- Samuel Hoffenstein
Samuel "Sam" Hoffenstein (
October 8 ,1890 -October 6 ,1947 ) was ascreenwriter and a musical composer. Born inRussia , he immigrated to theUnited States and began a career inNew York City as a newspaper writer and in the entertainment business. In 1931 he moved toLos Angeles where he lived for the rest of his life where he wrote the scripts for over thirty movies. These movies included "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1931), "The Miracle Man" (1932), "Phantom of the Opera" (1943), "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), "Tales of Manhattan " (1942), "Flesh and Fantasy " (1943), "Laura" (1944), andErnst Lubitsch 's "Cluny Brown " (1946).In addition, Hoffenstein, along with
Cole Porter andKenneth Webb , helped compose the musical score for "Gay Divorce " (1933), the stage musical that became the film "The Gay Divorcee " (1934).He died in
Los Angeles, California . A book of his verse, "Pencil in the Air", was published three days after his death to critical acclaim. Another book of his work was published in 1928, titled "Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing". The book contained some of his work that had been formerly published in the "New York World ", the "New York Tribune ", "Vanity Fair", the "D. A. C. News", and "Snappy Stories".External links
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