Clifford Odets (1906–1963)
Author of Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays
About the Author
With Lillian Hellman, Odets remains one of the foremost U.S. dramatists of the 1930s. Born in Philadelphia, he became an actor about 1923 and joined the Group Theatre upon its founding in 1930. From then until its collapse in 1940, the Group Theatre produced seven plays by Odets, all of which show more reflect the Depression era in which they were written. His first play, Waiting for Lefty (1935), an agitprop play about strikers, was an enormous success. Most of his other plays of the 1930s, most notably Awake and Sing (1935) and Paradise Lost (1935), concern the economic and psychological plight of poor New York City Jewish families and heighten middle-class Jewish speech into a kind of poetry. After the collapse of the Group Theatre, Odets produced only four more plays. Odets was criticized, however, for betraying his leftist sympathies when he named names before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy era. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
Works by Clifford Odets
Three Plays By Clifford Odets: Awake And Sing, Waiting For Lefty, Till The Day I Die (2007) 15 copies
The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journal of Clifford Odets : With an Introduction by William Gibson (1988) 15 copies
It's Your Birthday, Clifford Odets ! A Centennial Exhibition. May 19 - August 4, 2006 (2006) 11 copies
Six Plays of Clifford Odetts [waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing!, Till the Day I Die, Paradise Lost, Golden Boy, & Rocket to the Moon] (1939) 6 copies
Till the Day I Die 4 copies
Desperta e Canta 2 copies
Famous Plays of 1938-1939 (Famous Plays of 1938-1939) — Author — 2 copies
Ragazzo d'oro 1 copy
6 Plays of Clifford Odets 1 copy
Associated Works
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 72 copies, 1 review
Years of Protest: A Collection of American Writings of the 1930's (1967) — Contributor — 44 copies, 1 review
Twenty One-Act Plays: An Anthology for Amateur Performing Groups (1978) — Contributor — 40 copies, 1 review
3 Dramas of American Individualism (Golden Boy/High Tor/The Magnificent Yankee) (1961) — Contributor — 33 copies, 1 review
Cary Grant: The Movie Collection: Mr. Lucky [and] None but the Lonely Heart — Director — 4 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Odets, Clifford
- Birthdate
- 1906-07-18
- Date of death
- 1963-08-18
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- playwright
stage director
screenwriter - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Places of residence
- Bronx, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Hollywood, California, USA
- Burial location
- Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
It's a strange play for Odets — not much more than a dramatization of the story of Noah from within the context of a Jewish family. It's his last play, after Odets named names before HUAC. Gone is the playwright of social injustice; in its place an affable sitcom writer whose most daring message is that henceforth humans will be the destroyers of the world, not God. The Bible could have told you so..
I worked on the National Actors Theatre production in 1994, with Martin Charnin, Eli show more Wallach, Anne Jackson and Josh Mostel, where a fist fight broke out onstage during rehearsals and the stagehands had to break it up. Perhaps because the company knew that they were incapable of making anything really exciting happen during the course of the play itself? show less
I worked on the National Actors Theatre production in 1994, with Martin Charnin, Eli show more Wallach, Anne Jackson and Josh Mostel, where a fist fight broke out onstage during rehearsals and the stagehands had to break it up. Perhaps because the company knew that they were incapable of making anything really exciting happen during the course of the play itself? show less
Great New York setting, the star power of Curtis and Lancaster, and some great cutting dialogue still don't add up to a great film. Psychologically, it remains more than a bit artificial, but watching the scheming press agent Curtis try to find success by suckling up to famous columnist, and all around bad person, Lancaster, by breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz guitarist is still a good deal of fun. (Lancaster is no Scarface; however, although it would have been good to see him show more with a chainsaw.) Martin Milner (Adam 12) as the love interest is the world's least convincing jazz guitarist, but he fares better in the dramatic scenes such as his confrontation with Lancaster or scenes with Lancaster's daughter played by Susan Harrison. Lots of other familiar faces here as well, and NYC, Times Square, and surroundings never looked better on b&w film than they do here. show less
Acting: 5.0; Theme: 4.5; Content: 4.5; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5
A sleazy, ruthless, and controlling journalist, intends to destroy his sister's relationship, when she falls in love. With the help of his his corrupt press agent, they begin the process of destroying her lovers' career and life. Highly recommend.
***January 25, 2026***
A sleazy, ruthless, and controlling journalist, intends to destroy his sister's relationship, when she falls in love. With the help of his his corrupt press agent, they begin the process of destroying her lovers' career and life. Highly recommend.
***January 25, 2026***
Wonderfully black comedy/satire of ambition, back-stabbing, dissembling, cleverness in the NYC newspaper world. Lancaster and Curtis "click" as two-faced compatriots/enemies. Excellent cast.
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Statistics
- Works
- 34
- Also by
- 18
- Members
- 1,041
- Popularity
- #24,732
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 13
- ISBNs
- 49
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 2
