Turn to the Right, produced by Golden and first staged in August 1916, launched Golden's career.
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