Vivian Cosby: Difference between revisions
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==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |
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Cosby was engaged to [[librettist]] Erving Plummer on April 9, 1922 while both were |
Cosby was engaged to [[librettist]] Erving Plummer on April 9, 1922 while both were attending Boston University and working together on the university's theatre production.<ref name="Engagement">{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=April 10, 1922 |title=Cupid Assumes Role In All-B. U. Show Rehearsals: Engagement of Miss Vivian Cosby , Coach, and Erving Plummer, Librettist, Announced |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-plummer-erving-first/101837575/ |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |access-date=May 27, 2024 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> She died on August 11, 1963 in [[Los Angeles, California]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9SX-3JK3?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQLBQ-Y1D8&action=view |title=Certificate of Death |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=August 21, 1963 |website=[[FamilySearch]] |access-date=May 27, 2024}} |
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Revision as of 20:51, 27 May 2024
a.k.a Vivian Crosby
Vivian Cosby (? - August 11, 1962) was a magician and writer of plays. Some of her work was adapted to film. She was badly burned performing a fire trick.[1]
She wrote the 3-act play The Pitchman. She wrote for Mabel Withee and Bobby Dale in the show Mary Ann.[2] She also wrote for Ruth Love and Sidney Tomack in the show Oh, Uncle.[2]
She contracted to write for a television show about supernatural phenomena featuring Hereward Carrington.[3] She acquired rights to The Great Merlini by Clayton Rawson.[4]
She wrote the story the film No Time for Romance is based on.[5][6]
Bernice Cornell interviewed her.[7] A letter she wrote while in hospital survives.[1] Fellow magician Gerrie Larsen Baker (Geri Larsen) wrote an obituary for her.[8]
Career
Born as Vivian L. Cosby on June 6, 1901 to Richard Cosby and Susan L. Dodsworth in Boston, Massachusetts,[9] An early work of Cosby's that was turned into a stage musical comedy in 1926 was titled Miss Happiness, and later renamed Open Your Arms.[10] She also wrote the music for the comedy, which was noted by The Evening Journal as helping lift the show "away from the humdrum comedy" that was written by her co-authors.[11] The first play Cosby wrote that was picked up for general production was Just a Pal in 1930, which she made with actress Shirley Warde while Cosby was working as a script writer for RKO Radio.[12] She was featured as one of the "foremost contemporary authors" on RKO's 1936-1937 special features program on the subject, noted for her "distinguished record of stage successes".[13]
In 1943, Cosby's house in Beverly Hills, California burned down and her injuries from the fire resulted in her being hospitalized at St. Vincent's Hospital for three and a half years. During her covalescence in 1945, she wrote a book named The Pitchman, which had the potential to be turned into a Broadway play.[14] The Pitchman was the first screen writing contract Cosby picked up after her recovery and also the first production for the newly formed Jimmy Dunn Productions, with the story being about spieler presenters.[15] She was finally pronounced fully recovered at the end of 1946 and signed up for three different screen writing contracts for upcoming films.[16]
Theater
- Just a Pal (1930), co-author with Shirley Warde[17]
- Cynthia; or Miss Happiness, a 2-act musical comedy co-written with G. E. Stoddard (1927)[18]
- The Pitchman a.k.a. Johnny-Come-Lately[19] (1933)[20]
Filmography
- The Mind Reader (1933), original story[21][22]
- Trick for Trick (1933), co-author[23][24]
- No Time for Romance (1949)
Personal life
Cosby was engaged to librettist Erving Plummer on April 9, 1922 while both were attending Boston University and working together on the university's theatre production.[25] She died on August 11, 1963 in Los Angeles, California.[26]
References
- ^ a b "Vivian Cosby - Typed Letter Signed 10/15/1940 | HistoryForSale Item 67391". HistoryForSale - Autographs, Collectibles & Memorabilia.
- ^ a b "The Billboard". R.S. Littleford, Jr., W.D. Littleford. July 5, 1927 – via Google Books.
- ^ Inc, Nielsen Business Media (February 13, 1954). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. – via Google Books.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ "The Hollywood Reporter". Wilkerson Daily Corporation. July 5, 1962 – via Google Books.
- ^ Richards, Larry (September 17, 2015). African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 9781476610528 – via Google Books.
- ^ Smith, Jessie Carney (December 1, 2012). Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9781578594245 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Writers' Markets & Methods". Writers' Markets & Methods. July 5, 1945 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Genii". W.W. Larson. July 5, 1962 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Births Registered In The City Of Boston For The Year 1901". FamilySearch. 1901. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "Theatre Notes". New York Daily News. March 18, 1927. Retrieved May 25, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Songs, Dances In Snappy Show". The Evening Journal. November 23, 1926. Retrieved May 25, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Paul Moss". New York Daily News. April 30, 1930. Retrieved May 25, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "RKO Authors Have Made Literary History". Brooklyn Times-Union. June 21, 1936. Retrieved May 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Schallert, Edwin (July 27, 1945). "Rhonda Fleming Wins Role In 'Abilene'". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 25, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Schallert, Edwin (December 30, 1946). "Cinema Couple Join In Footlights Project". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 25, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Parsons, Louella O. (January 16, 1947). "Vivian Crosby". The Solano-Napa News Chronicle. Retrieved May 25, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (November 30, 1958). "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series" – via Google Books.
- ^ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (July 5, 1928). "Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series" – via Google Books.
- ^ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (November 30, 1933). "Catalogue of Title Entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Register of Copyrights, Library of Congress, at Washington, D.C." U.S. Government Printing Office – via Google Books.
- ^ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (November 30, 1945). "Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and Motion Pictures. New Series" – via Google Books.
- ^ Young, R. G. (July 5, 2000). The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781557832696 – via Google Books.
- ^ Manchel, Frank (July 5, 2007). Every Step a Struggle: Interviews with Seven who Shaped the African-American Image in Movies. New Academia Publishing, LLC. ISBN 9780978771300 – via Google Books.
- ^ Curtis, James (November 17, 2015). William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9781101870679 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Murder and Magic". June 10, 1933 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "Cupid Assumes Role In All-B. U. Show Rehearsals: Engagement of Miss Vivian Cosby , Coach, and Erving Plummer, Librettist, Announced". The Boston Globe. April 10, 1922. Retrieved May 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Certificate of Death". FamilySearch. August 21, 1963. Retrieved May 27, 2024.