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Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: '' The Young Lions'' (1948), about the fate of three soldiers during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, which was made into a film of the same name starring
Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
and Montgomery Clift, and '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' (1970), about the fate of two brothers and a sister in the post-World War II decades, which in 1976 was made into a popular miniseries starring Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, and Susan Blakely.


Personal life

Shaw was born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in the
South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris. In the early 1900s, the South Bronx was orig ...
, New York City, to
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 ...
immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...
s from
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
. His parents were Rose and Will. His younger brother, David Shaw, became a noted Hollywood producer and writer. Shortly after Irwin's birth, the Shamforoffs moved to
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. Irwin changed his surname upon entering college. He spent most of his youth in Brooklyn, where he graduated from
Brooklyn College , mottoeng = Nothing without great effort , established = , parent = CUNY , type = Public university , endowment = $98.0 million (2019) , budget = $123.96 m ...
with a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree in 1934. He began screenwriting in 1935 at age 21. In 1939 he married actress and producer Marian Edwards, daughter of silent film actor Snitz Edwards. The couple divorced in 1967, remarrying two years before Irwin's death in 1982. During World War II, he was approached by
William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), '' The Best Years o ...
to join his film unit. Unable to be commissioned as an officer due to his age and 1-A draft status, Shaw decided to enter the Regular Army. Later, the Army, noting his background, sent him to
George Stevens George Cooper Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Obituary '' Variety'', March 12, 1975, page 79. Films he produced were nominated for the Academy Award for ...
' film unit. He was one of four writers attached to Stevens' command, in which he became a
warrant officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mo ...
. After the war, he returned to his career as a writer. Shaw died in Davos, Switzerland on May 16, 1984, at age 71, after undergoing treatment for
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...
.


Career


Drama

In the 1930s, Shaw wrote scripts for several
radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netwo ...
s, including ''
Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (character), Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''De ...
'', '' The Gumps'' and ''Studio One''. He recaptured this period of his life in his short story "Main Currents of American Thought," about a hack radio writer grinding out one script after another while calculating the number of words equal to the rent money: Shaw's first play, ''
Bury the Dead ''Bury the Dead'' (1936) is an expressionist and anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Eac ...
'' ( 1936) was an
expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...
drama about a group of soldiers killed in a battle who refuse to be buried. His play '' Quiet City'', directed by
Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...
and with incidental music by Aaron Copland, closed after two Sunday performances. During the 1940s, Shaw wrote for a number of films, including '' The Talk of the Town'' (a comedy about civil liberties), ''The Commandos Strike at Dawn'' (based on a C.S. Forester story about commandos in occupied Norway) and '' Easy Living'' (about a football player unable to enter the game due to a medical condition). Shaw married Marian Edwards (daughter of well-known screen actor Snitz Edwards). They had one son, Adam Shaw, born in 1950, himself a writer of magazine articles and non-fiction. Shaw summered at the
Pine Brook Country Club Pine Brook Country Club is a private lake association in Nichols, Connecticut, a village within the Town of Trumbull. It began when Benjamin Plotkin purchased Pinewood Lake and the surrounding countryside on Mischa Hill. Plotkin built an audito ...
, located in the countryside of
Nichols, Connecticut Nichols, a historic village in southeastern Trumbull in Fairfield County, Connecticut, is named after the family who maintained a large farm in its center for almost 300 years. The Nichols Farms Historic District, which encompasses part of ...
, which became the 1936 summer home of the Group Theatre (New York), whose roster included
Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...
, Harold Clurman, Harry Morgan,
John Garfield John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of ...
,
Frances Farmer Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913August 1, 1970) was an American actress and television hostess. She appeared in over a dozen feature films over the course of her career, though she garnered notoriety for sensationalized accounts of her l ...
,
Will Geer Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In C ...
, Clifford Odets and Lee J. Cobb.


