Chodorov, Edward

Chodorov, Edward (1904–88), playwright and director. The New Yorker began his theatre career as an assistant stage manager after attending Brown University. His first play, Wonder Boy (1931), about a dentistry student who unwit‐tingly becomes a movie star, was a success on the road but failed in New York. Chodorov had better luck with his second play, Kind Lady (1935), in which a sinister visitor menaces a kindly matron, but Cue for Passion (1940) and Those Endearing Young Charms (1943) both failed to run. His other works include Decision (1944), a drama about domestic fascism; Common Ground (1945), about a U.S.O. troupe captured by the Nazis; and the hit comedy Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1953). Thereafter, luck eluded him, and his last plays all closed out of town. Chodorov usually directed his own works. His brother was playwright Jerome Chodorov (1911–2004), also born in New York, who began his career writing for films. In Hollywood he met Joseph Fields, with whom he would regularly collaborate. Their first effort, the Hollywood spoof Schoolhouse on the Lot (1938), quickly closed, but the team found success with My Sister Eileen (1940) and Junior Miss (1941). After some failures, the twosome wrote the libretto for the popular musical Wonderful Town (1953), based on their My Sister Eileen. The other Chodorov‐Fields works include The Girl in Pink Tights (1954), Anniversary Waltz (1954), and The Ponder Heart (1956).