Robert E. Sherwood
Robert E. Sherwood (1896–1955) was an American playwright who was drama editor of Vanity FairVanity FairVanity Fair is a magazine and digital media brand owned by Condé Nast, covering politics, business, arts and culture, entertainment and fashion. The title traces back to Dress & Vanity Fair in 1913, ceased publication in 1936 and was relaunched in 1983; it has since built a historical digital archive and hosts events such as its Oscar party.Open the full entry in 1919–20 and later editor of the humor magazine Life; his plays include The Road to Rome, The Petrified Forest, Idiot’s Delight, Abe Lincoln in IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is a state of the United States that borders Lake Michigan and the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa; its capital is Springfield and its largest city is Chicago. It was admitted to the Union on December 3, 1818, as the 21st state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 12,812,508.Open the full entry and There Shall Be No Night. He wrote speeches for Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, the only president elected four times; he led the country through the Great Depression and World War II and greatly expanded the federal government’s role through the New Deal.Open the full entry, directed the overseas branch of the Office of War Information during World War II, and wrote the Academy Award–winning film The Best Years of Our Lives.
Contents6 sections
Key facts
1896Born in New Rochelle
Robert E. Sherwood was born in New Rochelle, New York, on April 4, 1896.[1]
1919–1928Vanity Fair and Life
He was drama editor of Vanity Fair in 1919–20 and, with his colleagues Dorothy ParkerDorothy ParkerDorothy Parker (1893–1967) was an American short-story writer, poet, screenwriter and critic known for her witty and often acerbic remarks, and one of the founders of the Algonquin Round Table. She joined Vogue in 1916 and became drama critic of Vanity Fair in 1917, leaving in 1920; her verse collection Enough Rope was a best-seller, her story “Big Blonde” won the 1929 O. Henry Award, and she co-wrote the film A Star Is Born (1937).Open the full entry and Robert BenchleyRobert BenchleyRobert Benchley (1889–1945) was an American humorist, actor and drama critic. A Harvard graduate, he was managing editor of Vanity Fair in 1919 and later drama critic for Life and The New Yorker, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table; he made more than 40 short films, including How to Sleep (1935), which won the Academy Award for best live-action short.Open the full entry, joined the Algonquin Round Table; he then served as associate editor (1920–24) and editor (1924–28) of the humor magazine Life.[1]
1927–1941Plays
His first play, The Road to Rome (1927), criticizes the pointlessness of war. The heroes of The Petrified Forest (1935) and Idiot’s Delight (1936) begin as detached cynics and end by sacrificing themselves for others, while the pacifist heroes of Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1939) and There Shall Be No Night (1941) decide to fight. In 1938 he formed the Playwrights’ Company with Maxwell Anderson, Sidney Howard, Elmer Rice and S. N. Behrman.[1]
1940–1946Roosevelt Administration and After
The Lincoln play led to his introduction to Eleanor RooseveltEleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) was first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 as the wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president, and later a United States delegate to the United Nations and chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.Open the full entry and to work as a speechwriter and adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was special assistant to the secretary of war (1940) and to the secretary of the navy (1945), and director of the overseas branch of the Office of War Information from 1941 to 1944; from this came Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History. He wrote the Academy Award–winning film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). He died in New York City on November 14, 1955.[1]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Vanity Fair: Official website: https://www.vanityfair.com/ (opens in a new window).[2]