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Act One: An Autobiography

by Moss Hart , Woody Allen (Introduction)

4.27 of 5 stars 4.27 · rating details · 748 ratings · 104 reviews

Moss Hart was in the thick of American theater when everyone wore black tie on opening night and the world's most witty people entertained each other around a grand piano at late-night supper parties. It's an era of glamour that will never come again, but we have Hart's words on paper, and that is no small thing. A renowned director and theatrical collaborator, the brillia ...more

Paperback , 464 pages

Published February 11th 2014 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published 1959)

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Jul 01, 2015 Heidi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a white-knuckle glimpse into the world of theatre, and what a caveat for those of us who dream about one day writing a play. Novice playwright Moss Hart and Broadway master George Kaufman worked daily for weeks, months, to excise words and scenes, conjure better ones only to toss them out, and ultimately craft a storyline with dialogue that would do that elusive and mysterious of all things: delight a capricious audience.

Hart’s memoir describing his rise to success on Broadway reads like a What a white-knuckle glimpse into the world of theatre, and what a caveat for those of us who dream about one day writing a play. Novice playwright Moss Hart and Broadway master George Kaufman worked daily for weeks, months, to excise words and scenes, conjure better ones only to toss them out, and ultimately craft a storyline with dialogue that would do that elusive and mysterious of all things: delight a capricious audience.

Hart’s memoir describing his rise to success on Broadway reads like a thriller. A master of suspense, he takes us to the brink--dear God let the audience laugh in the right places, this time--then pulls back to provide several paragraphs of historical background or a philosophical meditation, all intriguing, sure, but seriously, can’t it wait until we find out if...and then when our breath is coming hard, he relents and we stand again at the brink.

It’s a style that reflects one of the lessons he and Kaufman learned as they endlessly rewrote Once in a Lifetime , the first of several plays on which they collaborated in the 1930s: the need to balance onstage noise with quiet scenes that allow the audience to absorb and reflect.

A child of the Bronx, where often there wasn’t enough food for his small family, Hart also provides readers with a view of the grinding hardship of poverty and its psychological consequences. I often had the feeling he was apologizing for his post-success, opulent lifestyle.

One thing his memoir doesn’t do is reflect a playwright’s first obligation, which is to cut unmercifully so only the bones of the story show through. In Act One , Hart indulges in rampant repetition, saying something once, doubling back to say it another way, and then doing it a third time—all part of his bid to extend the suspense. But no matter; it’s all good, exceptionally good. It is the kind of old-fashioned writing I love, with its complex sentences full of sensuous detail.

This book is guaranteed to enchant those who love theatre, words, and a powerful rags-to-riches story.
...more

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Nov 09, 2010 Polly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction , nice-books , worth-re-reading

Lovely theatrical autobiography, a genre to which I have a minor addiction (only old ones; no interest in autobiographies of anyone who hasn't hit their seventies by now, and most of the best ones are by people who died at least ten years ago and/or in their nineties). I've read most of the major English ones--being an Anglophile and a stage, rather than screen person--and this is a lovely way to start on Americans. Moss Hart was obviously a nice man, as well as a talented one, and that helps a ...more

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Jul 30, 2013 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ann Patchett recommended this book at ALA this year. I didn't know who Moss Hart was. This autobiography chronicles his early impoverished years through the success of his first Broadway play, "Once in a Lifetime". It was a little slow going at first but once I made it to his stories about working as a social director at a ramshackle summer camp I was hooked. I laughed out loud. I struggled along with him as he tried to perfect his play and cheered when he ultimately found success. This is a boo ...more

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Jul 09, 2014 Brigitta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the ultimate portrayal of the Great American success story, going from rags to riches from pure hard work and passion. A must read for any theater junkie, especially those into the golden age of Broadway. Only gets 4 stars as it lags in certain parts, but if you persevere, the reward is great at the end. I actually picked it up based on a recommendation in Julie Andrew's memoir (Moss Hart staged My Fair Lady). It is a shame this book has gone out of print, as it highlights a wonderful Am ...more

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Mar 23, 2015 Garry Klein rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some books are enjoyable and some are like a really nice confection. In the department of autobiography, this is one of my favorite recent reads. The writing style is engaging and the story is compelling. I would recommend this to any aspiring playwrights as a lesson in persistence and pursuing your dreams. For those who like knowing more about the immigrant experience, this may be for you as well. Moss Hart may no longer be seen among the greatest of the greats in his profession, but his autobi ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Bernadette Quigley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

loved every word of this memoir...by Moss Hart. Beautiful and moving..and lots of great humor too...I wish he wrote Act Two and Act Three...

