Editing Moss Hart (section)

==Career==
[[File:Kaufman-Hart-1937.jpg|thumb|left|[[George S. Kaufman]] and Moss Hart in 1937]]
After working several years as a director of amateur theatrical groups and an entertainment director at summer resorts, he scored his first Broadway hit with ''[[Once in a Lifetime (play)|Once in a Lifetime]]'' (1930), a farce about the arrival of the sound era in Hollywood. The play was written in collaboration with Broadway veteran [[George S. Kaufman]], who regularly wrote with others, notably [[Marc Connelly]] and [[Edna Ferber]]. (Kaufman also performed in the play's original Broadway cast in the role of a frustrated playwright hired by Hollywood) and produced by [[Sam H. Harris|Sam Harris]]. Hart's agent at this time was [[Frieda Fishbein]], who brought a lawsuit against Hart, contending she was entitled to a percentage of the royalties from plays produced by Harris. The matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 10, 1981 |work=The New York Times |title=Frieda Fishbein, Book Agent |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1981/09/10/issue.html |location= New York |page=D23 |access-date=March 26, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |date=2002 |last=Bach |first=Steven  |title=Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart |publisher=Da Capo |location=Cambridge, Mass. |page=78 |isbn=0306811359}}</ref>

During the next decade, Kaufman and Hart teamed on a string of successes, including ''[[You Can't Take It with You (play)|You Can't Take It with You]]'' (1936) and ''[[The Man Who Came to Dinner]]'' (1939). Though Kaufman had hits with others, Hart is generally conceded to be his most important collaborator.

''You Can't Take It With You'', the story of an eccentric family and how they live during the [[Great Depression|Depression]], won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for drama. It is Hart's most-revived play. When director [[Frank Capra]] and writer [[Robert Riskin]] adapted it for the screen in 1938, the film won the Best Picture Oscar and Capra won for Best Director.

''The Man Who Came To Dinner'' is about the caustic Sheridan Whiteside who, after injuring himself slipping on ice, must stay in a [[Midwest]]ern family's house. The character was based on Kaufman and Hart's friend, critic [[Alexander Woollcott]]. Other characters in the play are based on [[Noël Coward]], [[Harpo Marx]] and [[Gertrude Lawrence]].

Throughout the 1930s, Hart worked both with and without Kaufman on several musicals and revues, including ''[[Face the Music (musical)|Face the Music]]'' (1932); ''[[As Thousands Cheer]]'' (1933), with songs by [[Irving Berlin]]; ''[[Jubilee (musical)]]'' (1935), with songs by [[Cole Porter]]; and ''[[I'd Rather Be Right]]'' (1937), with songs by [[Richard Rodgers]] and [[Lorenz Hart]]. (Lorenz Hart and Moss Hart were not related.) 
After ''[[George Washington Slept Here]]'' (1940), Kaufman and Hart called it quits. Hart continued to write plays after parting with Kaufman, such as ''Christopher Blake'' (1946) and ''Light Up the Sky'' (1948), as well as the book for the musical ''[[Lady In The Dark]]'' (1941), with songs by [[Kurt Weill]] and [[Ira Gershwin]]. However, he became best known during this period as a director. Among the Broadway hits he staged were ''[[Junior Miss]]'' (1941), ''[[Dear Ruth]]'' (1944) and ''[[Anniversary Waltz (play)|Anniversary Waltz]]'' (1954).  By far his biggest hit was the musical ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' (1956), adapted from [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'', with book and lyrics by [[Alan Jay Lerner]] and music by [[Frederick Loewe]]. The show ran over six years and won a Tony Award for Best Musical. Hart picked up the Tony for Best Director.<ref>{{cite news |title=Internet Broadway Database|work=IBDB|author= IBDB.com|access-date=October 5, 2020| url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/my-fair-lady-2407}}</ref>

[[File:Moss Hart Arlene Francis Answer Yes or No 1950.JPG|thumb|Hart was the host of an early television game show, ''Answer Yes or No'', in 1950. [[Arlene Francis]] was one of the panelists.]]

In 1950 Hart was host of the game show ''[[Answer Yes or No]]'' on NBC television.<ref name="brooks">{{cite book|last1=Brooks|first1=Tim|last2=Marsh|first2=Earle|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present|date=1999|publisher=The Ballentine Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=0-345-42923-0|page=50|edition=7th}}</ref>

Hart also wrote some screenplays, including ''[[Gentleman's Agreement]]'' (1947) (for which he received an Oscar nomination), ''[[Hans Christian Andersen (film)|Hans Christian Andersen]]'' (1952) and ''[[A Star Is Born (1954 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (1954). His memoir ''[[Act One (book)|Act One: An Autobiography]]'' (1950) was [[Act One (film)|adapted for film]] in 1963, with [[George Hamilton (actor)|George Hamilton]] portraying Hart. 

The last show Hart directed was the [[Lerner and Loewe]] musical ''[[Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]'' (1960). During a troubled out-of-town tryout, Hart had a heart attack. The show opened before he fully recovered, but he and Lerner reworked it after the opening. That, along with huge pre-sales and a cast performance on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'', helped ensure the expensive production was a hit. {{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}