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Clifford Odets

CLIFFORD ODETS

  (1906 - 1963)
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Clifford Odets was born in Philadelphia and his family moved to New York in 1908. He graduated from High School in 1928 and became an actor with the Theatre Guild. Under the Guild a new group was formed "the Group Theatre" with Lee Strasberg amongst others. they wanted socially aware Dramas and it was then that Odets started writing. Seven of his works were put on by the Group including "Waiting For Lefty". After the collapse of the Theatre Group he wrote only four more plays before going to Hollywood. For the next twenty five years he wrote the screenplays for such films as "the General Died At Dawn" and "None But the Lonely Heart". In 1952 he was called in front of the Committee on Un-American Activities. He renounced his communist affiliations and named other communists - but only ones already known to the Committee. He was twice married and had two children He died on August 18th 1963 of cancer of the colon

Research:    Clifford Odets Papers in the Lilly Library : http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/guides/odets/odets.shtml

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below is a list of Clifford Odets's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Awake And Sing         Big Knife, The         By the Sea         Clash By Night         Country Girl, The         Flowering Peach         Golden Boy - the Musical         Golden Boy, The         I Can't Sleep         Jacobowsky And the Colonel         Night Music         Notes For A Dream         Nursery, The         One Winter In Boston         Paradise Lost         Rocket To the Moon         Russian People         Seasons, The         She Wants To Marry         Silent Partner, The         Tides Of Fundy         Till the Day I Die         Waiting For Lefty         Winter Journey
Awake And Sing

Awake And Sing
Three generations of the Berger family live in an East Bronx apartment. Bessie runs the family and above all she wants it to be "respectable". Her father, Jacob a retired barber is a Marxist. Her son, Monty, is on the way up.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Belasco Theatre, New York     19 Feb 1935

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Waiting For Lefty and Other Plays" published by Grove Press 1994   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Big Knife, The

Big Knife, The
the story tells of the last few days of Charlie Castle, a top movie star and an idealist, whose years of compromise with his beliefs for the sake of a Hollywood career have resulted in the slow destruction of his personality. We see his struggles to escape from the net of insincerity and falsehood in which he has trapped himself, and his ultimate defeat.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
National Theatre, New York     24 Feb 1949

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 1963   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
3 Acts Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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By the Sea

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Unfinished Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Clash By Night

Synopsis:
Mae Wilenski lives with her simple husband Jerry in a shack on Staten Island and she is bored. Her husband does not satisfy her and her life is a drag. She longs for a virile man to take her away from all this. then she meets ne'er do well Joe

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Belasco Theatre, New York     27 Dec 1941

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Random House 1942   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Country Girl, The

Country Girl, The
As told by "Fireside theater": "the COUNTRY GIRL, in this affectionate backstage story, is Georgie Elgin, a lovable, faithful, forgiving woman whose long years of devotion to her actor husband, Frank, have almost obliterated her own personality. Being an actor's wife is not the glamorous role so many imagine. Life is either feast or famine with months of the year spent in bolstering up the morale of a man out of work. Some actors make enough, save enough, to tide them over these enforced waits between plays, but not Frank, whose long periods of idleness are punctuated by despair and drink. then came the event that all actors pray for-the really big part in an important new play. Georgie couldn't believe her ears when Broadway's youngest director, Bernie Dodd, picked Frank for the lead. Of course he should take it. And of course she'd help, but only Georgie knew the struggle it would be to pull Frank together, to reassure him at every turn, and above all, to keep him from slipping at those moments of discouragement that were sure to come. Georgie performed her self-effacing, morale-building job on Frank under the tense watchful eyes of a nervous director whose reputation depended on this, his first big play. During rehearsals he was suspicious, doubting her good influence, believing Frank's lies that she caused his downfall, even trying to get rid of her. then on the evening of the Boston opening the strain proved too great. Frank cracked wide open, and in the dark light of Frank's relapse, Bernie saw the country girl for what she was-a magnificent person whose self-sacrificing goodness had never been truly appreciated."

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Lyceum Theatre, New York     10 Nov 1950

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Flowering Peach

Synopsis:
As described by Atkinson is: "the story of mankind living out its destiny under the benevolent eye of God. there were giants on the earth in those days of the Deluge. In spirit Noah was the greatest. It is Mr. Odets' mood not to put him on a pedestal but to characterize him as the worried head of a family of ordinary individuals-a peevish though loving hero who feels himself close to God. . .the story of how Noah persuades his skeptical family that God has given all of them a mission, how they bicker, yet do the job obediently, how God helps them solve the most prodigious problems, how they scamper into the ark when the rains fall-all this, told with sympathetic humor in the form of a folk fable, ought to be enough to delight and move any theatregoer. In the second act the voyager concludes triumphantly with the grounding of the ark, the flowering of the peach, and the departure of the family in their several ways to replenish and fructify the earth. It is a triumphant conclusion, but after a long series of quarrels and sorrows that symbolize the eternal questioning of God's children.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Belasco Theatre, New York     28 Dec 1954

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  4            Other:  4 animals which may be played by men or women

Further Reference:
-

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Golden Boy - the Musical

Golden Boy - the Musical
Joe Bonaparte, whose dream of becoming a violinist could become a reality when prize-fight promoter Roxy Gottlieb offers to sponsor him as a boxer. He is torn between the lure of big money and the possibility of injuring his hands and finishing his musical career. He is given advice by his Italian immigrant father, his manager Tom Moody, and Tom's girlfriend Lorna Moon. Joe falls in love with Lorna

