Philip G. Epstein

Philip G. Epstein (August 22, 1909 – February 7, 1952) was an American screenwriter most known for his adaptation in partnership with his twin brother, Julius, and others, of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's which became the Academy Award-winning screenplay of the film Casablanca (1942).

Epstein was born in New York City and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father was a livery stable owner in the days when horses were still common on the streets of the city. He attended Pennsylvania State College (now Penn State University), gaining his degree in 1931.

Jack Warner, head of Warner Brothers, had a love-hate relationship with the Epstein brothers. He could not argue with their commercial success, but he deplored their pranks, their work habits and the hours they kept. In 1952, Warner gave the brothers' names to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). They never testified before the committee, but on a HUAC questionnaire, when asked if they ever were members of a "subversive organization," they wrote, "Yes. Warner Brothers."

Epstein died of cancer in Hollywood, California in 1952 at the age of 42.

His son Leslie Epstein directs the creative writing program at Boston University and is an accomplished novelist. His grandson Theo Epstein is president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs and prior to that was for 10 years the general manager of the Boston Red Sox. His granddaughter Anya Epstein is a screenwriter.

Filmography

Selected filmography as a screenwriter:

• Gift of Gab (1934)
• The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
• The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Mr. Skeffington (1944)
• Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
• The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

External links

• Philip G. Epstein at the Internet Movie Database
• Philip G. Epstein at the Internet Broadway Database
• Obituary for Julius Epstein
• Philip G. Epstein at Find a Grave