Moss Hart's Winged Victory Silver Dog Tags 1943 ARC1996.5 Finding aid prepared by Jacqui Bowen This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit December 08, 2014 Describing Archives: A Content Standard James A. Michener Art Museum Archives July, 2013 http://www.MichenerArtMuseum.org 138 South Pine Street Doylestown, PA, 18901 215-340-9800 Moss Hart's Winged Victory Silver Dog Tags 1943 ARC1996.5 Table of Contents Summary Information ................................................................................................................................. 3 Biographical/Historical note.......................................................................................................................... 4 Scope and Contents note............................................................................................................................... 5 Administrative Information .........................................................................................................................5 Controlled Access Headings..........................................................................................................................6 - Page 2 - Moss Hart's Winged Victory Silver Dog Tags 1943 ARC1996.5 Summary Information Repository James A. Michener Art Museum Archives Title Moss Hart's Winged Victory Commemorative Dog Tags Date 1943 Extent 2.0 Linear feet Solander box Language English Mixed materials [Box] 1 Abstract Moss Hart was a successful director, composer, and playwrite from the 1930s until the 1950s. He scored his first Broadway hit with “Once in a Lifetime” (1930), a farce about the arrival of the sound era in Hollywood. Hart had other success with "The Man Who Came to Dinner", "Dear Ruth", "My Fair Lady", and "Winged Victory". The collection includes two of Moss Hart's "Winged Victory" silver punched dog tags with chains. They are engraved "Moss Hart/00000000/Winged Victory/New York City", and "October 24th 1943" on verso. Preferred Citation note Moss Hart's Winged Victory Commemorative Dog Tags, James A. Michener Art Museum Archives. - Page 3 - Moss Hart's Winged Victory Silver Dog Tags 1943 ARC1996.5 Biographical/Historical note The idea for Winged Victory began in April 1942 when the US Army Air Forces commissioned Moss Hart to “write a play about the flying branch of the service” to boost morale and raise money for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. The play was to depict the training, work and dedication of the airmen. Hart spent two months touring national Air Force bases collecting background material and recruiting Air Force personnel with theatrical experience. Winged Victory premiered in a brief run at Boston’s Shubert Theatre on November 2, 1943 and opened November 20 on Broadway’s 44th Street Theatre, where it ran until May 1944. The cast consisted of nearly 300 actors. All male personnel were Air Force officers, non-coms and privates and were billed with their actual ranks. Most of the limited female roles were portrayed by wives of the servicemen. The musical portrayed a group of recruits who befriend each other as the struggle through pilot training. The successful Broadway run ended to enable the entire cast to perform in the Twentieth Century Fox film version directed by George Cukor from Hart’s screenplay adaptation. Barry Nelson, Red Buttons, Walter Reed, Whit Bissell and Keith Andes were featured on stage as well as in the 1944 film adaptation. The Winged Victory company, known as the 31st AAF Base Unit, disbanded in November, 1945. Like Hart’s play, the film earned high praise with critics calling it “one of the most successful films about this war… [with] all the poignancy and zeal that was tightly compacted in the episodes of Moss Hart’s original play” (New York Times). ------------------------------------------------------------------- Hart was born in New York City on October 24, 1904. He was raised, in relative poverty, by his English- born Jewish immigrant parents in the Bronx, New York, and in the Seagate area of Brooklyn. Early on he had a strong relationship with his Aunt Kate, with whom he later lost contact due to a falling out between her and his parents, and her weakening mental state. She piqued his interest in the theater and took him to see performances often. After working several years as a director of amateur theatrical groups and an entertainment director at summer resorts, he scored his first Broadway hit with “Once in a Lifetime” (1930), a farce about the arrival of the sound era in Hollywood. The play was written in collaboration with Broadway veteran George S. Kaufman. During the next decade, Kaufman and Hart teamed on a string of successes, including “You Can't Take It With You” (1936) and “The Man Who Came to Dinner” (1939). Though Kaufman had hits with others, Hart is generally conceded to be his most important collaborator. Hart continued to write plays after parting with Kaufman, such as “Christopher Blake” (1946) and “Light Up the Sky” (1948), as well as the book for the musical “Lady In The Dark” (1941), with songs by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin. However, he became best known during this period as a director. Among the Broadway hits he staged were “Junior Miss” (1941), “Dear Ruth” (1944) and “Anniversary Waltz” (1954). By far his biggest hit was the musical “My Fair Lady” (1956), adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Hart also wrote some screenplays, including “Winged Victory” (1944), “Gentleman's Agreement” (1947) – for which he received an Oscar nomination – “Hans Christian - Page 4 - Moss Hart's Winged Victory Silver Dog Tags 1943 ARC1996.5 Andersen” (1952) and “A Star Is Born” (1954). Moss Hart died of a heart attack at the age of 57 on December 20, 1961, at his winter home in Palm Springs, California. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss_Hart Scope and Contents note The collection includes two of Moss Hart's "Winged Victory" silver punched dog tags with chain. They are engraved "Moss Hart/00000000/Winged Victory/New York City". On verso "October 24th 1943" is inscribed. Administrative Information Publication Information James A. Michener Art Museum Archives July, 2013 Conditions Governing Access note Collection is open to researchers at the James A. Michener Art Museum Archives. Advance appointments are required for the use of archival materials. Conditions Governing Use note Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications for which the James A. Michener Art Museum Archives assumes no responsibility. Permission to publish must be obtained from the Director of the Archives at the James A. Michener Art Museum Archives. Immediate Source of Acquisition note Collection, ARC1996.5, gifted to the James A. Michener Art Museum Archives by Kitty Carlisle Hart on August 30, 1996. - Page 5 - Moss Hart's Winged Victory Silver Dog Tags 1943 ARC1996.5 Processing Information note Collection was processed by P. Sergey on August 24, 2010. Controlled Access Headings Genre(s) • Winged Victory Screenplay Personal Name(s) • Hart, Moss - Page 6 -.