Act One, Moss Hart
Act One, Moss Hart
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List: $24.95 | Sale: $17.47
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Act One
An Autobiography

Author: Moss Hart, Christopher Hart

Narrator: Jim Meskimen

Unabridged: 17 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/03/2015

Synopsis

Moss Hart’s Act One, which Lincoln Center Theater presented in 2014 as a play written and directed by James Lapine, is one of the greatest American memoirs—a glorious memorial to a bygone age filled with all the wonder, drama, and heartbreak that surrounded Broadway in the early twentieth century.Hart’s story inspired a generation of theatergoers, dramatists, and readers everywhere as he eloquently chronicled his impoverished childhood and his long, determined struggle to reach the opening night of his first Broadway hit. Act One is the quintessential American success story.

About Moss Hart

Moss Hart (1904–1961) began his career as a playwright in 1925 and achieved his first major success in the 1930 collaboration with George S. Kaufman titled Once in a Lifetime. With Kaufman he also wrote such American classics as The Man Who Came to Dinner and You Can’t Take It with You, winner of the 1937 Pulitzer Prize. Hart also gained universal recognition for his award-winning direction of many shows, including My Fair Lady and Camelot.

About Christopher Hart

Christopher Hart has written ten novels published to date, both literary and historical, including Lost Children and Rescue Me, while his historical fiction, written under the pen name of William Napier, includes Julia, the best-selling Attila trilogy and the Last Crusaders trilogy. His work has been praised in both The Times Literary Supplement and the Sunday Sport. He has also published numerous short stories, essays and reviews, and has been a freelance journalist since the 1990s, for The Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and others. He lives in Wiltshire, where he is rewilding seven acres and a hedge.

About Jim Meskimen

Jim Meskimen is a stage, film, and television actor who has appeared in many well-known movies and television shows. He acted in Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon for director Ron Howard, both of which were nominated for Best Picture Oscars. His television appearances include The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, and Parks and Recreation. He is also a painter, award-winning audiobook narrator, and audiobook director for Galaxy Audio.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Thienan on May 20, 2016

This autobiography is very much a entrepreneurial inspiration, a period piece and a captivating memoir. Published in 1959, Act One tells the story of Hart's life growing up in poverty in early 20th century New York and his struggle to make it as a playwright. Hart tells how the singular goal and min......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on December 17, 2020

This is one of the best autobiographies I have read that I can remember. Hart is not only a brilliant playwright, he's an entertaining and highly engaging writer. We vicariously live his journey from belonging to a dirt poor Jewish immigrant family living in a boarding house in the Bronx, and the var......more

Goodreads review by Tom on July 15, 2020

Act One begins with Moss Hart growing up in the Bronx to what we would now consider abject poverty, but at the time was so common that it was probably called the typical working-class experience. This early part of the book is dominated by his aunt who lives there with his parents and spends their m......more

Quotes

“The ultimate Broadway memoir by the master who raised the bar for all of us.” Julie Andrews

“Moss Hart’s Act One is not only the best book ever written about the American theater, but one of the great American autobiographies, by turns gripping, hilarious, and searing.” New York Magazine

“Act One is legendary in the theater world.” James Lapine, award-winning stage director of Into the Woods

“Moss Hart was in the thick of American theater when everyone wore black tie on opening night and the world’s most witty people entertained each other around a grand piano at late-night supper parties. It’s an era of glamour that will never come again, but we have Hart’s words on paper, and that is no small thing. A renowned director and theatrical collaborator, the brilliant Hart died too soon after the curtain went up on Act Two. If you want to know what it was like to be on the inside track in New York City in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, here’s a good place to find out.” Amazon.com, editorial review

“One of the leading playwrights and directors of the New York stage, Moss Hart here tells, with considerable introspection and at times almost total recall, the story of his early years and the breaks that led to Broadway…Provides good, long, and fascinating look at the machinery of hit-making, made the more palatable by the fact that this particular agony ended in triumph. Affecting and appealing.” Kirkus Reviews

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