Fred Saidy (February 11, 1907 – May 14, 1982) was an American playwright and screenwriter.

Biography

Born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Saidy began his writing career in 1943 with the screenplay for the

Red Skelton Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program '' The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

'' I Dood It''. The following year, he scripted both the

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...

- Dick Powell feature film ''Meet the People'' and the book for the Harold Arlen- E. Y. Harburg musical ''

Bloomer Girl ''Bloomer Girl'' is a 1944 Broadway musical with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, and a book by Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy, based on an unpublished play by writer Daniel Lewis James and his wife Lilith.Suskin, 89 The plot concerns ...

''. It was the first of several collaborations with Harburg, which included '' Finian's Rainbow'' (1947), ''

Flahooley ''Flahooley'' is a musical with a book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Sammy Fain. Synopsis and background The allegorical tale is set in fictional Capsulanti, USA, site of the headquarters for B.G. Bigelow, Inc ...

'' (1951), ''

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

'' (1957), and ''

The Happiest Girl in the World ''The Happiest Girl in the World'' is a musical with a book by Fred Saidy and Henry Mayers, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, and music taken from the works of Jacques Offenbach. Based on the comedy ''Lysistrata'' by Aristophanes and tales of Greek mythol ...

'' (1961). He was nominated for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Musical for ''Jamaica''. Finian's Rainbow has had three major revivals (1955, 1960 and 1967), and was also made into a film starring

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

and

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in 1968. Saidy's last project was the screenplay for the film, for which he was nominated for the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

Award for Best Written American Musical. In 2004 the

Irish Repertory Theatre The Irish Repertory Theatre is an Off Broadway theatre founded in 1988. History The Irish Repertory Theatre was founded by Ciarán O'Reilly and Charlotte Moore, which opened its doors in September 1988,http://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations ...

staged a well-received Off-Broadway production. New York's City Center Encores! series performed a critically acclaimed concert version of the piece in March 2009. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, it starred

-winner Jim Norton and

Kate Baldwin Katherine Baldwin (born May 2, 1975) is an American singer and actress known for her work in musical theater. She received a Tony Award nomination for her work in the 2009 Broadway revival of ''Finian's Rainbow''. She also co-starred opposite Bet ...

as Finian and Sharon, with

Cheyenne Jackson Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings. After beginni ...

as Woody and Jeremy Bobb as Og, the leprechaun. A Broadway revival will begin on October 8, 2009, with opening scheduled for October 29 at the St. James Theatre with most of the Encores! cast. Newly added to the Broadway cast are Christopher Fitzgerald as Og and Chuck Cooper as Billboard; Jim Norton,

and

all reprise their roles Saidy collaborated with

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

and Will Glickman, among others, on ''Satins and Spurs'', an original

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

musical for

Betty Hutton Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 11, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. Early life and education Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 2 ...

, which was broadcast by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in September 1954.

Personal life

Saidy is the father of the international chess master Anthony Saidy.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saidy, Fred American male screenwriters Writers from Los Angeles 1907 births 1982 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American people of Lebanese descent Place of death missing American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from California 20th-century American screenwriters