Stanley Green (historian)

Stanley Green
Born	(1923-05-29)May 29, 1923 Brooklyn, New York, US
Died	December 12, 1990(1990-12-12) (aged 67) Caledonian Hospital, Brooklyn, US

Stanley Green (May 29, 1923 – December 12, 1990) was an American historian of theatre and film. He was also a writer on music who worked as an editor at Stereo Review, and was a radio personality who hosted the WBAI radio program "The World of Musical Comedy".

Life and career

Stanley Green was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 29, 1923.[1] He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he graduated in 1943.[2] He joined the United States Army and received further education in the Army Specialized Training Program at the University of Nebraska.[3] He then served in the United States Army Signal Corps in the Pacific War during World War II.[4]

From 1957 to 1963 Green worked as an editor at Stereo Review.[3] He also wrote the liner notes to more than 100 albums,[4] and wrote articles for Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Saturday Review, Musical America, and Variety among other publications.[3] He was the author of ten books and numerous periodical articles on musicals and film.[1][4] He also worked as a guest lecturer at numerous institutions.[4]

In 1961 Green joined the staff of WBAI radio as the host/commentator for the radio program "The World of Musical Comedy". That program was broadcast on Wednesday nights and Monday mornings through 1965.[3] Green penned the play A Salute to the American Musical Theater for the Manhattan School of Music in 1967. That work was performed at the Waldorf Astoria New York,[3] and twice at the White House.[4] He also wrote the script to the program "The Music of Kurt Weill" which was performed at Lincoln Center in 1969.[3]

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre states that "Green became a leading modern authority of musical theatre."[5]

Green died of leukemia on December 12, 1990, at Caledonian Hospital in Brooklyn.[4]

Partial list of books

• The World of Musical Comedy (first published 1960;[5] revised editions published in 1974, 1980, and 1984)[3]
• The Rodgers and Hammerstein Story (1963;[5] revised edition published in 1980)[3]
• Ring Bells! Sing Songs! Broadway Musicals of the 1930’s (1971;[5] revised edition published in 1982 as Broadway Musicals of the 1930’s)[3]
• Encyclopaedia of the Musical Theater (1976;[5] revised second edition published in 1980)[3]
• Rodgers and Hammerstein Fact Book (1980)[3]
• The Great Clowns of Broadway (1984)[3]
• Broadway Musicals: Show by Show (1985,[5] subsequently republished in many revised editions)[3]
• Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (1990; revised second edition published in 2000)[3]

References

1. Gänzl, Kurt (2001). "Green, Stanley". The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Second Edition. Vol. II. Schirmer Books. ISBN 978-0-02-865573-4.
2. Mandelbaum, Ken. "Theater News; Stanley Green, noted theater and film historian, dies". Theater Week. 4 (19): 11.
3. Morga, Paula; Westover, Jonas (2002). "Green, Stanley". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2283026.
4. Flint, Peter B. (December 14, 1990). "Stanley Green, Theater Historian; Writer, 67, Focused on Musicals". The New York Times. p. 23.
5. Bordman, Gerald; Hischak, Thomas S. (2004). "Green, Stanley". The Oxford Companion to American Theatre (3 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195169867.