Editing George Cukor (section)

===Early stage career===
[[File:Bette davis bad sister.jpg|thumb|upright|Bette Davis, aged 23]]
Cukor obtained a job as an assistant stage manager and bit player with a touring production of ''[[The Better 'Ole]]'', a popular British musical based on [[Old Bill (cartoon character)|Old Bill]], a cartoon character created by [[Bruce Bairnsfather]].<ref>McGilligan, p. 21.</ref> In 1920, he became the stage manager for the Knickerbocker Players, a troupe that shuttled between Syracuse, New York and Rochester, New York, and the following year he was hired as general manager of the newly formed Lyceum Players, an upstate [[summer stock]] company. In 1925, he formed the C.F. and Z. Production Company with Walter Folmer and John Zwicki, which gave him his first opportunity to direct.<ref>Levy, pp. 33–34.</ref><ref>McGilligan, pp. 34–35.</ref> Following their first season, he made his Broadway directorial debut with ''Antonia'' by Hungarian playwright [[Melchior Lengyel]], then returned to Rochester, where C.F. and Z. evolved into the Cukor-Kondolf Stock Company, a troupe that included [[Louis Calhern]], [[Ilka Chase]], [[Phyllis Povah]], [[Frank Morgan]], [[Reginald Owen]], [[Elizabeth Patterson (actress)|Elizabeth Patterson]] and [[Douglass Montgomery]], all of whom worked with Cukor in later years in Hollywood.<ref>McGilligan, pp. 36–41.</ref> Lasting only one season with the company was [[Bette Davis]]. Cukor later recalled: "Her talent was apparent, but she did buck at direction. She had her own ideas, and though she only did bits and ingenue roles, she didn't hesitate to express them." For the next several decades, Davis claimed she was fired, and although Cukor never understood why she placed so much importance on an incident he considered so minor, he never worked with her again.<ref>Levy, pp. 36–37.</ref>

For the next few years, Cukor alternated between Rochester in the summer months and Broadway in the winter. His direction of a 1926 stage adaptation of ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' by [[Owen Davis]] brought him to the attention of the New York critics. Writing in the ''[[Brooklyn Eagle]]'', drama critic Arthur Pollock called it "an unusual piece of work by a director not nearly so well known as he should be."<ref>McGilligan, p. 53.</ref> Cukor directed six more Broadway productions, then departed for Hollywood in 1929.