Novels and Miniseries

'' The Young Lions'', Shaw's first novel, was published in
1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
. Based on his experiences in Europe during the war, the novel was very successful and was adapted into a 1958
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
. Shaw was not happy with the film, feeling it soft-pedaled some of the serious issues from his book, but it did well at the box office. Shaw's second novel, '' The Troubled Air'', chronicling the rise of
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...
, was published in
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...
. He was among those who signed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the John Howard Lawson and Dalton Trumbo convictions for
contempt of Congress Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of C ...
, resulting from hearings by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Accused of being a
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
by the Red Channels publication, Shaw was placed on the
Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying empl ...
by the movie studio bosses. In 1951 he left the United States and went to Europe, where he lived for 25 years, mostly in Paris and Switzerland. He later claimed that the blacklist "only glancingly bruised" his career. During the 1950s he wrote several more screenplays, including '' Desire Under the Elms'' (based on
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earli ...
's play) and ''Fire Down Below'' (about a tramp boat in the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
). While living in Europe, Shaw wrote more bestselling books, notably '' Lucy Crown'' (
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...
), ''Two Weeks in Another Town'' (
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...
), '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' ( 1970) (for which he would later write a less successful sequel entitled ''
Beggarman, Thief ''Beggarman, Thief'' is a 1977 novel written by Irwin Shaw. It was a sequel to his 1970 bestseller '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' and focuses on the surviving Jordache siblings, Gretchen and Rudolph; their deceased brother Thomas' teenage son Wesley Jor ...
'') and ''Evening in Byzantium'' (made into a 1978 TV movie). ''Rich Man, Poor Man'' was adapted into a highly successful ABC television miniseries with six 2-hour episodes shown for February 1 to March 15, 1976. The series ranked third in the seasonal Nielsens and garnered twenty-three Emmy nominations. A further adaptation, which Shaw had very little to do with, ''Rich Man, Poor Man--Book II'' was aired from September 21, 1976, to March 8, 1977. This was not as successful as the first.RICH MAN, POOR MAN: U.S. Miniseries
Museum of Broadcast Communications.
There was a third sequel ''Beggar Man, Thief'' in 1978, which belatedly included the Jordache's sister Gretchen who had been a prominent character in the original book.Rich Man, Poor Man
Nostagia Central. "A further sequel, Beggar Man, Thief (1978) introduced the Jordaches' previously unmentioned sister, Gretchen."

''New York Times'', W. G. Rogers, Oct. 4, 1970.
His novel ''The Top of the Hill'' (1979) was made into a TV movie about the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1980, starring Wayne Rogers, Adrienne Barbeau, and
Sonny Bono Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...
. His last two novels were ''Bread Upon the Waters'' (1981) and ''Acceptable Losses'' (1982).


Short stories

Shaw was highly regarded as a short story author, contributing to ''
Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Coll ...
'', ''Esquire'', ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
'', ''
The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
'', and other magazines; and 63 of his best stories were collected in ''Short Stories: Five Decades'' (Delacorte, 1978), reprinted in 2000 as a 784-page University of Chicago Press paperback. Among his noted short stories are: "Sailor Off The Bremen", "The Eighty-Yard Run", and "Tip On A Dead Jockey". Three of his stories ("The Girls in Their Summer Dresses", "The Monument", "The Man Who Married a French Wife") were dramatized for the PBS series ''
Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is p ...
''. Telecast on June 1, 1981. This production was released on DVD in 2002 by Kultur Video. In 1950, Shaw wrote a book on Israel with photos by
Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to b ...
named ''Report on Israel.''


Awards

During his lifetime Shaw won a number of awards, including two O. Henry Awards, a National Institute of Arts and Letters grant, and three Playboy Awards.


Works


Novels

* '' The Young Lions'' (1948) * '' The Troubled Air'' (1951) * '' Lucy Crown'' (1956) * ''Two Weeks in Another Town'' (1960) * ''Voices of a Summer Day'' (1965) * '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' (1969/1970) (Portions of this novel first appeared in ''Playboy'' in a slightly different form.) * ''Evening in Byzantium'' (1973) * ''Night Work'' (1975) * ''
Beggarman, Thief ''Beggarman, Thief'' is a 1977 novel written by Irwin Shaw. It was a sequel to his 1970 bestseller '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' and focuses on the surviving Jordache siblings, Gretchen and Rudolph; their deceased brother Thomas' teenage son Wesley Jor ...
'' (1977) * ''The Top of the Hill'' (1979) * ''Bread Upon the Waters'' (1981) * ''Acceptable Losses'' (1982)


