Act One

In the opinion of the publishers, act one is the warmest, most engrossing—and by far the most revealing—book about the theatre that they have ever encountered.

It is, of course, a success story, for Moss Hart today is one of the most brilliant, successful and famous figures in the American theatre, both as a playwright and as a director.

How did it happen? Not easily. His boyhood and adolescent years were spent in two entirely different backgrounds, and the stories of both are fascinating. With the opening of his first Broadway play, Once in a Lifetime, his world changed abruptly. This book concludes with a detailed telling of the complicated steps whereby that play came into being.

“I consider the memories and pledges that were part of the struggle that preceded success the vital ones,” the author says. He has set these memories down with unusual candor, humor and excitement; and the book is an intimate and informative portrait, not only of him self but of the world of the theatre as well.