Morrie Ryskind

''Morrie Ryskind'' is an American playwright, lyricist, and screenwriter known for his sharp satirical contributions to Broadway musicals and classic Hollywood comedies, most notably his collaborations with George S. Kaufman and the Gershwins on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Of Thee I Sing (1931) and his work on Marx Brothers films such as A Night at the Opera (1935).

Born Morris Ryskind on October 20, 1895, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, he attended Columbia University, where he edited the humor magazine The Jester before being expelled in 1917 for a controversial editorial. He began his career in journalism and poetry before breaking into Broadway, collaborating with Kaufman on Animal Crackers (1928), which also became a Marx Brothers film. His partnership with Kaufman and George and Ira Gershwin produced political satires including Strike Up the Band (1930), Of Thee I Sing—the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1932—and Let 'Em Eat Cake (1933). In Hollywood, Ryskind contributed to scripts for Marx Brothers pictures like The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, and A Night at the Opera, as well as screwball classics My Man Godfrey and Stage Door (1937), earning two Academy Award nominations for screenwriting.

Initially aligned with progressive causes, Ryskind underwent a significant political transformation, testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947 about alleged Communist influence in Hollywood. He later became a vocal conservative, briefly joining the John Birch Society before distancing himself, and worked as a syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times and Herald Examiner while helping found National Review and supporting figures like William F. Buckley Jr. Ryskind largely retired from entertainment writing after the mid-1940s and died on August 24, 1985, in Washington, D.C., at age 89.