Welcome

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