Cornelia Otis Skinner

Cornelia Otis Skinner
Skinner in 1955
Born	(1899-05-30)May 30, 1899
Died
Occupation	Actress, playwright, screenwriter
Years active	1920–1970
Spouse(s)	Alden Sanford Blodget (1928–1964; his death)
Children	1
Parent(s)	Otis Skinner Maud Durbin

Cornelia Otis Skinner (May 30, 1899 – July 9, 1979) was an American writer and actress.

Biography

Skinner was the only child of actor Otis Skinner and actress Maud Durbin. After attending the all-girls' Baldwin School and Bryn Mawr College (1918–1919), and studying theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris, Skinner made her professional stage debut on September 20, 1921 as Dona Sarasate in Tom Cushing's Blood and Sand at Broadway's Empire Theatre. She appeared in several plays before embarking on a tour of the United States from 1926 to 1929 in a one-woman performance of short character sketches which she had written. She also wrote numerous short, humorous pieces for publications such as The New Yorker. These pieces were eventually compiled into a series of books, including Nuts in May, Dithers and Jitters, Excuse It Please!, and The Ape in Me, among others.

In a "comprehensive study" of Skinner's work, G. Bruce Loganbill (1961) refers to Skinner's scripts as "monologue-dramas," which were extensions of the "linked monologues" developed by Ruth Draper. Skinner's work differed in structure and content, however, as she created and performed full-length monologue-dramas that were based on the lives of historical figures. Such work was described as a "unique" and important contribution to the one-person show in America.

She starred in successful production of George Bernard Shaw's "Candida" in 1939, that toured venues in cities such as Cleveland before opening on Broadway.

File:Cornelius.Otis.Skinner-Hanna.Theatre-Jan.1939.jpg

She appeared with Orson Welles on The Campbell Playhouse radio play of "American Cavalcade: The Things We Have" on May 26, 1939.

With Emily Kimbrough, Skinner wrote Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, a light-hearted description of their European tour after college. Kimbrough and Skinner went to Hollywood to act as consultants on the film adaptation of the book, produced as a film of the same name, with Gail Russell playing Skinner. The book was also adapted as a 1950 television series The Girls, in which Skinner was portrayed by Bethel Leslie (replaced by Gloria Stroock).

In 1952, Skinner's one-woman show Paris '90 (music and lyrics by Kay Swift) premiered on Broadway. An original cast recording was produced by Goddard Lieberson for Columbia Records, and is now available on compact disc. In later years Skinner wrote Madame Sarah (a biography of Sarah Bernhardt), and Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals about the Belle Epoque.

In a 1944 conversation with Victor Borge, Skinner reportedly told the Danish comedian that she decided to drop the term "diseuse" from her act after reading in a Scottish newspaper: "Cornelia Otis Skinner, the American disease, gave a program last night."

Marriage

Cornelia Otis Skinner married Alden Sanford Blodget on October 5, 1928 in Warm Springs, Virginia. On August 28, 1930, she gave birth to her only child, a son, Otis Skinner Blodget, who died on March 11, 2007, aged 76.

Filmography

File:Cornelia-Otis-Skinner-portrait.jpg

Portrait of Cornelia Otis Skinner by Gladys Rockmore Davis

As an actress

• The Uninvited (1943) - Miss Holloway
• General Electric Guest House (1951, episode dated July 1, 1951)
• Paris '90 (1952)
• The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955) - Mrs. Thaw
• Max Liebman Presents: Dearest Enemy (1955, TV Episode) - Mrs. Murray
• The Alcoa Hour (1956, Episode: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter") - Susan Baxter
• The Swimmer (1968) - Mrs. Hammar

As herself

• Stage Door Canteen (1943)
• Toast of the Town (later The Ed Sullivan Show) TV episodes #4.7 (1950), #4.14 (1950), #5.32 (1952), and #7.8 (1953)
• Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town (1951), TV episode dated June 23, 1951
• What's It For? (1957) TV episode dated October 12, 1957
• What's My Line? (1959) TV episode dated March 29, 1959
• This Is Your Life (1959) Charlie Ruggles (TV episode)

Bibliography

File:R. H. Macy and Company department store 8d23945v.jpg

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay on display at Macy's (December 1942)

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Non-fiction

Memoirs

• Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (with Emily Kimbrough, 1942; Dodd, Mead and Company Inc.)
• Family Circle (1948) – an autobiographical work (entitled Happy Family in the UK)
• Humorous autobiographical piece.

Biographies

• Madame Sarah (1967) – a biography of Sarah Bernhardt.
• Life with Lindsay and Crouse (1976) – a biography of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.

Essay compilations

• Tiny Garments (1932)
• Excuse It, Please! (1936)
• Dithers and Jitters (1937)
• Soap Behind the Ears (1941)
• Popcorn (1943)
• That's Me All Over (1948) – a collection of the best essays from the prior 4 compilations.
• Nuts in May (1950)
• Bottoms Up! (1955) Dodd, Mead, and Company, New York
• The Ape in Me (1959)

Playwriting, screenwriting, scriptwriting

• Edna, His Wife (1937), play based on the 1935 novel of the same name by Margaret Ayer Barnes
• The Girls (1950) TV series
• The Pleasure of His Company (1958) play (adapted as a film in 1961)

Monologues

• The Wives of Henry VIII (1931)
• The Empress Eugenie (1932)
• The Loves of Charles II (1933)
• The Mansion on the Hudson (1935)

Critical studies and reviews of Skinner's work

• Cast of One: One Person Shows from the Chautauqua Platform to the Broadway Stage (1989)- Section on Skinner

External links

• Cornelia Otis Skinner at the Internet Movie Database
• Cornelia Otis Skinner at the Internet Broadway Database
• Skinner Family Papers, 1874-1979 at Houghton Library, Harvard University
• Cornelia Otis Skinner scrapbooks, 1921-1978, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Cornelia Otis Skinner at Find a Grave
• "American Cavalcade: The Things We Have" (May 26, 1939) on The Campbell Playhouse, with guest Cornelia Otis Skinner (Indiana University Bloomington)
• "Annotations: The NEH Preservation Project" Two Skinner monologues from a 1951 Book and Author Luncheon