Russel Crouse

Russel Crouse (1893-1966) was a newspaperman, a press agent for the Theatre Guild, the author of several books and a librettist before partnering with Howard Lindsay. Lindsay and Crouse's partnership stands today as the longest collaboration of any writers in theatrical history, lasting for more than 28 years. The two men first joined forces in 1934, when the producer Vinton Freedley brought them together to rewrite the libretto for Anything Goes, which Lindsay directed. Two years later, they wrote another Cole Porter show, Red, Hot and Blue. Their first straight play, Life with Father, opened in 1936 and holds the record fir the longest running play on Broadway, at 3,224 performances. Among other shows, Lindsay and Crouse also wrote The Sound of Music (score by Rodgers and Hammerstein); the Pulitzer Prize winning State of the Union; Call Me Madam and Mr. President (scores by Irving Berlin); The Prescott Proposals and The Great Sebastians. They produced The Hasty Heart, Detective Storyand Arsenic and Old Lace. In addition to his work with Linday, Russel Crouse later reproduced, in collaboration with his wife, Anna Erskine Crouse, a son, the writer Timothy Crouse, and a daughter, the actress Lindsay Crouse.