Act One

"Act One may be the greatest show-business autobiography ever written. It’s certainly one of the greatest. The book is a compendium of backstage stories and anecdotes about all the fabulous people Moss Hart knew intimately – and he knew them all. Hart co-wrote some of the most successful comedies in Broadway history with George S Kaufmann. You Can’t Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner are probably the most famous – you still see them being revived today. Hart also directed many successful shows including My Fair Lady , one of Broadway’s biggest musical hits. But none of that is covered in Act One , and you don’t really care. The book is a funny, heartfelt description of Hart’s struggle to make it big on Broadway in the 1920s. He grew up poor in the Bronx. Even though Hart’s family couldn’t afford food, his aunt always found a way to go to the theatre. She’d come home and describe in detail everything that she saw on stage. She must have been a great storyteller, because Hart became obsessed with Broadway. Hart talks about Broadway as a refuge. Certainly that’s how he looked at it, as a magical place where the troubles of the world no longer matter. These days you may wonder what possesses people who are drawn to theatre, because it’s not the major American cultural force it once was. But there’s something about live performance, and the glamorous history that Hart writes about, which still attracts people to Broadway."