John William Van Druten

John William Van Druten , 1901-57, English dramatist. His best-known plays, primarily light comedies, include Old Acquaintance (1940), The Voice of the Turtle (1943), I Remember Mama (1944), Bell, Book and Candle (1950), and I Am a Camera (1951). In 1944 he became a U.S. citizen.

Bibliography: See his autobiographies, The Way to the Present (1938) and The Widening Circle (1957).

Van Druten, John [William] (1901–57), English‐born playwright and novelist, came to the U.S. in 1925 with his first play, Young Woodley, after it had been banned from production in England. He later rewrote the play as a novel (1929) with the same title. He became a U.S. citizen in 1944. His later plays include The Voice of the Turtle (1943), a bittersweet romantic comedy; I Remember Mama (1944), based on auto‐biographical sketches of San Francisco life by Kathryn Forbes; Bell, Book, and Candle (1950), a light comedy about modern witchcraft; and I Am a Camera (1951; published, 1952), based on Christopher Isherwood's sketches of Berlin life, Goodbye to Berlin.

van Druten, John (1901–57), playwright. The London‐born dramatist originally planned a career in law, which he practiced and taught for a time. He was well known for such plays as Young Woodley (1925), There's Always Juliet (1932), and The Distaff Side (1934) prior to his coming to America. Van Druten's best‐received American works were The Voice of the Turtle (1943), I Remember Mama (1944), Bell, Book and Candle (1950), and I Am a Camera (1951). He was at his best as a witty, urbane observer of modern society. Autobiography: The Widening Circle, 1957.