HomeGarson Kanin Estate2022-09-06T12:22:39+00:00

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Garson Kanin

Welcome to the Official Website of the Garson Kanin. Playwright Garson Kanin was a 20th Century Renaissance Man: a musician, burlesque comedian, actor, stage and film director, writer, and raconteur. He wrote plays, essays, screenplays, short stories, novels, memoirs, songs, and a libretto, and directed plays, musicals, documentaries and films.

Full Biography

Garson Kanin E-Books Now Available!

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One Hell of an Actor

By Garson Kanin

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Remembering Mr. Maugham

By Garson Kanin

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Hollywood

By Garson Kanin

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Tracy and Hepburn

By Garson Kanin

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A Thousand Summers

By Garson Kanin

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Smash

By Garson Kanin

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Moviola

By Garson Kanin

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–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

I suppose most of existence is purely accidental. We design a plan, but in the end—a chance meeting, an odd happening—a twist of circumstance determines the course of life.

–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

We’re not here to pass moral judgments on one another. Just see that you behave well, and leave the others to their own devices.

–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

All’s fair in love and war and musicals

–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

Humor means coming to terms with the nonsense and inequities and chaos and craziness of everyday life.

–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980

-Garson Kanin (interview, 1977)

I’m a tomorrow kid, and I don’t like looking back.

-Garson Kanin (interview, 1977)

-Garson Kanin (interview, 1977)

Memory is an inexact science, and your memory will play tricks on you sometimes.

-Garson Kanin (interview, 1977)

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

Each decade of one’s life, indeed each year, has its own colors and qualities, its strengths and weaknesses.

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

One of bureaucracy’s cruelest frauds is the cynical and hypocritical kick-under-the-carpet of problems by establishing special committees, subcommittees, research groups, and task forces — then publicizing them highly. The public at large is led to believe that the formation of a committee equals the solution of the problem.

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

The full moblization of a nation’s labor force is essential to its power and well-being.

The full moblization of a nation’s labor force is essential to its power and
well-being.

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

An enlightened society understands that education should be a continuing, never-ending process.

An enlightened society understands that education should be a continuing, never-ending process.

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

Life is not, or should not be, a spectator sport. It must be lived, not observed.

Life is not, or should not be, a spectator sport. It must be lived, not observed.

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

By and large, every successful enterprise is the result of one individual’s imagination, enterprise, and perseverance.

By and large, every successful enterprise is the result of one individual’s imagination, enterprise, and perseverance.

-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978

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Garson Kanin

Garson Kanin

The Official Page of the Garson Kanin Estate. www.garsonkanin.com

Garson Kanin

1 month ago

❤️❤️❤️Garson Kanin has worked as an actor on stage and as a director on Broadway and in Hollywood, but his best-known work is as a writer. During the Great Depression, he dropped out of high school to help support his family by working as a musician and later as a comedian. He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts from 1932 to 1933. He briefly worked as an actor on Broadway following his studies but then worked as an assistant to the Broadway director George Abbot. In 1937, he joined Samuel Goldwyn’s staff but left after a year because he had not been given any directing assignments. He was signed by RKO and there directed such films as "The Great Man Votes" (1939) and "Tom, Dick and Harry" (1941), but he soon became frustrated by the lack of control he had over his films under the studio system. When he was drafted during World War II, he made documentary films for the War Information and Emergency Manpower offices. One of them, co-directed by Carol Reed, "The True Glory" (1945), won an Academy Award for Best Documentary.During the war years, Kanin began writing stories and plays as well. After the war, he directed his play "Born Yesterday" on Broadway, which he later adapted for the screen.It is inevitable that the writer be subservient to the director. In the early days of Hollywood, films were made by a small team that included only a director and a man with a camera. As filmmaking became more complex and sophisticated, people were hired to write scripts, but never were they considered other than hired talent. It was not unusual to hear directors refer to a screenwriter as ‘my writer.’ This tradition exists to this day. I know of no writer who as a writer has gotten into the driver’s seat during the shooting of a film although many fine writers have subsequently gone into directing."Kanin and his wife, Ruth Gordon (below), collaborated on four screenplays, including "Adam’s Rib" (1949) and "Pat and Mike" (1952). They stopped working on scripts together for the sake of their marriage after 1952, but in 1979 they co-wrote one more, the TV film "Hardhat and Legs." Kanin and Gordon were never under contract by any studio as writers. They wrote the scripts on their own and sold them to interested Hollywood studios.Kanin wrote a book about his friendship with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn ("Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir"). Hepburn saw this as a deep betrayal, and didn’t speak with Kanin for many years. (IMDb)Happy Birthday, Garson Kanin!
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Garson Kanin

1 month ago

Harold And Maude – I should like to change into a sunflower Scene
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Harold And Maude – I should like to change into a sunflower Scene

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reincarnation/Demolition/Recycle/Circle of life scenes

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Garson Kanin

1 month ago

Ruth and her pal, Elsa Lanchester, in a radio broadcast from 83 years ago tomorrow, August 31st:www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/drama/columbia-workshop/columbia-workshop-41-08-31-017-mary-and-the…
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Columbia Workshop 017 Mary And The Fairy | Columbia Workshop | Drama | Old Time Radio Downloads

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Garson Kanin
shared a memory.

1 month ago

The anniversary of Ruth Gordon’s passing.
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Garson Kanin

1 month ago

💜💜💜“She’s a lovely dame, and I use that term with respect. I like dames—they’re regal and tough and real. I never believed that a play of mine had opened or happened until I saw her lovely black hair and alabaster face at my dressing-room door. At that point it was official! Her generosity is remarkable. Do you remember Olive Deering? That poor actress who was Alfred Ryder’s sister? Well, Olive fell on hard times and pretty much took up residence on them, and she never had any money. I gave her money; everybody gave her money. Well, I went to see Marian in something and when we walked out of the stage door, there was Olive, looking pathetic and wan, and Marian reached into her purse and handed her an envelope, with Olive’s name written in that tiny handwriting of hers. I asked about it at dinner. ‘Oh, darling,’ Marian said. ‘I’m so lucky to be working and being paid well, and Olive needs it.’ Olive Deering came to that stage door every week on payday and got her envelope. For years! That took my breath away. And Olive Deering was not the only one.”—Kim Hunter on Marian SeldesHappy Birthday, Marian Seldes.
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