George Haimsohn (June 12, 1925 – January 17, 2003) was an American writer and photographer. He was best known for co-writing the

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

and

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

of the popular 1960s

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

musical '' Dames at Sea''. He produced male nude and " physique photography" under the name Plato, and wrote a number of gay male erotic novels under the name Alexander Goodman''.''

Biography

Haimsohn was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War 2, and subsequently graduated from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. In 1952 he moved to

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, New York City. In the mid-1960s, he anonymously wrote ''The Gay Coloring Book'' and ''My Trip Around the World'', comedic picture books illustrated by Dom Orejudos (a.k.a. "Etienne"), depicting the social and sex lives of contemporary gay men living in the Village. He also wrote and illustrated ''Modern Fairy Tales: Autobiography of a Camp'' under the pseudonym ''Peter B. Luvvly''. In 1966 he co-wrote with Robin Miller the book and libretto for the musical '' Dames at Sea'', with music by Jim Wise. The original

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway theatre, Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commerc ...

production launched the career of

Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters ( ''née'' Lazzara; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress and singer. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released reco ...

. ''Dames'' was adapted into a 1971 TV production starring

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born 28 April 1941), credited as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' Bye Bye B ...

. His other musicals were ''Now, Zing!'' and ''Johnny American.'' He wrote erotic short stories and novels for gay male readers in the mid-1960s, under the pen name Alexander Goodman. His published books include ''The Soft Spot: Four Short Stories'' (1964), ''A Sliver of Flesh: Four New Short Stories of the Homosexual Life'' (1965), ''Carnal Matters: Four Short Stories'' (1965), ''Handsome Is...'' (1966), ''Mercenary Affections: Stories of the Homosexual Life'' (1966), ''A Sweet Gentle Boy and Other Stories'' (1967), ''The First Time: Five Short Stories'' (1967), ''Blaze of Summer'' (1967), ''The Gay Psychedelic Sex Book: Collages and Limericks'' (1967), ''A Summer on

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...

'' (1968), and ''Happyland and Other Stories'' (1968). In the 1980s, he wrote and illustrated ''The Portable Hamlet'', ''The Bedside Faust'', and ''Inside Romeo and Juliet'', comedic illustrated retellings of the classic works, for college readers.

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haimsohn, George 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American musical theatre lyricists American musical theatre librettists Deaths from aneurysm 2003 deaths 1925 births American LGBTQ writers 20th-century American photographers Writers from St. Louis 20th-century American LGBTQ people