Morrie Ryskind (20 October 1895, New York City - 24 August 1985, Washington, D.C.) was an American dramatist, lyricist and director on theatrical productions and motion pictures.

Biography

Ryskind earned credits for script and lyric writing, and directing Broadway theatrical productions, and Hollywood motion pictures scripts from 1927 to 1945. He collaborated with George S. Kaufman on several Broadway hits. Ryskind wrote or co-wrote several Marx Brothers theatrical and motion picture screenplays including the script and lyrics for Broadway musical Animal Crackers (1929) and wrote the script for Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), and A Night at the Opera (1935). He earned a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the Broadway production Of Thee I Sing in 1933, and was twice nominated for an Academy Award for his part in writing My Man Godfrey (1936) and Stage Door (1937).

Ryskind attended Columbia University but did not graduate. He was suspended shortly before he was due to graduate after he calling university president Nicholas Murray Butler "Czar Nick" in the pages of the humor magazine Jester in 1917. Ryskind was criticizing Butler for refusing to allow Count Nikolai Tolstoy, nephew of Leo Tolstoy, to speak on campus.

His politics moved to the right as he aged. For many years a member of the Socialist Party of America, he left with the party's "old guard" faction led by Louis Waldman. In 1940 he opposed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's pursuit of a third term. Ryskind abandoned the Democratic Party, and wrote the campaign song for that year's Republican Party presidential nominee Wendell Willkie'. Later, he appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a friendly witness. Ryskind never sold another script after that appearance. However, most friendly witnesses before HUAC found work in Hollywood, and there is no evidence of an organized or published blacklist against friendly H.U.A.C. witnesses like the blacklist against people considered to sympathize with the Communist Party, such as the list published in Red Currents.

Ryskind went on to promote conservatism through a feature column in the Hearst newspaper, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He joined the John Birch Society briefly but disassociated himself from the group when they began to claim that Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower were part of the Soviet conspiracy. His son, Allan H. Ryskind, was the longtime editor of the conservative Washington weekly Human Events.

Stage productions

• Merry-Go-Round (1927) (with Howard Dietz to music by Henry Souvaine and Jay Gorney)
• Animal Crackers (1929) (with George S. Kaufman to music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
• Ned Wayburn's Gambols (1929) - revue - (lyricist with music by Walter G. Samuels)
• Strike up the Band (1930) (bookwriter with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin)
• The Gang's All Here (1931) (contributing bookwriter)
• Pardon My English (1933) (with Herbert Fields to music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin)
• Of Thee I Sing (1933) (with George S. Kaufman to music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin) - Pulitzer Prize of Drama
• Let 'Em Eat Cake (1934 sequel to "Of Thee I Sing") (with George S. Kaufman to music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin)
• Louisiana Purchase (1941) (bookwriter to music and lyrics by Irving Berlin)
• The Lady Comes Across (1942) (director)

Filmography

• The Cocoanuts (1929) (starring the Marx Brothers)
• Animal Crackers (1930) (starring the Marx Brothers)
• A Night at the Opera (1935) (starring the Marx Brothers)
• My Man Godfrey (1936) - Oscar nomination
• Stage Door (1937) - Oscar nomination
• Room Service (1938) (starring the Marx Brothers)
• Penny Serenade (1941)
• Where Do We Go From Here? (1945)

Bibliography

• George Kaufman et al., Kaufman & Co.: Broadway Comedies, Laurence Maslon, ed. (New York: The Library of America, 2004) ISBN 1-931082-67-7. Includes The Royal Family (1927, with Edna Ferber)
• Animal Crackers (1928, with Morrie Ryskind)
• June Moon (1929, with Ring Lardner)
• Once in a Lifetime (1930, with Moss Hart)
• Of Thee I Sing (1931, with Morrie Ryskind and Ira Gershwin)
• You Can't Take it With You (1936, with Moss Hart)
• Dinner at Eight (1932, with Edna Ferber)
• Stage Door (1936, with Edna Ferber)
• The Man Who Came To Dinner (1939, with Moss Hart).