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Aug 02, 2014 Michael Emond rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won’t give a play by play of the life of Moss but will say it is a perfect TRUE tale of rags to riches. The kind you would think was too fake if someone had tried to make it up. Inspired by his Aunt at an early age to love the theatre, Moss first works as a helper for a play producer, then writes a play overnight, gets it produced, has it flop, works as a social director, then again as a social director (this time for an evil man and a horrid camp, then we fast forward five years and Moss is I won’t give a play by play of the life of Moss but will say it is a perfect TRUE tale of rags to riches. The kind you would think was too fake if someone had tried to make it up. Inspired by his Aunt at an early age to love the theatre, Moss first works as a helper for a play producer, then writes a play overnight, gets it produced, has it flop, works as a social director, then again as a social director (this time for an evil man and a horrid camp, then we fast forward five years and Moss is THE BEST social director for summer camps, and finally we focus on him writing Once in a Lifetime. All of it expertly told by a master storyteller. At 450 pages there are points in the book where I did get a little bored and wished it would speed up a bit. It is also telling (to me) he NEVER discusses girls or his social life. I also kind of wished to know HOW he became the most sought after Social director after his summer of hell. And I wished to know the actual play because it is fascinating the last fix of a “quiet: scene was all that was needed to save the un-savable third act of this eventual hit. I think it would be like a course in playwriting.
Having said that there were so many gems that make this book a classic. The coincidences that pile on each other to get Moss to where he would end up – coming into the office the day someone quit to get a job on Broadway, meeting his friend Joe Hyman who would save him from near financial ruin, the stray word of producer Sam Harris to remark the play was too “noisy”, the fact his friend (Lester) mailed the play to Sam Harris (and Max Siegel) who would do it if George S Kaufman agreed to help with the writing (he did), which was done after Jed Harris (a horrible villain) had given Moss the runaround. The insightful writing of Moss that lets us know his life warts and all. And of course, the fairy tale ending. Just a wonderful autobiography. It is interesting and makes you rethink your own life.
...more

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May 21, 2014 Enchanted Prose rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Stage-struck”: From poverty to Broadway (Bronx/Brooklyn, NY, 1914 to 1930): Beautifully written storytelling that stayed on the bestseller list over forty weeks when first published in 1959 – a book with devotees in and out of the theatrical world – is too good for Enchanted Prose to pass up because it’s not fiction. Deeply felt books like this one seem to take on a life of their own, much like Moss Hart said a play has “its own peculiar and separate life.” And like playwriting, blogging does n ...more

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Apr 22, 2014 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: those interested in US theater of the 1930s-40s

Recommended to Richard by: expectation of seeing the play

An unlikely book for me to read, but I am going to see the play ACT ONE at Lincoln Center in a couple of weeks; it received a generally positive review from Ben Brantley (NY Times) this week, and so my choice was serendipitous.

The book itself traces Moss Hart's life from age 12 when he had already developed a passion for the theater without having seen a play, through the series of fortunate occurrences that led him to a collaboration with George S. Kaufman, the success of ONCE IN A LIFETIME, an ...more

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Jan 25, 2009 Pattieb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Easy read about the NYC Broadway world of the 1930's and Moss Hart's entry into it from a childhood of poverty in the Bronx.

His basic lesson from life seems to have been, Money (gained doing what I love) makes me happy.

I enjoyed being in the world of 80 years ago for a while. He painted pictures really well and wrote with a light yet reflective hand.

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May 02, 2014 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Because we are going to see "Act One" in NYC, I wanted to read Moss Hart's memoir about his early life in the theater first. I enjoyed the glimpse into that era on Broadway -- the 1920's -- and learning about the colorful characters who roamed the streets of the theater district during that era, but I also appreciated Hart's insights into acting, writing, and the people who do both. From his telling, it had more to do with luck and perseverance than anything else, and he was definitely lucky -- ...more

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Apr 30, 2014 Michael Stevens rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Like great theatre, Moss Hart's biography tells a classic American Success Story with such finely honed words as to give it newness and human insight. As implied by the title, it covers only the very start of his journey so don't look for back stories on My Fair Lady or how he met Kitty Carlisle (whose elegant musings intrigued me on Tell The Truth as a kid). But the story of the challenges and fears of writing his way out of poverty are so honest and heartfelt that the reader feels their truthf ...more

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Jan 02, 2015 Shirley Conley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a very hard book to read. The book was not a page turner. I read it over a long period 3-4 months with lots of books in between. It is the story of Moss Hart’s love of the theater from a very early age and his long, long, long journey through the actual presentation of his first hit on Broadway – Once in a Lifetime. The play took him initially a few days to write and a year or so to get accepted for production and a year or nine months to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite to get into actual pro ...more

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Aug 06, 2012 V. Briceland rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Moss Hart's Act One is, to put it simply, the most riveting work I've read about working in the American theater.

