Mark Saltzman is an American script writer who has written films, plays and musicals and for TV. He worked for several years for ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and ...

''. He has been given seven Emmy Awards for Best Writing for a Children's Show.

TV and film work

He graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

. Saltzman started his career writing cabaret shows and musicals that played at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

venues such as The Ballroom, Soho Rep, 13th Street Theater, and The Village Gate, where he co-wrote the long-running revue ''A, My Name is Alice''. As a writer on the musical revue ''A, My Name Is Alice,'' he befriended cast member Alaina Reed, who had also been cast as Olivia on ''

.'' Saltzman began working for ''Sesame Street'' in 1984, where he was a writer for 15 years. He created the

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses tele ...

character of

Plácido Flamingo The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson, many for the purpose of appearing on the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. Some of the best known Muppets on ''Sesame Street'' include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouc ...

for season 18, and wrote more than 50 songs, including the lyrics for " Caribbean Amphibian" and " I've Got a New Way to Walk." He also created the character The Sublime Miss M, a take on

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Gl ...

. He has seven Emmy Awards. For CBS, Saltzman wrote '' Mrs. Santa Claus'', a holiday musical movie starring

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

with songs written by Broadway legend

Jerry Herman Gerald Sheldon Herman (July 10, 1931December 26, 2019) was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre. One of the most commercially successful Broadway songwriters of his time, Herman was the composer and lyrici ...

. He also wrote '' The Adventures of Milo and Otis'' and ''Three Ninjas Kick Back''. His TV movie, ''The Red Sneakers'', which was directed by and starred

Gregory Hines Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for '' Wolfen'' (1981), '' The Cotton C ...

, aired on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global ...

in 2004 and was nominated for a

Writers Guild Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

. For cable TV's here! network Mark wrote the screenplay for ''

Third Man Out ''Third Man Out'' is a 2005 gay-themed mystery film. It is the first film adaptation of a Richard Stevenson novel featuring fictional detective Donald Strachey.Richard Stevenson. In 2007, Mark served as writer-producer of the Emmy-nominated Disney channel show "

Johnny and the Sprites ''Johnny and the Sprites'' is an American children's musical television show that aired every weekend on the "Playhouse Disney" block on Disney Channel. The show was created by, produced by, and starred John Tartaglia (most famous for his work ...

," starring John Tartaglia. Saltzman wrote '' The Adventures of Milo and Otis'', '' Napoleon'' and '' 3 Ninjas Kick Back''. He has also written screenplays for

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Theater

Saltzman's musical play '' The Tin Pan Alley Rag'' tells the story of a fictional meeting in 1915 between

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one r ...

and a young

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

. ''Tin Pan'' opened at the

Pasadena Playhouse The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California, United States. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engag ...

in 1997 and was nominated for five Los Angeles

Ovation Awards The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...

, including Best Musical. Saltzman also wrote the book for the play. The show continued on to many US theaters, including Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse,

Goodspeed Musicals Goodspeed Musicals is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, located in East Haddam, Connecticut. A distinctive feature of the view from the Connecticut River, th ...

, and the

Cleveland Play House Cleveland Play House (CPH) is a professional regional theater company located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1915 and built its own noted theater complex in 1927. Currently the company performs at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square whe ...

. In the summer of 2009, it was produced in Off-Broadway by The

Roundabout Theatre Company The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. History The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabeth ...

in a production starring Michael Therriault and Michael Boatman in a production described by critics as "tunefully original" and containing "flashes of brilliance." Saltzman's stage musical '' Romeo and Bernadette'' played at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

and New Jersey's State Theater,

The Paper Mill Playhouse ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speak ...

. His comedy ''Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood'', based on the true story of

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 1933 visit to MGM, premiered at the Laguna Playhouse in April 2003. His play, ''Clutter'', had its world premier at the

Colony Theater In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

in Burbank on February 7 of 2004. In 2002 he adapted the musical classic ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 Show Boat (novel), novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the pe ...

'' for a

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its disti ...

performance. In May 2009 Saltzman's play "Setup and Punch" premiered at The Blank Theatre in Los Angeles. His play ''Rocket City

had its world premiere in April 2008 as part of the

Alabama Shakespeare Festival The Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) is among the ten largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. The festival is permanently housed in the Carolyn Blount Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama. ASF puts on 6-9 productions annually, typically includ ...

's Southern Writers' Project, which has a mandate to encourage "plays that delve into Southern issues and the

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

experience" and to contribute "nationally significant works to the American theater canon

''Rocket City'', or ''Rocket City, Alabam','' is based on the true story of

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

and his recruitment by the US Government to work on the U.S. missile program and eventually the

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with three stages, and powered with liquid fuel. It was flown from 1 ...

, the rocket used in the Apollo program. Saltzman's play weaves von Braun's real-life in Huntsville,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, with a fictional plot in which a young

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

woman in Huntsville becomes aware of von Braun's Nazi past and tries to inspire awareness and outrage among Huntsville's long-established Jewish community, the town in general, and the country at large.

Affiliations

Saltzman has, for many years, been a mentor in the Blank Theatre Company's Young Playwrights’ Festival, held annually in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. He is the president of the Arnold Glassman Fund, a charitable foundation that provides grants for film and theater projects. He is also a graduate of Cornell University's English and Theater Departments.

Personal life

Saltzman‘s partner, Arnold "Arnie" Glassman, was a film editor known for his work on '' The Celluloid Closet'' and ''

Frailty Frailty may refer to: Music * ''Frailty'' (The Banner album), 2008 studio album by the Banner * ''Frailty'' (Jane Remover album), 2021 studio album by Jane Remover * Frailty (band), death-doom metal band, from Riga (Latvia) formed in 2003 Othe ...

''. After first meeting in October 1979, by 1986 they were living together as an out couple in New York. They were together for 20 years before Glassman died in 2003. According to Saltzman, when writing the ''

'' characters

Bert and Ernie Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the long-running PBS/HBO children's television show, '' Sesame Street''. Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by pup ...

, he wrote their interpersonal dynamic, playfulness and loving bond as a reflection of his own relationship with Glassman. Saltzman currently lives in Los Angeles.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saltzman, Mark Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from New York City Sesame Street crew American children's writers American male screenwriters American television writers Songwriters from New York (state) American dramatists and playwrights Cornell University alumni American male television writers American male dramatists and playwrights American LGBT writers LGBT screenwriters Screenwriters from New York (state)