George S. Kaufman
1889 – 1961

For more information about George S. Kaufman or this website, contact:

Laurence Maslon

Interested in bringing George S. Kaufman’s timeless plays to your stage? Please contact us for licensing information.

Anne Kaufman is the daughter of George S. Kaufman and has been the executrix of his estate and works since 1961. A patroness of the arts and a fixture on the New York theatrical scene, Anne has helped shepherd many of her father’s (and his collaborators) play’s to major theatrical revivals.

Anne, along with her friend and colleague Kitty Carlisle Hart, was instrumental in moving Ellis Rabb’s 1965 APA-Phoenix production of You Can’t Take It With You from the University of Michigan to Broadway in 1965, where the acclaimed production ushered in a new-found appreciation for the work of George S. Kaufman.

Other major revivals on which Anne advised include The Royal Family (Broadway, 1975 and 2010), Once in a Lifetime (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1979), Dinner at Eight (Lincoln Center Theater, 2002) and The Man Who Came to Dinner (Roundabout Theater, 2000).

In addition, she has given talks and lectures about her father’s plays at the National Theatre and Barbican Theater (London), the McCarter Theater, Arena Stage, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and many colleges and organizations. She resides in Manhattan.

Interview with Anne and Kitty Carlisle Hart

Credit: Theater Talk Archive YouTube Channel.

Laurence Maslon is an arts professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, as well as associate chair of the Graduate Acting Program, with an affiliation in the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. He is the host and producer of the weekly radio series, Broadway to Main Street, broadcast on the NPR-affiliate station WPPB-FM.

He is the author of the companion book to the recent PBS documentary series, Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle and cowrote the series with producer/director Michael Kantor. Also with Kantor, he cowrote the PBS series Make ‘Em Laugh and two episodes of the Emmy-winning Broadway: The American Musical as well as the companion volume (updated edition published by Applause in paperback) and the liner notes for the five-disc box set for the series, released by Sony/Decca.

Among his other books are Some Like It Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion (HarperCollins) and The South Pacific Companion and The Sound of Music Companion (Simon and Schuster). Maslon wrote the acclaimed American Masters/Thirteen documentary Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds and is the editor of Kaufman & Co., the Library of America edition of George S. Kaufman’s plays.

He served on the nominating committee for the Tony Awards from 2007 to 2010. He is currently editing the two-volume set American Musicals (1927-1969) containing sixteen classic Broadway librettos, to be published by the Library of America in June 2014.