Samson Raphaelson
Samson Raphaelson (March 30, 1894 – July 16, 1983) was an American screenwriter and playwright.
| Samson Raphaelson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Samson Raphaelson March 30, 1894 New York City, United States |
| Died | July 16, 1983 (aged 89) New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Playwright, Novelist, Screen Writer, Reporter |
| Years active | 1925–65 |
Born in New York City, Raphaelson worked on nine films with Ernst Lubitsch, including Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Shop Around the Corner (1939), Heaven Can Wait (1943), and That Lady in Ermine (1948). He also collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941). He is the author of the short story Day of Atonement, which he adapted into a play entitled The Jazz Singer in 1925. The play was later made into the film The Jazz Singer (1927), starring Al Jolson, and produced by Warner Brothers in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process as the first talkie with dialogue. Samson Raphaelson was reportedly Lubitsch's favorite screenwriter.
Samson Raphaelson considered Suspicion to be "in many ways my best screenplay." Raphaelson also co-wrote Lubitsch's only sound-era drama Broken Lullaby (The Man I Killed, 1932). Though praised by playwright Robert E. Sherwood as "the best talking picture that has yet been seen and heard," the film was a box office flop. Aside from his more popular work, Raphaelson also wrote the college fight song for the University of Illinois in 1921. Titled, "Fight, Illini!: The Stadium Song" the music was composed by Rose J. Oltusky.
In 1977 the Writers Guild of America Awards granted him the "Laurel" for lifetime achievement. He taught playwriting at Columbia University until the last years of his life. His wife Dorshka (Dorothy Wegman) (1904–2005) was the author of the novel Morning Song (1948) and, until her death in 2005, was the second oldest surviving Ziegfeld Follies dancer. His nephew is filmmaker Bob Rafelson, and his grandson is photographer Paul Raphaelson.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| 1931 | The Smiling Lieutenant | |
| 1932 | Broken Lullaby | |
| 1932 | One Hour With You | |
| 1932 | Trouble In Paradise | |
| 1934 | The Merry Widow | |
| 1935 | Ladies Love Danger | |
| 1937 | The Last of Mrs. Cheyney | |
| 1940 | The Shop Around the Corner | |
| 1941 | Suspicion | |
| 1943 | Heaven Can Wait | |
| 1946 | The Harvey Girls | |
| 1947 | Green Dolphin Street | |
| 1948 | That Lady in Ermine |
[edit] Recent
In April 2009, a production of Raphaelson's play Accent on Youth (1935) opened on Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman (formerly Biltmore) Theatre. Cast included David Hyde Pierce, Rosie Benton, and was directed by Tony Award winner Daniel J. Sullivan.
