Tad Mosel (May 1, 1922 – August 24, 2008) was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long

teleplay A teleplay is a screenplay or script used in the production of a scripted television program or series. In general usage, the term is most commonly seen in reference to a standalone production, such as a television film, a television play, or a ...

genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

for his play '' All the Way Home''.

Biography

Early years

Mosel was born George Ault Mosel, Jr. in Steubenville, Ohio, to George Ault Mosel, Sr. and Margaret Norman. Raised as a Presbyterian, he was eight years old when his father's wholesale grocery business failed following the stock market crash, and the family moved to the suburbs of New York City. In 1931, George, Sr. launched a successful New York advertising company. Remembering his youth in Larchmont, New York, and New Rochelle, New York, Mosel stated: :My brother and I were given a sense of security. My brother is four years older than I am. We had a good, wonderful home. I had a marvelous mother and father... I adored my mother and father. They were both wonderful parents. Mosel's interest in theater began in 1936 when he saw

Katharine Cornell Katharine Cornell (February 16, 1893June 9, 1974) was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York. Dubbed "The First Lady of the Theatre" by critic A ...

on Broadway in

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's '' Saint Joan''. He went for one year to the Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts, graduating from New Rochelle High School. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mosel dropped out of Amherst College to enlist in the Army. During World War II, he was a Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force Weather Service (1943–46) as a weather observer, including one year in the South Pacific. In the post-WWII years he finished at Amherst and did graduate studies at the Yale Drama School (BA), followed by a Master's at Columbia University. He was writing plays while auditioning as an actor, and in 1949 he was on Broadway in the scene-stealing, non-speaking role of a confused private in the farce ''At War with the Army''.

Career

His first teleplay was performed on ''Chevrolet Tele-Theater'' in 1949. During the early 1950s, he became a leading scriptwriter for live television dramas, contributing six teleplays to ''

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 ...

'' (in 1953-1954), two to ''Medallion Theatre'' (1953–1954) and four to ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of th ...

'' (1957–1959). He also wrote for ''

The Philco Television Playhouse ''The Philco Television Playhouse'' is an American television anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golde ...

'' (1954), '' Producers' Showcase'' and '' Studio One''. After

Eileen Heckart Anna Eileen Heckart ( Herbert; March 29, 1919 – December 31, 2001) was an American stage and screen actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years. Early life Heckart was born Anna Eileen Herbert in Columbus, Ohio. The daughter of Esther (), ...

appeared in ''The Haven'' (on ''Philco Television Playhouse''), his 1953 play about a troubled marriage, Mosel and Heckart became friends, and he wrote several scripts especially for her, including the 1953 ''Other People's Houses'' (on ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'') about a housekeeper caring for her senile father. In 1997, Mosel recalled: :

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, JP Miller and all of the group of writers that I knew, we grew up at the same time, and our eyes were on the theater. That was the Emerald City. That was the goal. Now, television came on after World War II, and television was a pauper. It had no money. No "self-respecting writer" would deign to write for television. Even drunken screenwriters wouldn't write for television. So who was there left? It was us. It was kids who would work for 65 cents. And so with a very patronizing attitude you thought, "Well, if I could make a few bucks doing that, it would give me time to write the great American play." It didn't take too much experience to realize that television was a medium all in itself, and that it was a career all in itself, and it was a thrilling one. But we stumbled into it by being snobs if I may say so. They would give anyone a chance. I look back on it, and I think, "Weren't we lucky to be there?" Because it was pure luck that we were there... It was the stillness before you went on the air that was so dramatic because everybody would be in place in plenty of time, but everybody would be silent. Nobody talking, nobody moving--the hands on the keys but not moving. The only thing moving was the second hand on the big clock, and then when it hit the top everybody started to move. It was very dramatic, that peace, that calm before you took the dive into it. It was a great thrilling moment and you suddenly loved every actor, and you just wanted them all to be rich and have children and go to happy graves. Mosel's ''All the Way Home'' premiered in New York November 30, 1960, at the Belasco Theater to critical acclaim. In addition to winning a 1961 Pulitzer Prize, the play was nominated for a Tony Award. A stage adaptation of

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time Magazine'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. ...

's novel ''

A Death in the Family ''A Death in the Family'' is an autobiographical novel by author James Agee, set in Knoxville, Tennessee. He began writing it in 1948, but it was not quite complete when he died in 1955 (with reputedly many portions having been written in the hom ...

'', it dramatizes the reactions of a Tennessee family to the father's accidental death in the summer of 1915. The play was also performed several times on television—in 1963, 1971 and 1981. In Denmark it was known as ''I havn'' and directed for Danish television by

Clara Østø Clara Østø (14 January 1911 – 22 May 1983) was a Danish film actress. She appeared in 22 films between 1934 and 1979. She was born Laurita Clara Hansine Østergaard Olsen in Århus, Denmark and died in Copenhagen. Selected filmography ...

in 1959. The movie adaptation of ''All The Way Home'' (1963) was filmed in the same Knoxville, Tennessee neighborhood where Agee was raised. Directed by

Alex Segal Alex Segal (July 1, 1915 – August 22, 1977) was an American television director, television producer, and film director. Segal directed more than 25 different television programs, including '' The United States Steel Hour'' and ''Celanese Th ...

, it starred Robert Preston,

Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and aft ...

and

Pat Hingle Martin Patterson Hingle (July 19, 1924 – January 3, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. His first film was '' On the Waterfront'' in 1954. He often pla ...

. Mosel wrote screenplays for the films ''Dear Heart'', starring

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

and

Geraldine Page Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acad ...

, with Mosel seen in a cameo appearance as the Man in Lobby, and the popular '' Up the Down Staircase'', based on the novel by

Bel Kaufman Bella Kaufman (May 10, 1911 – July 25, 2014) was an American teacher and author, well known for writing the bestselling 1964 novel '' Up the Down Staircase.'' Early life Bella's father, Michael Kaufman (Mikhail Y. Koyfman) and her mother, La ...

and starring Sandy Dennis. He was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series for an episode of ''The Adams Chronicles'', a PBS drama series based on the lives of presidents

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

and

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...

and their families. Many of Mosel's plays for television are available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.

Personal life

Mosel's death at age 86 of esophageal cancer came after 18 years of residency at Havenwood-Heritage Heights, a retirement community in Concord, New Hampshire, where he often lectured. He was preceded in death in 1995 by Raymond Tatro, ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...

'' magazine graphic designer; they were partners for more than 40 years.

Legacy

Mosel's $100,000 gift to Havenwood-Heritage Heights was used to finance an auditorium, named Tad's Place, for future speakers to the community.

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

* *
Tad Mosel papers, 1935-1991
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

Curtain Up: ''All the Way Home'': review by Elyse SommerArchive of American Television: Tad Mosel interviewed by Michael Rosen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosel, Tad 1922 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters Amherst College alumni Deaths from cancer in New Hampshire Columbia University alumni Deaths from esophageal cancer American gay writers LGBT people from Ohio People from Steubenville, Ohio Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Yale School of Drama alumni Writers from New Rochelle, New York LGBT dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from Ohio 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century LGBT people New Rochelle High School alumni