Short-story collections

* ''Sailor off the Bremen and other Stories'' (1939) * ''Welcome to the City, and other Stories'' (1942) * ''Act of Faith, and other stories'' (1946) * ''The Girls in Their Summer Dresses'' * ''Mixed Company. Collected Short Stories'' (1950) * ''Tip on a Dead Jockey, and other stories'' (1957) * ''Selected Short Stories'' (1961) * ''Love on a Dark Street, and other stories'' (1965) * ''Retreat and other stories'' (1970) * ''Whispers in Bedlam'' (1972) * ''God Was Here, But He Left Early'' (1973) * ''Short Stories: Five Decades'' (1978)


Nonfiction

* ''Report on Israel'' (1950, with
Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to b ...
) * ''In the Company of Dolphins'' (1964) * ''Paris! Paris! (1976)''


Plays

* ''
Bury the Dead ''Bury the Dead'' (1936) is an expressionist and anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Eac ...
,'' New York, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, April 1936. * ''Siege, New York,''
Longacre Theatre The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and was named for Longacre Square, now known ...
, December 1937. * ''The Gentle People,'' New York,
Belasco Theatre The Belasco Theatre is a Broadway theater at 111 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Originally known as the Stuyvesant Theatre, it was built in 1907 a ...
, January 1939. * '' Quiet City'' New York, Belasco Theatre, March 1939. * ''Retreat to Pleasure,'' New York, Belasco Theatre, 1940. * ''Sons and Soldiers,'' New York,
Morosco Theatre The Morosco Theatre was a Broadway theatre near Times Square in New York City from 1917 to 1982. It housed many notable productions and its demolition, along with four adjacent theaters, was controversial. History Located at 217 West 45th Stree ...
, May 1943. * '' The Assassin'','' New York, National Theatre, October 1945. * ''The Survivors,'' (with Peter Viertel) New York,
Playhouse Theatre The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square, central London. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt i ...
, January 1948. * ''Children From Their Games,'' New York, Morosco Theatre, April 1963. * ''A Choice of Wars, Glasgow,'' Scotland, Glasgow Citizens Theatre, 1967.


Screenplays

* '' The Big Game'', RKO, 1936. * '' Commandos Strike at Dawn'', Columbia, 1942. * '' The Hard Way'', Warner Bros., 1942. * '' The Talk of the Town'', RKO, 1942. * ''
Take One False Step ''Take One False Step'' is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Chester Erskine and starring William Powell and Shelley Winters. Plot Married college professor Andrew Gentling reluctantly agrees to have a drink with Catherine Sykes, ...
'', Universal, 1949. * '' Easy Living'', RKO, 1949. * '' I Want You'', RKO, 1951. * '' Act of Love'', United Artists, 1953. * '' Ulysses'', Paramount, 1954. * '' Fire Down Below'', Columbia, 1957. * '' Desire Under the Elms'', Paramount, 1958. * ''
This Angry Age ''This Angry Age'' (also known as ''The Sea Wall'', ''Barrage contre le Pacifique'' and ''La diga sul Pacifico'') is a 1957 Italian-American drama film directed by René Clément, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, and starring Anthony Perkins and ...
'', Columbia, 1958. * '' The Big Gamble'', Fox, 1961. * ''
In the French Style ''In the French Style'' is a 1963 French-American romance film released by Columbia Pictures directed by Robert Parrish and stars Jean Seberg, Stanley Baker and Philippe Forquet. It was based on a short story by Irwin Shaw. Plot The young Americ ...
'', Columbia, 1963. * ''Survival'', United Film, 1968.


Further reading

*
Michael Shnayerson Michael Beahan Shnayerson (born December 2, 1954) is an American journalist and contributing editor for '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. He is the author of several books and over 75 ''Vanity Fair'' stories since 1986. Two of his pieces for the magazine h ...
. ''Irwin Shaw, A Biography.'' G. P. Putnam's Sons: 1989. illustrated. * * Irwin Shaw, "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses."
The Girls in Their Summer Dresses--Irwin Shaw (1913-1984)


References


External links


Brooklyn College Archives
* * * Retrieved on 2008-02-07 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Irwin American people of Russian-Jewish descent 1913 births 1984 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists United States Army personnel of World War II American male screenwriters Hollywood blacklist Writers from Brooklyn People from the Bronx Jewish American novelists Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Irwin Shaw 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) O. Henry Award winners American war correspondents Screenwriters from New York (state) Brooklyn College alumni 20th-century American screenwriters United States Army soldiers Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in Switzerland 20th-century American Jews