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Sidney Kingsley

シドニー・キングスリー

Sidney Kingsley

Aliases: Sidney Kirschner

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1906-10-22 （New York City, U.S.）
Died
1995-03-20 （Oakland, New Jersey, U.S.） age 88
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Oakland, New Jersey (long-term residence) → New York City (birthplace)

Career

Occupations
Playwright, Screenwriter
Active Years
1933-1977
Affiliations
Group Theatre, Dramatists Guild of America, American Theater Hall of Fame
Memberships
Dramatists Guild of America

Education

Cornell University
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Began writing plays for the college dramatic club at Cornell University, launching his career as a dramatist.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize (Drama)
1934
Work: Men in White
Category: Best Drama
Organization: Pulitzer Prize committee / Columbia University
Result: Winner
New York Drama Critics Circle Award
1943
Work: The Patriots
Category: Best Play
Organization: New York Drama Critics Circle
Result: Winner
Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame
1983
Organization: American Theater Hall of Fame
Result: Inducted

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Men in White

1933 Play (medical drama)

Set in a hospital, the play deals with illegal abortion, 1930s medical practices, and a promising physician's choice between medicine and his fiancée. A Broadway box-office hit.

medical ethicsprofessional vs personal lifesocial issues
Adaptations
  • [Film] Men in White (1934 film) (1934)
  • [Television] Men in White (TV adaptation) (1960)

Dead End

1935 Play (social drama)

A story about slum housing and its connection to crime. The play was filmed and spawned the film troupe the Dead End Kids.

urban povertycrime and environmentsocial injustice
Adaptations
  • [Film] Dead End (1937 film) (1937)

Ten Million Ghosts

1936 Play (anti-war)

An anti-war play that was not commercially successful and had a short run.

anti-warpolitics and humanity

The World We Make

1939 Play

A 1939 play that was a commercial failure with a short run.

societypolitics

The Patriots

1943 Historical drama

A historical drama about Thomas Jefferson and activities in the young American republic. Won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play.

historypoliticsfounding-era conflicts
Adaptations
  • [Television] The Patriots (TV movie) (1963)

Detective Story

1949 Play (crime drama)

An ensemble drama set in a police precinct. Adapted into film and television in several countries.

law and justicehuman nature
Adaptations
  • [Film] Detective Story (1951 film) (1951)
  • [Television (West Germany)] Polizeirevier 21 (1963)

Darkness at Noon (stage adaptation)

1951 Play (adaptation)

Stage adaptation of Arthur Koestler's novel Darkness at Noon. Performed on television and in various countries.

political repressionindividual vs state
Adaptations
  • [Television] Darkness at Noon (TV adaptation) (1955)

Lunatics and Lovers

1954 Play

A 1954 play; one of the works written as he continued to write for the stage later in his career.

relationshipslove

Night Life

1962 Play

A 1962 play performed in the later part of his active career.

urban lifenocturnal events

Bibliography

  • Men in White (1933)
  • Dead End (1935)
  • Ten Million Ghosts (1936)
  • The World We Make (1939)
  • The Patriots (1943)
  • Detective Story (1949)
  • Darkness at Noon (1951, stage adaptation)
  • Lunatics and Lovers (1954)
  • Night Life (1962)

Adaptations

  • Men in White (1934 film)
  • Dead End (1937 film)
  • Detective Story (1951 film)
  • Darkness at Noon (TV adaptation, 1955)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
social realismrealistic depictionuse of historical drama techniques
Recurring Motifs
urban poverty and crimemedicine and ethicspolitical conflict

Health

  • Stroke
    1995
    Died of a stroke in 1995. Limited public information about other health issues in later life.

Legacy

Sidney Kingsley was an influential American playwright from the 1930s to the 1960s. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Men in White and Dead End led to a film and the creation of the Dead End Kids. Though blacklisted in Hollywood in 1951, limiting his film career, his stage work and induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1983 cemented his legacy.

Academic Societies

  • Dramatists Guild of America

Archives

  • Sidney Kingsley Papers - Ohio State University Libraries

In Popular Culture

  • The film adaptation of Dead End and the emergence of the Dead End Kids troupe influenced popular culture.
  • Provided his Manhattan apartment as an uncredited filming location for the movie Serpico.

Quotes

  • "a short, powerfully built man with broad shoulders, a big head, and rough-hewn features that made him look like a bust by Sir Jacob Epstein."
    Source: Michael Korda, Another Life: A Memoir of Other People (1999)

Trivia

  • Born Sidney Kirschner, later known as Sidney Kingsley.
  • Won the 1934 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Men in White.
  • Married actress Madge Evans in 1939; marriage lasted until her death in 1981.
  • Placed on the Hollywood blacklist in 1951, which curtailed his film career.
  • Lived for 42 years in his 18th-century home in Oakland, New Jersey.