RICHMAN, ARTHUR

(1886-1944)

Born Arthur Reichman in New York City, the fiction writer-turned-playwright got his first Broadway production in 1920 withNot So Long Ago, a period comedy with a stellar cast (Eva Le Gallienne, Sidney Blackmer,* and Thomas Mitchell) that ran for 137 performances. Undoubtedly his finest play was the Pulitzer PRizE-nominatedAmbush(1921), in which a decent man experiences the repercussions of his wife and daughter's more materialistic values. Richman's other plays includeA Serpent's Tooth(1922),The Awful Truth(1922),The Far Cry(1924),All Dressed Up(1925),A Proud Woman(1926), andHeavy Traffic(1928). He was president of the Society of American Dramatists and Composers (1925-1927), president of the Authors' League of America (1928-1930), and served on the board of the American Theatre Wing* War Services.