Norman Lee Swartout, Sr. (April 17, 1879 - October 30, 1930) was an American playwright. He was the editor and manager of the play department for Longman, Green & Co. He became the director of the Summit Playhouse in 1918.

Biography

He was born in

Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...

, on April 17, 1879. He attended the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

where he was a member of the

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (; commonly known as Alpha Delt, AD, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP) is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in ...

fraternity and graduated around 1901. He made his stage debut ''Don Caesar's Return'' with James Keteltas Hackett at

Wallack's Theatre Three New York City playhouses named Wallack's Theatre played an important part in the history of American theater as the successive homes of the stock company managed by actors James W. Wallack and his son, Lester Wallack. During its 35-year ...

in Manhattan. He wrote the farcical play ''The Arrival of Kitty'' in 1906. He married Helen Louise Briggs around 1912. They had two children: Norman Lee Swartout, Jr. (born 1914) who married Hildegarde Spindler; and Barbara Swartout. He became the director of the Summit Playhouse in 1918. He died on October 30, 1930, in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is the northernmost City (New Jersey), city of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the New York metropolitan area. Situated on a ridge in north Jersey, northern–central Jersey, centra ...

, he was 51 years old.

Plays

*The Toastmaster *Half Back Sandy *One of the Eight
The Arrival of Kitty
(1906) *One of The: A College Comedy in Four Acts (1908) *Every Man For Himself
Close to Nature
A Farcical Episode in the Life of an American Family, in Four Acts (1915)

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swartout, Norman Lee 1879 births 1930 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers American theatre directors People from Auburn, New York University of Rochester alumni Writers from Summit, New Jersey Writers from New York (state)