Notes:
Music by Charles Strausse; lyrics by Lee Adams; book by Clifford Odets And William Gibson

1st Produced:
Majestic theatre
245 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036     20 Oct 1964

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Athenaeum, New York, 1965   

Music:
Original cast recording: Razor and Tie (IM86)

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Genre:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  17            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Golden Boy, The

Golden Boy, The
Joe Bonaparte, whose dream of becoming a violinist could become a reality when prize-fight promoter Roxy Gottlieb offers to sponsor him as a boxer. He is torn between the lure of big money and the possibility of injuring his hands and finishing his musical career. He is given advice by his Italian immigrant father, his manager Tom Moody, and Tom's girlfriend Lorna Moon. Joe falls in love with Lorna

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Belasco Theatre, New York     04 Nov 1937

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Waiting For Lefty and Other Plays" published by Grove Press 1993   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  13            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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I Can't Sleep

Synopsis:
A worker has betrayed the Party

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     01 May 1935

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Monologue play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jacobowsky And the Colonel

Synopsis:
A domineering Polish Colonel and a meek Polish Jew meet in a Paris air raid shelter.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Franz Werfel. Franz Werfel had been asked by the Theatre Guild, New York to turn the story "Jacoboswski und der Oberst" into a play. He did but in German. the Guild asked him to translate it but did not like the translation. They asked Clifford Odets to rewrite the translation. However, they did not like Odets version either And got S N Behrman to do it. Behrman's version opened on March 14 1944 At Martin Beck theatre, New York

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Night Music

Synopsis:
Night time in Manhattan and the various people there. the benevolent police officer, the young lovers, a sailor thrown out of his hotel before he could enjoy himself.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Broadhurst Theatre, New York     22 Feb 1940

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Random House 1940   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Notes For A Dream

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
from the Patriot by Alfred Neumann

1st Produced:
-     1943

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Nursery, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York     1953

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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One Winter In Boston

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
One Winter In Boston on the website of Indiana University, that has his paper,s it is listed with plays And film scripts but All they have is the novel by Robert Smith with some Annotations by Odets - they think he was planning to turn the novel into A script - but got no further than writing notes in the novel.

1st Produced:
-     1951

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost
During the Depression Leo a prosperous manufacture looses his business and he and his family have to face up to their loss

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Longacre Theatre, New York     09 Mar 1935

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Waiting For Lefty and Other Plays" published by Grove Press 1994   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rocket To the Moon

Synopsis:
Tells of a woman whose physical and spiritual wants are disarmingly normal-a sort of anomaly in our modern, complex city life. This woman finds herself between a dentist who is unhappily married, and an old gentleman who has everything to offer her except youth. Of plot in the ordinary sense, there is very little, but with characters such as Mr. Odets draws, there is no necessity for a story in the conventional sense. the play is brilliantly written and offers and extraordinary opportunity for the depiction of human beings at odd with themselves and their environments.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Belasco Theatre, New York     24 Nov 1938

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Russian People

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Based on the book by Konstantine Simonov

1st Produced:
Guild Theatre, New York     29 Dec 1942

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  27            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Seasons, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     1953

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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She Wants To Marry

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Silent Partner, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written in 1937

1st Produced:
-     1939

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tides Of Fundy

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Unproduced    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Till the Day I Die

Till the Day I Die
the Communist Underground in 1930s Berlin try to stop the rise to power of the Nazis

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Longacre Theatre, New York     26 Mar 1935

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Waiting For Lefty and Other Plays" published by Grove Press 1994   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Waiting For Lefty

Waiting For Lefty
the action of the play is comprised of a series of varied, imaginatively conceived episodes, which blend into a powerful and stirring mosaic. the opening scene is a hiring hall where a union leader (obviously in the pay of the bosses) is trying to convince a committee of workers (who are waiting for their leader, Lefty, to arrive) not to strike. This is followed by a moving confrontation between a discouraged taxi driver, who cannot earn enough to live on, and his angry wife, who wants him to show some backbone and stand up to his employer; a revealing scene between a scheming boss and the young worker who refuses to spy on his fellow employees; a sad/funny episode centering on a young cabbie and his would-be bride, who lack the wherewithal to get married; a disturbing scene involving a senior doctor and the underpaid young intern (a labor activist) whom the doctor has been ordered to discharge; and, finally, a return to the union hall where the workers, learning that Lefty has been gunned down by the powers-that-be, resolve at last to stand up for their rights and to strike-and to stay off their jobs until their grievances are finally heard and acted upon by those who have so cynically exploited and misused them.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Longacre Theatre, New York     26 Mar 1935

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Drama One Act

Parts:
Male:  13            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Winter Journey

Synopsis:
When the leading man pulls out of a play when it is in try-outs the director, Bernie Dodd persuades the backers to let Frank Elgin take over. Frank was once a matinee idol but has taken to drink. He blames his drinking on his wife Georgie he says that it is her neurotic nature and constant suicide attempts that led him to drink. Bernie is very hostile to Georgie. After some bad reviews Frank hits the bottle. Bernie tries to have Georgie sent home. It is then that he discovers that Frank had been lying to him. Frank is the neurotic suicide attempting one whilst Georgie tries her best to support him.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Greenwich Mews Theatre, New York     12 Mar 1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French Inc, New York   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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