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.

Check out our friends at Armchair Adventures, a join-in story podcast for kids: https://www.madebymortals.org/armchair-adventures/

Chapters

• 1:34 Jonathan and Redge are at a theater production
• 3:28 The show is over but now the curtains rise on the story of Moss Hart
• 13:32 How did this special show after the show about Moss Hart even happen?
• 15:18 Credits, how to contact the podcast, and theme song

Transcript

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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