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 ...

in 1930.

Biography

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. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. I ...

. 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, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...

'' to help to support his mother. He began writing plays at the age of five. His initial newspaper job led to Connelly's working as an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

cub reporter, after which he became a junior reporter for ''The Pittsburgh Gazette Times''. Eventually he began writing a humor column for that newspaper. He also became a journalist for the '' Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph'' until he moved to New York City. In 1919 he joined the

. 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 ''The Morning Telegraph'' (1839 – April 10, 1972) (sometimes referred to as the ''New York Morning Telegraph'') was a New York City broadsheet newspaper owned by Moe Annenberg's Cecelia Corporation. It was first published as the ''Sunday ...

'' 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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. 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

for '' The Green Pastures'' in 1930. The play, a re-telling of episodes from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated 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 writings by the Israelites. The ...

, was staged with the first all-black Broadway cast. He contributed verse and articles to ''

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 ...

'', ''Everybody's'', and other magazines. Connelly was one of the wittiest members of the

. He said, "I always knew children were anti-social. But the children of the West Side – they're savage." Connelly was a drama teacher at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

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. A film about the Round Table members, '' The Ten-Year Lunch'' (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature 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

External links

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Algonquin Round Table Walking ToursAlgonquin Round Table page at the Algonquin Hotel's web siteStephen 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