Dorktales Storytime
Be the hero of your own story with Dorktales Storytime, the award-winning podcast for kids and their pop culture loving grownups. Enter their Once Upon a Time world where hosts, Jonathan Cormur and Mr. Reginald T. Hedgehog, take you on a storytelling journey of curiosity and acceptance. You’ll explore reimagined fairytales and fables with social emotional themes, discover inspiring stories of history’s hidden heroes, and experience imaginary tales of boundless possibilities.
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Dorktales Storytime
Moss Hart, Hidden Hero of History
A captivating tale of determination and the bright lights of Broadway! From his beginnings in a Bronx tenement, Moss Hart became one of the most talented figures in American theater history. His journey from office boy to legendary playwright, stage director and screenwriter is a testament to the power of dreams and perseverance. His award-winning collaborations with George S. Kaufman and Irving Berlin left a lasting mark on the arts. And, his autobiography, “Act One” continues to inspire creative artists to this day.
Go to the episode webpage: https://jonincharacter.com/moss-hart/
Get a free activity guide on Moss Hart: https://dorktalesstorytime.aweb.page/ep94freePDF
If you enjoyed this story about a hidden hero who came from New York, you may also enjoy learning about Emma Lazarus: https://jonincharacter.com/emma-lazarus/
CREDITS: Hidden Heroes of History is a Jonincharacter production. Today’s story was written by Rebecca Cunningham, edited and produced by Molly Murphy and performed by Jonathan Cormur. Sound recording and production by Jermaine Hamilton at Hamilton Studio Recordings.
We're fans of the new children's book, Fail-A-Bration, by New York Times bestselling authors Brad and Kristi Montague. Check it out: https://montagueworkshop.com/failabration
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Now, go be the hero of your own story and we’ll see you next once-upon-a-time!
JONATHAN CORMUR: Hello Dork Squad. I'm Jonathan Cormur and you're listening to Dorktales Storytime, the podcast for kids and their pop culture-loving grown-ups, and this is an inspiring story about a hidden hero of history.
THEME SONG: It's a beautiful day for a story, adventure and glory, new friends and old ones too. It's an excellent day to get swept away in a tail, so let us regale you.
SFX A thunderous applause
REDGE
(Sighs.) What an excellent show. Another rousing performance by Olivia Crescendo the singing otter.
JONATHAN
Agreed. And fantastic choreography by Bob Gosse the Goose, don’t you think?
REDGE
Yes, it was so bold! I’ve never witnessed such a masterful use of flap, ball, changes in my life! Jonathan, I must be honest with you.
JONATHAN
What’s up, Redge?
REDGE
I think I’ve been bitten by the theater bug.
JONATHAN
Redge, you run almost every performance troupe in the Folktale Forest. You were bitten by that bug long ago.
REDGE
No, I mean that little bug over there just bit me on my paw and now it itches like the dickens! But … now that you mention it. Perhaps a new venture for the stage is calling to me.
JONATHAN
It says here in the program that they’re holding auditions for the show, Lamb-ilton next week.
REDGE
The musical about the founders of Once Upon a Time Land? I would be perfect for it but agh … I’m not sure. This is a much bigger stage than I’ve ever performed on before! What if I freeze up and forget all my lines?
JONATHAN
But what if you don’t? The theater is a magical place, Redge. Every live performance is a unique experience. You never know what will happen. Isn’t that beautiful?
REDGE
Hey! That’s what I said to you about the theater before we sat down!
JONATHAN
Just making sure you remembered!
REDGE
You know how much I adore the theater and being onstage! But…auditioning for a show at Litropia’s Gotta Dance Theater…that would be a brand new experience indeed!
JONATHAN
Ya know, when I’m feeling nervous about doing something new, I like to think about the brave people throughout history who have done that very same thing before me.
REDGE
Is it that time again, dear old friend?
JONATHAN
I think it might be. Another story about a Hidden Hero of History! And this hero is a man named–
(The sound of the HHH trumpet)
Moss Hart.
SFX the lights in the theater dim, the curtain rises, a spotlight turns on the stage.
REDGE
Uh … why did the curtains rise up and that spotlight turn on? Isn’t the show over?
JONATHAN
Hmm … that is strange.
REDGE
And look there’s a little boy walking across the stage in an old-fashioned costume.
YOUNG MOSS
Hello! I’m Moss Hart and I’m here to tell my story.
REDGE
Moss Hart? Isn’t that the hero you just mentioned?
JONATHAN
It … is.
REDGE
Is this a play about Moss Hart? Just for us? Look! The set is wheeling in!