The work is not a comprehensive biography of the noted playwright and director. There's no mention (save in passing) of mega-successes like The Man Who Came to Dinner or Lady in the Dark , no My Fair Lady , no Camelot . There's remarkably little celebrity gossip. There's no Kitty Carlisle. (Darn it.)

Act One instead is a vivid and detailed look at Hart's early life, from his poverty-weigh Moss Hart's Act One is, to put it simply, the most riveting work I've read about working in the American theater.

The work is not a comprehensive biography of the noted playwright and director. There's no mention (save in passing) of mega-successes like The Man Who Came to Dinner or Lady in the Dark , no My Fair Lady , no Camelot . There's remarkably little celebrity gossip. There's no Kitty Carlisle. (Darn it.)

Act One instead is a vivid and detailed look at Hart's early life, from his poverty-weighted youth in the Bronx until the day after opening night of his first hit collaboration with George S. Kaufman, Once in a Lifetime . Readers anxious to skip to the usual stuff of celebrity autobiographies aren't going to find much here, but anyone interested in the creative process itself will find much to contemplate. Hart is well aware that his work is the sum total of his experiences, from his early theater-going visits with a much-beloved aunt, to the clowning he did as social director of Borscht Belt summer camps in the Catskills. His discussion of his at-first uneasy collaboration with Kaufman is fascinating, as he's painfully aware of how different in approach and execution their writing skills could be.

Yet it's the attention to craftsmanship that makes this autobiography compelling. Its final third is an in-depth exploration of the revision process that transformed Once in a Lifetime from a dud doomed to close out-of-town, to the hit Broadway smash that liberated both Hart and his family from poverty. The process didn't happen overnight; it didn't come with a single burst of inspiration. It happened only with Hart's back-breaking effort and a genuine love for his craft.

It's that love—both for writing, and for the theater—that shines warmly from every page. What a fine read. ...more

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Sep 04, 2010 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

Hart, Moss. ACT ONE. (1959). ****. Although billed as an autobiography, it really isn’t. Hart starts off with the saga of his boyhood, growing up poor in the Bronx and then Brooklyn; his father almost perpetually out of work. His one shining light during that time was his aunt, who lived with them. She was by all accounts lazy and too good to work, but she instilled in Moss the love of theater. Although she had less than no money, she always managed to get to the theater to see the shows. After Hart, Moss. ACT ONE. (1959). ****. Although billed as an autobiography, it really isn’t. Hart starts off with the saga of his boyhood, growing up poor in the Bronx and then Brooklyn; his father almost perpetually out of work. His one shining light during that time was his aunt, who lived with them. She was by all accounts lazy and too good to work, but she instilled in Moss the love of theater. Although she had less than no money, she always managed to get to the theater to see the shows. After reaching fourteen, Moss got a succession of jobs, including working in a pelt factory, and then acting as the social director for a summer camp. He was still fascinated by the theater, and for a long time thought he should be an actor. All this time, he was writing plays, although none of them was produced. He finally got a job as an office boy at a booking agency and began to meet people who could help him get into the theater world. He wrote a play and submitted it to his boss. His boss thought it was terrific, and put it on the road. It was a big bomb. Moss realized that there was a lot about the theater that he didn’t know. When he wrote the next play, “Once in a Lifetime,” it was his first comedy. When he finally got it to people who counted, they liked it enough, but recommended that he work with George Kaufman to polish the play. The whole second half of the book is about this play and the collaboration between the two men. It took a long time and a lot of out-of-town trials to make the play work right, but it was ultimately a success when it hit Broadway. Hart went on to collaborate with Kaufman on several plays, then broke away on his own, where he wrote and directed plays and musicals for the rest of his career. Some of his more memorable works included “Lady in the Dark,” “You Can’t Take it With You,” and “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” His most successful enterprise was his direction of the fabled “My Fair Lady.” He was married to Kitty Carlisle, who I remember as being a regular panelist on some game show on TV, but was active on the stage and in films. The “autobiography” is heavy on his first successful play, but it might have been that he was planning an additional volume. Recommended. ...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Bruce rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Two-and-a-half-stars, really. It's taken me forever to deal with this work... to begin with, it took me over 1 1/2 years to read and at least one abortive attempt, and then another 3-4 months to get around to reviewing. Part of the blame for this can be laid at the feet of Neil Simon (though he surely wouldn't want it) and part to Hart's stylings (yeah, yeah, okay, all blame lies with the reader, but...). I wouldn't have managed to muddle through it at all if I hadn't owned my own copy, and been Two-and-a-half-stars, really. It's taken me forever to deal with this work... to begin with, it took me over 1 1/2 years to read and at least one abortive attempt, and then another 3-4 months to get around to reviewing. Part of the blame for this can be laid at the feet of Neil Simon (though he surely wouldn't want it) and part to Hart's stylings (yeah, yeah, okay, all blame lies with the reader, but...). I wouldn't have managed to muddle through it at all if I hadn't owned my own copy, and been so bored one day I picked it back up and got hooked somewhere around page 150 or so.

