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Marc Connelly, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, is best remembered as a leading wit of the Algonquin Round Table and for his collaborations with George S. Kaufman, including the 1947 play Merton of the Movies. His Broadway career spanned 65 years, beginning in 1915 with his first writing credit for contributing lyrics to the musical revue Hip! Hip! Hooray!, and continuing until his death in 1980. His final play, The Stitch in Time, began previews on December 29, 1980, but unfortunately never officially opened.
Born on December 13, 1890, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Connelly was the son of actors Patrick Joseph Connelly and Mabel Louise Cook, who also operated a hotel. He started writing plays at a young age and worked as a cub reporter for the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph before moving to New York City to pursue his career. In New York, he wrote the book for the 1916 musical-comedy The Amber Empress, which closed after 15 performances. He also provided lyrics for the 1918 musical The Maid of the Mountains, which lasted for 37 performances.
Connelly joined the Algonquin Round Table shortly after World War I ended. In 1921, he and fellow member Kaufman achieved success with their first collaboration, the comedy Dulcy, which ran for 241 performances. They followed with three productions in 1922: the comedy To the Ladies, the musical revue The '49ers, and the hit Merton of the Movies, which ran for 392 performances.
In 1923, they produced the moderately successful musical comedy Helen of Troy, New York, but their comedy The Deep Tangled Wildwood was a flop, closing after 16 performances. They rebounded in early 1924 with the hit comedy Beggar on Horseback, briefly revived in 1925, though their other 1924 work, the musical comedy Be Yourself, was unsuccessful.
After their partnership ended, Connelly had a modest hit in 1926 with his original comedy The Wisdom Tooth, which ran for 160 performances. His next play, The Wild Man of Borneo, co-written with Herman J. Mankiewicz, closed after 15 performances. However, The Green Pastures, an Old Testament-inspired musical, became his greatest success, running for 640 performances and earning him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Connelly did not return to Broadway until 1934 with The Farmer Takes a Wife, which ran for 104 performances. His 1937 comedy Having Wonderful Time was his final hit, lasting 372 performances. Although he wrote three more original plays between 1942 and 1948, none were successful. His last show, produced posthumously 32 years after his previous original, failed to open.
In addition to writing, Connelly also produced, directed, and acted on Broadway, and appeared in films and television. He co-directed the 1936 film adaptation of The Green Pastures and worked as a screenwriter, earning an Oscar nomination for Captains Courageous (1937) and an Emmy nomination for the 1951 Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of The Green Pastures.
Connelly’s memoir, Voices Offstage, was published in 1968. He passed away on December 21, 1980, eight days before The Stitch in Time began previews, which may have contributed to the play never officially opening.