JONATHAN
Yeah, that looks like the tenement building where Moss grew up, located in The Bronx in New York City. He was born in 1904 and that boy on stage looks like he’s about seven. That means the year in this play is–
YOUNG MOSS
–the year is 1911!
JONATHAN
1911!
REDGE
The theater really is a magical place.
JONATHAN
Especially when you’re in Once Upon a Time Land.
SFX Footsteps as a woman walks on stage.
AUNT KATE
Hurry up, Moss! Or we’ll be late for the matinee at 2.
JONATHAN
That’s Moss’s Aunt Kate. She loved going to the theater and she’d occasionally take Moss with her. She passed her love for theater onto Moss.
YOUNG MOSS
Coming Aunt Kate!
SFX the rumbling of the subway.
REDGE
Look, Jonathan! The set is changing!
JONATHAN
Yes… it looks like Times Square! I think this is Moss’s first time going there. He must be 14 now.
REDGE
Moss looks amazed.
YOUNG MOSS
This is Broadway and 42nd Street! I may live in New York City but for a Bronx boy like me, seeing Times Square and the lights of Broadway has only ever been a dream and now it’s happening! There’s so much joy all around me. People are laughing and throwing confetti out of the windows. Over there, soldiers and sailors are dancing on top of a taxi cab. Is this what Times Square is always like? (to another man) Hey Mister, why’s everyone so happy?
MAN IN TIMES SQUARE
Haven’t you heard the news, kid? The war is over!
JONATHAN
That’s right. Moss Hart’s first time going to Times Square happened to be the day World War I, a very big and terrible war that took place between many nations, had finally ended. It was a new day in the United States of America. There was a sense of hope everywhere. It sparked a little sense of hope in Moss’s heart as well.
MOSS HART
I dream that one day I’ll open a show on Broadway!
REDGE
I think he’s going to do it, Jonathan. I can sense it.
JONATHAN
You may be right…
MOSS
But first things get harder.
REDGE
Oh no, Mr. Hart! How do they get harder?
JONATHAN
The year after seeing Times Square for the first time, Moss had to drop out of school.
REDGE
Oh, dear! But why?
JONATHAN
To take care of his parents and younger brother. His family never had much money. His dad was trained to make cigars but was suddenly out of work when a machine that rolled cigars was invented.
REDGE
How unfortunate! What did Moss do?
JONATHAN
He started working different jobs.
MOSS
Not in the theater…
JONATHAN
By the time he turned 17 he finally finds a job–
MOSS
In the theater!
REDGE
He did it! He made his dreams come true! He immediately became a famous writer-director-actor!
JONATHAN
Not exactly. He’s an office boy for the theater producer, Augustus Pitou
REDGE
Bless you.
JONATHAN
No, his last name is Pitou.
REDGE
Bless you again. Do you need a tissue?
JONATHAN
Uh, no thank you. But look on the stage! A 17-year-old Moss is in the office.
REDGE
What’s in his hand?
MOSS
(whispers) Check this out. I’ve written this script called The Beloved Bandit. My plan? I’m going to sneak it onto my boss’s desk. The ol’ boss thinks I’m too young and don’t have enough quote unquote theatrical experience so I’ve written it under another name or “nom de plume” as the French say. Cross your fingers that he reads it in the morning and maybe, just maybe, decides to put it up on stage. Can you imagine?
REDGE
I can imagine! How thrilling! Tell me, Jonathan. Does his plan work?
JONATHAN
It does!
REDGE
Hurrah!
MOSS
Guess what, folks? My boss read the script, loved it, and without knowing that I wrote it, he decided to put it on stage. Right here in New York City. Can you believe it?
REDGE
Amazing! So that’s when Moss becomes a famous writer-director-actor.
JONATHAN
Well, no. The Beloved Bandit was a huge flop and his boss loses $45,000. That’s almost $800,000 in today’s money.
REDGE
(gasps). $800,000?! Do you know how many hedgehog-sized top hats and monocles I could buy with that kind of money?!
JONATHAN
I’m guessing a lot?
REDGE
You guessed right.
JONATHAN
Well, it is a lot of money. His boss eventually found out Moss wrote the play and he was fired from that job.
REDGE
Oh my word. See things can go terribly wrong in theater. It’s not worth it, Jonathan! I quit.
JONATHAN
But you’re a star, Redge!
REDGE
Wait the set is moving again. Now he’s sitting at a desk in front of a typewriter.
SFX Clicking of a typewriter.
JONATHAN
Yes, just because he had one failure doesn’t mean he gave up on theater entirely. So he got back up and tried again. He kept writing.