First, let me explain for the uninitiated what this book represents and why I felt so compelled to bother with it at all. I'll then lay off why I blame Neil Simon for so interfering with my progress, and finally quote some typical passages to show why I think Hart's... perhaps not aging so well.

So, Moss Hart's autobiography (there is no "Act II," so don't bother looking) is considered the seminal work on the history of the development of the modern Broadway theater. Both Hart's life's work (writing or co-writing such plays as You Can't Take it With You , The Man Who Came to Dinner , Face the Music , and Lady in the Dark ; such films as Gentleman's Agreement and A Star is Born ; and directing such original productions as My Fair Lady and Camelot ) and this book have had great influence on the Arthur Laurentses, Neil Simonses, Alan Jay Lerners, and other scions of the modern theater. This is so much the case that this book is nearly impossible to read without experiencing resonances with other glimpses of mid-20th century New York City, ranging from "42nd Street" to the toils of Lieber & Stoller to the tenements haunted by the likes of Richard Feynman, Spike Lee, or Woody Allen.

Which brings me to Neil Simon, he of Brighton Beach Memoirs and Rewrites , both of which I have reviewed elsewhere on GoodReads, and both of which more or less ruined me for Moss Hart. Simon makes no bones about his influences, and in fact, when I put my down my Mossy vegetables last year to savor my Simon-borscht belt dessert, I couldn't pick Hart back up. Simon's life story and experiences so emulate those of Hart's (and are so much breezier in style), that to then go and read Hart's is a bit like chasing down a milkshake with the watery dregs from the rinsed glass. Maybe that's another explanation for Simon calling his own memoir "Rewrites." Of course, Hart came first, but it's all of a piece on the library shelf.

And it's not as though Hart's storytelling isn't vivid: you live with him through the humiliation and discomfort of a crammed boarding house Jewish immigrant's experience, looking to the fantasy of the theater via the railway rainbow of an 80-minute subway ride as the ultimate escape. The overcrowding, the empty larder, the noisy urban parade mixing the heady salt odors of pickling spices, ocean spray, and sweat. You plug away with him in the summer Catskills experience as a camp director (very much akin to Julie the Cruise Director's experience, only adding sleeplessness fueled by gin, coffee, pine boards, and a desperate need for tips), doubling down leading workshops day and night for community theater groups in Jersey that can barely pay, and filling legal pad after legal pad with scribblefuls of literary pretension. Unfortunately, Hart writes it like this:

Is success in any other profession as dazzling, as deeply satisfying, as it is in the theatre? I cannot pretend to know, but I doubt it. There are other professions where the rewards are as great or greater than those the theatre offers, there are professions where the fruits of success are as immediate, and still others where the pursuit of a more admirable goal undoubtedly brings a nobler sense of fulfillment. But I wonder if success in any of them tastes as sweet. Again, I am inclined to doubt it. There is an intensity, an extravagance, an abundant and unequivocal gratification to the vanity and the ego that can be satisfied more richly and more fully by success in the theatre than in any other calling. Like everything else about the theatre, its success is emphatic and immoderate. Perhaps what makes it so marvelously satisfying is that it is a success that is anything but lonely -- everyone seems to share in it, friends and strangers alike -- and a first success in the theatre is the most intoxicating and beguiling time imaginable. No success afterward surpasses it. It roars and thumps and thunders through the blood the way that second drink seemed to be coursing through my veins right now, so that it seemed hardly bearable to have to wait until tomorrow to start savoring it.

I asked someone what time it was and blinked my surprise when I was told it was four thirty in the morning.... (p. 373)

Ugh and omigod. Hart very nearly just put me back to sleep aGAIN. ...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Theater is not so much a profession as a disease, and my first look at Broadway was the beginning of a lifelong infection.” Moss Hart declares.

I first read Act One in college 30+ years ago. I recalled ninety-nine percent of the events as I read the book for the second time. The memoir is a story of resilience. Moss Hart’s fervent passion of the theater is contagious and intense. The subtle humor in between the lines as the story develops is a striking example of pure comic genius. Before Woody ...more

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Jan 09, 2011 Patrick Peterson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sense-of-life , biography

Fascinating! I read a small excerpt of this book when I was a freshman in high school. It captivated me, which was a bit surprising, since the topic - a non-sports or even socially oriented, young boy, a future playwrite, captivating his neighbor boys so much which his tales of stories they had never heard, and would probably never read - didn't really fit me at all. But that reading, tucked away over these many years, came out in a powerful desire to find out the rest of the story.

Rewarded I wa ...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Dave Thome rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone involved in the theatre.

Recommended to Dave by: Nancy Reddon's Aunt Mary

I received this book as a gift from a very dear friend-of-mine's aunt. Turns out, I'd been given a first edition copy!

Re-reading the book made it difficult for me to believe I'd already read it when I'd received it in the 1970s--it was as if I was reading the book for the first time.

It took a long time for Moss Hart to get to 'the good part'. Being a theatre person, I found the first three-fifths of the book interesting but heavily laden with a discontent that was stifling. Perhaps that's what M ...more

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May 23, 2013 Asho rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-but-do-not-own

I borrowed this book ages ago but put off reading it for a couple of years. I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the cover of this one just didn't appeal to me. I passed over it on my bookshelf again and again. Autobiographies and memoirs aren't generally my genre of choice. And even though I'm a theatre historian, I'll admit that I don't know as much as I probably should about Hart's play writing and directing career, so he was not a character who particularly piqued my int I borrowed this book ages ago but put off reading it for a couple of years. I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the cover of this one just didn't appeal to me. I passed over it on my bookshelf again and again. Autobiographies and memoirs aren't generally my genre of choice. And even though I'm a theatre historian, I'll admit that I don't know as much as I probably should about Hart's play writing and directing career, so he was not a character who particularly piqued my interest.
However, I recently decided that I had to read all of my borrowed books before I read anything else, which meant I had to finally give Act One a chance. I am so glad that I did! I thoroughly enjoyed this autobiography of Hart's formative years and the writing and production of his first Broadway hit. I suppose the writing style is a bit dated, but in my opinion that's part of what gave this book its unique charm. Not surprisingly, Hart knows how to write a damn good character, even when those characters are actual people in his life. Each person in the book was fully formed in my mind's eye, and I wished I could eat a meal and have a discussion with almost all of them. I literally laughed out loud more than once while reading this, both at the anecdotes of theatre people doing absurd things, and at Hart's inner monologues.
What surprised me most was that a book written in 1959, about events that happened from approximately 1919-1930, could still feel so relevant to a theatre practitioner in 2013. While many of the details about producing a Broadway show have changed substantially since this book was written, the fundamental players, emotions, frustrations, and elations remain the same. Perhaps that's ultimately why I enjoyed this book so much: as I read it, I could perfectly relate to Hart's descriptions of the writing process, low-budget summer camp theatre, wacky theatrical rituals, grueling dress and tech rehearsals, opening night jitters, and everything else. Plus this book is just full of quotable material about the theatre and about life in general. One of my favorites:
"So far as I know, anything worth hearing is not usually uttered at seven o'clock in the morning; and if it is, it will generally be repeated at a more reasonable hour for a larger and more wakeful audience."
I have no doubt that some of the too-good-to-be-true moments in this book are, in fact, embellished, or maybe even completely fabricated. I also know that this book hardly begins to touch on the complex personality and emotional issues of Moss Hart. Still, he chose what to tell his audience brilliantly. I wish I was capable of plotting the events of my own life into such a suspenseful and enjoyable tale, and I really wish Hart hadn't died before penning Act Two. ...more

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Jul 24, 2013 Anika rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-pantheon-of-awesomeness , theater

