Howard Dixon Richardson (December 2, 1917 – December 30, 1984) was an American playwright, best known for the 1945 play '' Dark of the Moon''. Born in

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Off ...

, Richardson graduated in 1938 from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

and then traveled through Europe (1938–39), returning to the University of North Carolina in 1940 for his M.A. From 1940 to 1942, he studied at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

, where he wrote the play ''Barbara Allen'' (published in 1942), aka ''Night Song'', inspired by the Scottish-English folk song, "The Ballad of Barbara Allen". He served with the Army in 1943.

Broadway

Richardson wrote ''Dark of the Moon'' with his cousin and frequent collaborator, William Berney. They were unsuccessful in an effort to get ''Dark of the Moon'' on Broadway until an article about a Boston production of ''Dark of the Moon'' in the September 11, 1944 issue of ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' attracted the attention of Broadway producers. With Richard Hart and Carol Stone heading the cast, ''Dark of the Moon'' opened on Broadway March 14, 1945 and ran for 318 performances. In addition to two off-Broadway revivals, it became a perennial play with numerous college and high school productions in the decades that followed. Richardson's other plays include ''Design for a Stained Glass Window,'' about religious persecution, and ''Protective Custody,'' which had a short-lived 1956 New York production starring

Faye Emerson Faye Margaret Emerson (July 8, 1917 – March 9, 1983) was an American film and stage actress and television interviewer who gained fame as a film actress in the 1940s before transitioning to television in the 1950s and hosting her own talk show ...

Television

Richardson also wrote for television, including ''Ark of Safety'' for the ''

Goodyear Television Playhouse ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the first Golden Age of Television. Sponsored by Goodyear, Goodyear alternated sponsorship with Philco, and the ''Philco Te ...

''. ''Dark of the Moon'' had three television productions—on the ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'', '' Cameo Theatre'' and '' Matinee Theater''. In 1960, Richardson completed his doctorate at the University of Iowa and returned to Manhattan, where he lived at 207 Columbus Avenue. He was a lecturer and resident artist at various colleges around the country. At age 67, he died at New York's Roosevelt Hospital in 1984.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Howard 1917 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights