Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 – December 21, 1980) was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the
Algonquin Round Table
The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel ...
, and received the
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 ...
in 1930.
Biography
Marcus Cook Connelly
was born to actor and hotelier Patrick Joseph Connelly and actress Mabel Fowler Cook in
McKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. A suburb of Pittsburgh, it is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census.
History Early history ...
. His father died in 1902. Connelly attended Trinity Hall boarding school in Washington, Pennsylvania, after which he began collecting money for ads in ''
The Pittsburgh Press
''The Pittsburgh Press'', formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'', was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popul ...
'' to help to support his mother.
His initial newspaper job led to Connelly's working as an
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
cub reporter, after which he became a junior reporter for ''The Pittsburgh Gazette Times''. Eventually he began writing a humor column for that newspaper.
[ In 1919 he joined the ]Algonquin Round Table
The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel ...
.
While he was working in Pittsburgh, Connelly ventured into writing for the stage, creating skits for shows put on by an athletic association and one-act plays for a little theater group. His interest in the theater increased after he began reporting on the theater beat for '' The Morning Telegraph'' in New York City. In that role he developed a friendship with George S. Kaufman, who wrote about drama for ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''.
Connelly had contributed to several Broadway musicals before teaming up with his most important collaborator, Kaufman, in 1921. During their four-year partnership, they wrote five comedies – '' Dulcy'' (1921), '' To the Ladies'' (1922), '' Merton of the Movies'' (1922), ''The Deep Tangled Wildwood'' (1923) and '' Beggar on Horseback'' (1924) – and also co-directed and contributed sketches to the 1922 revue ''The '49ers'', collaborated on the book to the musical comedy ''Helen of Troy, New York'' (1923), and wrote both the book and lyrics for another musical comedy, ''Be Yourself'' (1924).
Connelly received the 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 '' The Green Pastures'' in 1930. The play, a re-telling of episodes from the Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
, was staged with the first all-black Broadway cast. He contributed verse and articles to ''Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'', ''Everybody's'', and other magazines.
Connelly was a drama teacher at Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
from 1946 to 1950. In 1968, Connelly published his memoirs, ''Voices Offstage''. Over the years, Connelly appeared as an actor in 21 movies, including '' The Spirit of St. Louis'' (1957) with James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...
.
Connelly's television debut as an actor came in 1953 in an episode of ''Broadway TV Theatre'' on WOR-TV. A review in the trade publication '' Variety'' said that Connelly "handled himself with winning aplomb".
A film about the Round Table members, '' The Ten-Year Lunch'' (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Academy Honorary Award, Special Awards to ''Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. The ...
and featured Connelly, who was the last survivor. The 1994 film '' Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle'', a fictional account of the group, featured actor Matt Malloy as Connelly.
Connelly died on December 21, 1980, in St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan, aged 90.
Filmography
References
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External links
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Algonquin Round Table Walking Tours
Algonquin Round Table page at the Algonquin Hotel's web site
Stephen Wilde Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connelly, Marc
1890 births
1980 deaths
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania
Writers from Pennsylvania
Writers from New York City
Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
American male journalists
American male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male television actors
The New Yorker people
Journalists from Pennsylvania
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American journalists
Algonquin Round Table
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
American humorous columnists