MOSS
(typing) Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart.
REDGE
Is that the name of the play?
JONATHAN
It is. But he didn’t write this one by himself.
REDGE
How do you mean?
JONATHAN
There was another big time producer who was interested in bringing this new play to Broadway. He insisted that another playwright named George S. Kaufman work on the script too.
REDGE
Is that that other man who’s joining him at the desk?
GEORGE S. KAUFMAN
Hello!
JONATHAN
I believe so. Now it looks like the set is going back to Times Square.
REDGE
Yes, it does!
MOSS HART
That’s because after six months of writing, Once in a Lifetime had its Broadway premiere.
NEWSPAPER BOY
Extry! Extry! Read all about it. Kaufman & Hart are the new Broadway royalty! Once in a Lifetime is the show of a lifetime!
REDGE
That newspaper boy says it’s a success! Hurrah for Kaufman & Hart!
JONATHAN
You see, Redge, anything can happen in the theater and working with someone else on your dreams makes it a little easier. This Broadway production would lead to a 10 year theatrical partnership between Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman.
MOSS HART
We went on to write many shows together including Merrily We Roll Along, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and You Can’t Take it With You!
JONATHAN
They won the Pulitzer Prize for that last one. That’s a fancy schmancy award given to writers. Probably the fanciest schmanciest. But even after winning one of the most acclaimed awards out there, Moss kept going.
REDGE
But he’d already done so much!
JONATHAN
He was relentless when it came to his artistic pursuits. He’d write with other celebrated creatives like Irving Berlin. He directed the very famous musicals My Fair Lady and Camelot. And then he’d move from the stage —
MOSS
To the screen!
JONATHAN
Yep. What Moss on stage said. He’d write the screenplays for many movies including A Star is Born starring Judy Garland, the woman famous for another classic film The Wizard of Oz.
REDGE
So you’re saying if I audition for Lamb-ilton, I’ll become a next-level theater star and then I’ll become…a movie star!
JONATHAN
Anything is possible but I don’t know that it’ll happen all that quickly. It takes a lot of hard work, patience, and courage.
REDGE
I’ve got courage and I can definitely work hard. Patience eh … that I might have to work on. But I suppose Litropia wasn’t built in a day. So what’s next? We all know by now that Mr. Hart didn’t stop at movies.
MOSS HART
I took all of the stories from my life, my childhood in the Bronx, my Aunt Kate, my first play with the producer Augustus Pitou–
REDGE
Bless you.
MOSS HART
And I wrote an autobiography called Act One.
JONATHAN
An autobiography is a book a person writes about their own life. The book was a huge hit and to this day, it is one of the most widely read autobiographies by a person in the theater.
REDGE
Incredible. So I’m going to follow the footsteps of Mr. Hart and become an actor, a director, a playwright, a screenwriter, and then I’ll write a book about all of it. The world will know my name!
JONATHAN
If Moss Hart did it, you can too. It looks like the actors are getting ready to take their bows.
Applause
REDGE / JONATHAN
Bravo! Well done! Encore!
JONATHAN
How lucky are we to see two shows in one night?
REDGE
Very lucky! But how did the second show even happen? And who are these people performing?
JONATHAN
Oh well clearly the…power of stories! Combined with the bustling city magic of Litropia with the uh…well you see it was a chain of events that–
REDGE
You have no idea do you?
JONATHAN
Not a clue. but like we’ve said, the theater is a magical place and anything is possible!
REDGE
There’s truly no business like show business!
JONATHAN
Here, here. So what do you say? Will you audition for Lamb-ilton?
REDGE
Absolutely. I’m going to start practicing my Quilliam Shakespeare monologue now. (clears throat) “All the world’s a stage, and all the hedgehogs merely players!”
JONATHAN
You’re sounding great already. Time to head home, Redge. You can rehearse on the way.
REDGE
Yes, quite. Off we go. “They have their exits and their entrances; And one hedgehog in his time plays many parts.”
JONATHAN CORMUR: Dorktales’ Hidden Heroes of History is a Jonincharacter production. This story was written by Rebecca Cunningham and edited and produced by Molly Murphy. Special shout out to Rebecca Cunningham for voicing “Aunt Kate.” All other characters are performed by Jonathan Cormur. Sound recording and production by Jermaine Hamilton at Hamilton Studio Recordings. Reach out to us on Instagram or email us at dorktalesstorytime@gmail.com. Find links in the show notes or go to dorktalesstorytime.com.
Now, go be the hero of your own story and we’ll see you next once-upon-a-time!
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