George Jean Nathan
American drama critic and magazine editor (1882–1958) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Jean Nathan (February 14, 1882 – April 8, 1958) was an American drama critic and magazine editor. He worked closely as an editor with H. L. Mencken bringing the literary magazine The Smart Set to prominence and while co-founding and editing The American Mercury and The American Spectator.
George Jean Nathan | |
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Nathan in 1928 | |
| Born | February 14, 1882 Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | April 8, 1958 (aged 76) New York City, U.S. |
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Early life and education
Nathan was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on February 14, 1882, the son of Ella (Nirdlinger) and Charles Naret Nathan.[1] He was graduated from Cornell University in 1904. There, he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society and an editor of The Cornell Daily Sun.
Relationships and marriage
Nathan had a reputation as a "ladies' man" and the character of Addison De Witt, the waspish theater critic who squires a starlet (played by a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe) in the 1950 film All About Eve was based on Nathan.[2][3]
Beginning in the late 1920s, Nathan had a romantic relationship with actress Lillian Gish that lasted almost a decade. Gish repeatedly refused his proposals of marriage.[4]
At age 73 in 1955, Nathan married Julie Haydon (1910—1994). She was a stage and film actress who debuted on Broadway in 1935.[5] A collection of Nathan-Haydon papers was donated by his wife to the La Crosse Public Library archives in La Crosse, Wisconsin, her residence at the time of her death.
Death
Nathan died in Manhattan in 1958, aged 76. He and his wife are buried together in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.
Legacy
He wrote only one play, the one-act play entitled The Eternal Mystery, which premiered in 1913 at the Princess Theatre in Manhattan.[6] Owen Hatteras referred to the play as a failure when he quipped that Nathan had "...forbidden the production of the play henceforth in any American city save Chicago, in which city anyone who chooses may perform it without payment of royalties".[7]
Walter Winchell opened one of his 1937 columns with a reference to Nathan as "a tough critic".[8] An honor in dramatic criticism, the George Jean Nathan Award, is named after him. Nathan was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.[9]
Often, comments by Nathan are quoted. One example, cited in 2025, is: Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles..[10]
Papers
Separate from the collection of papers with his wife, Nathan bequeathed a collection of his letters and papers to Cornell University. Among the papers at Cornell are several letters he received from Eugene O'Neill.[11]
Secondary Sources
- Isaac Goldberg: George Jean Nathan: A Critical Study (Girard, Kansas, Haldeman-Julius Company [c.1925])
- Seymour Rudin: George Jean Nathan: A Study of His Criticism ([Ithaca, N.Y.] 1953)
- Thomas F. Connolly: George Jean Nathan and the Making of Modern American Drama Criticism (Madison: Faileigh Dickinson University Press, c.2000)
References
External links
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