Howard Lindsay

Howard Lindsay, born Herman Nelke on March 29, 1889, in Waterford, New York, was an American playwright, librettist, director, actor, and theatrical producer who worked on Broadway from 1917 to 1952. He died on February 11, 1968. A graduate of Boston Latin School in 1907, Lindsay established himself first as an actor and director before transitioning into playwriting and book writing for the musical stage.

Lindsay is perhaps most recognized for two distinct achievements: his long-running performance as "Father" opposite his wife, actress Dorothy Stickney, in Life with Father, which opened on Broadway in 1939, and his prolific writing partnership with Russel Crouse. The collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse produced the books for several notable Broadway musicals, including Anything Goes, Hooray for What!, Call Me Madam, Happy Hunting, and Mr. President. Their work together culminated in the 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical for The Sound of Music, for which the pair wrote the book.

Beyond musical theatre, Lindsay and Crouse received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1946 for State of the Union, a play based on events of 1945. The work was later adapted into a film directed by Frank Capra. Lindsay also received a Tony Award Special Award in 1959. His stage credits further include the production A Slight Case of Murder, among other Broadway appearances across his decades-long career.

Outside of theatre, Lindsay served as master of ceremonies for the Ford Theatre radio program beginning October 5, 1947. In 1957, he and Stickney appeared together in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical Cinderella, playing the roles of the King and Queen respectively, one of the rare occasions on which a Lindsay performance was captured on film.

Lindsay held membership in two prominent theatrical clubs. He joined The Lambs in 1925 and remained a member for the rest of his life; his writing partner Russel Crouse was also a member. Lindsay additionally belonged to The Players, the theatrical club founded by Edwin Booth in the nineteenth century, and served as its president from 1955 to 1965. Beginning in 1935, Lindsay and Stickney maintained a weekend and vacation home in the Stanton section of Readington Township, New Jersey, a farmstead originally built in 1745. The township later purchased the property from Stickney for preservation in 1997.