I have heard for a long time that, since I love and work in theater, I had to read 'Act One'. I have no good reason for not getting around to it sooner, but boy am I sorry it took me so long. Even though it was written in 1959 and talks about a time far earlier, it is eerie how perfectly Hart nails theater, even today. The ache of wanting to join show biz, the magic of the theater community, the tricky business of controlling a room as a Director, the strange collective genius of an audience, ev ...more

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Feb 22, 2015 Juliana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history , americana-captured , art , coming-of-age , family-drama , new-york-state-of-mind , memoir , the-twenties

This is great American tale about hard work, making the big time and the love of the theater. Written in 1957 shortly before he died Moss Hart was the playwright for You Can't Take it With You, My Fair Lady and dozens of others of hits during the thirties through the fifties. This is a delightful story of Hart's early days growing up poor, working his way through his first broadway Hit--Once in a Lifetime. This memoir was recently turned into a play itself starring Tony Shaloub. I hope they make ...more

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Jan 05, 2013 David Earle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For anyone who loves the theatre, as I do, you will love “Act One”, an autobiography by Moss Hart who wrote some of Broadway’s biggest hits, as well as directing the world premieres of many of Broadway’s greatest sensations such as “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot.” But you don’t have to be a Thespian to enjoy this book filled with laughter and tears of this “stage struck” kid with nothing but talent who fought his way up from the Bronx…to the Borscht Circuit…to the bright lights of Broadway fame! Bu ...more

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Dec 25, 2007 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone remotely involved in american theatre must read this book!!!

This is, in many ways, my favorite book. I think I probably read it every year and a half. It is a wonderfully written story about Hart's life up until the moment he became a show business success. Born to an impoverished and dysfunctional family in the Bronx, Hart becomes a success through his tremendous love for the stage, and also through tremendous savvy and luck....My description of the tale makes it seem hackneyed to the extreme, but Hart is such a fantastic writer that the book speeds by ...more

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Sep 23, 2015 Rick Lenz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was a young actor/writer living in Michigan when I read this book. It was so exhilarating that I pretty much finished it, packed my things, and moved to New York to be an actor, and eventually a writer as well. So beware; if you have such inclinations, "Act One" can push you over the edge.

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May 07, 2015 Karlan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult , older-ya

What a terrific memoir! Thanks to the play at Lincoln Center, I looked for the fuller story. Theatre goers who have wondered why so many plays begin well but have trouble with the final act will learn a lot about the challenge of writing a play. I was sorry to see the book end.

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Aug 27, 2015 Dan Dicker rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sorry, little sympathy for this self absorbed tale of minutiae of a theatre (notice the spelling) wannabe. Petty, boring, self hating Jewish affected man, this Moss Hart was.

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Nov 15, 2012 Jessica Barkl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My graduate school playwrighting instructor, Stuart Spencer, told us that this was the best book on theater...for acting, for directing, for playwrighting, for producing, for everything...I thought he was crazy, but...I finally picked this up recently, and I read it quite furiously, and...he was right. I don't like saying people are right very often, but in this case he is. I don't think I could even teach as much knowledge that is located in this 400+ book. It's too bad there isn't an ACT TWO b ...more

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Jan 06, 2015 Kent Hayden rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A well-written book about Hart's formulative years in Broadway leading to his first big hit and co-written with George Kaufman.

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Aug 01, 2014 Dan Annie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Vivid, gripping, honest and interesting. A fun and great read with many details surely to be remembered many years from now.

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About Moss Hart

Moss Hart was an American playwright and director of plays and musical theater. Hart recalled his youth, early career and rise to fame in his autobiography, Act One , adapted to film in 1963, with George Hamilton portraying Hart.

Hart grew up at 74 East 105th Street in Manhattan, "a neighborhood not of carriages and hansom cabs, but of dray wagons, pushcarts, and immigrants" (Bach 1). Early on he ha ...more

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title link	preview: Act One: An Autobiography
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Quotes from Act One: An Autobiography

“The only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream. For those who did, it unlocked its gates and its treasures, not caring who they were or where they came from.” — 12 likes

“It was possible in this wonderful city for that nameless little boy -for any of its millions- to have a decent chance to scale the walls and achieve what they wished. Wealth, rank or an imposing name counted for nothing. The only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream. For those who did, it unlocked its gates and its treasures, not caring who they were or where they came from.” — 5 likes

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Act One: An Autobiography

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About Moss Hart

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Trivia About Act One

Quotes from Act One: An Autobiography