Vivian Cosby

{{Infobox person

| name = Vivian Cosby

| image = Vivian Cosby.jpg

| alt = See caption

| caption = Cosby {{circa}} 1922

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|06|06}}

| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, US

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|08|11|1901|06|06}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, US

| nationality =

| other_names = Vivian Crosby

| occupation = Playwright
Novelist

| years_active = 1926-1949

| known_for =

| notable_works = Miss Happiness
Trick for Trick
The Pitchman

}}

Vivian L. Cosby (June 6, 1901 – August 11, 1963), also spelled as Vivian Crosby, was an American playwright and novelist who produced scripts for theater and films from the 1920s through the 1940s. A Bostonian, Cosby began appearing in theater and writing plays and musical pieces from a young age. Her works started being adapted for the stage in the 1920s while she joined RKO Radio as a script writer.

Her popular Broadway works, such as Trick for Trick, had multiple Hollywood film studios try to hire her, but she chose to stay in theater and radio production. She was burned in a fire on January 1, 1939, which resulted in her spending three and a half years hospitalized. Her literary output, however, continued during this period and she broadened her connections to celebrities and major organizations from her hospital room. Upon her recovery, she immediately published several new theater scripts and began production work.

Childhood and education

Born as Vivian L. Cosby on June 6, 1901, to Richard Cosby and Susan L. Dodsworth in Boston, Massachusetts,{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9WQ-SGTQ?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3ADCPG-NFW2&action=view |title=Births Registered In The City Of Boston For The Year 1901 |author= |date=1901 |website=FamilySearch |access-date=May 27, 2024}} her first appearance in theatre was during a vaudeville dance scene at the age of three. Two years later, she began practicing her acting abilities and learning to play the violin. It wasn't until her teenage years that she started writing plays and singing music, which led to her specializing in writing and producing when she attended Boston University's School of Religious Education. During her time there, she helped produce and coach the members of the university's theater show, along with coaching the Futurists Revue club that played at the Somerville Theatre.

Career

An early work of Cosby's that was turned into a stage musical comedy in 1926 was titled Miss Happiness, and later renamed Open Your Arms.{{cite news |author= |date=March 18, 1927 |title=Theatre Notes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-theatre-notes/148058029/ |work=New York Daily News |access-date=May 25, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} She also wrote the music for the comedy, which was noted by The Evening Journal as helping lift the show "away from the humdrum comedy" that was written by her co-authors.{{cite news |author= |date=November 23, 1926 |title=Songs, Dances In Snappy Show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-journal-songs-dances-in-sna/148057977/ |work=The Evening Journal |access-date=May 25, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} The first play Cosby wrote that was picked up for general production was Just a Pal in 1930, which she made with actress Shirley Warde while Cosby was working as a script writer for RKO Radio.{{cite news |author= |date=April 30, 1930 |title=Paul Moss |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-paul-moss/148055943/ |work=New York Daily News |access-date=May 25, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was featured as one of the "foremost contemporary authors" on RKO's 1936-1937 special features program on the subject, noted for her "distinguished record of stage successes".{{cite news |author= |date=June 21, 1936 |title=RKO Authors Have Made Literary History |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/times-union-rko-authors-have-made-litera/148061023/ |work=Brooklyn Times-Union |access-date=May 26, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} During this time period, she lived in New York City and became well known for writing the story of the popular play Trick for Trick,{{cite news |last=Dudley |first=Bide |date=March 21, 1939 |title=Bide Dudley In New York |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-falls-city-journal-bide-dudley-in-ne/148107977/ |work=The Falls City Journal |access-date=May 28, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} alongside co-authors Fulton Oursler and Shirley Warde. Her success on Broadway had multiple Hollywood studios reach out to her for film scripts, but she decided to remain working on theater pieces instead.{{cite news |last=Mann |first=May |date=December 1, 1940 |title=Valiant Is The Word For Vivian! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-valiant-is-the-word-for/148106618/ |work=The Miami Herald |access-date=May 29, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}

On January 1, 1939, Cosby had moved into a new remote home in Beverly Hills, California to work on completing a play script. A safety guard on a gas heater in the bathroom had fallen off and, when she got too close in a long dress, caught herself on fire. The extensive third degree burns required multiple skin grafts and she was hospitalized at St. Vincent's Hospital. Not wanting to stay idle during her recovery she wrote an article for a magazine that attracted a lot of attention, as well as visits from the celebrities discussed in the article. From that point, she turned her hospital room into an impromptu office and began writing radio show scripts, sketches, articles, and assisted actresses she knew to get job offers.{{cite news |last=Chapman |first=John |date=October 16, 1940 |title=Fire Cripple Writes Scenarios From Bed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/harrisburg-telegraph-fire-cripple-writes/148066819/ |work=Harrisburg Telegraph |access-date=May 28, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} During her recovery, she wrote a book named The Pitchman, which had the potential to be turned into a Broadway play.{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |date=July 27, 1945 |title=Rhonda Fleming Wins Role In 'Abilene' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-rhonda-fleming-win/147907633/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 25, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} The Pitchman was the first screen writing contract Cosby picked up after her recovery and also the first production for the newly formed Jimmy Dunn Productions, with the story being about spieler presenters.{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |date=December 30, 1946 |title=Cinema Couple Join In Footlights Project |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-cinema-couple-join/147907665/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 25, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} She was pronounced fully recovered after three and a half years, whereupon she immediately signed up for three different screen writing contracts for upcoming films.{{cite news |last=Parsons |first=Louella O. |date=January 16, 1947 |title=Vivian Crosby |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-solano-napa-news-chronicle-vivian-cr/147905293/ |work=The Solano-Napa News Chronicle |access-date=May 25, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}

When her only surviving relative, her brother Richard Crosby, a magician and band leader passed away, he left her all his magic and books. Vivian took lessons at Chavez School of Magic and joined the Hollywood Magigals. In December, 1951, she was featured as a magician on the cover of Genii magazine with an article about her written by her friend Joan Crawford.

Vivian's interesting life was featured on Ralph Edward's "This Is Your Life" program.

Theater

Just a Pal (1930), co-author with Shirley Warde{{cite news |author= |date=April 30, 1930 |title="Village Follies" Goes To Former Producing Firm |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-village-follies-goes-to-for/148289258/ |work=New York Daily News |access-date=May 29, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Cynthia; or Miss Happiness, a 2-act musical comedy co-written with G. E. Stoddard (1927){{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lAcAQAAIAAJ&dq=vivian+cosby&pg=PA574|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series|first=Library of Congress Copyright|last=Office|date=July 5, 1928|via=Google Books}}
The Pitchman (1947)

Filmography

The Mind Reader (1933), original story{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QoJ4jTghUPYC&dq=vivian+cosby&pg=PA405|title=The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies|first=R. G.|last=Young|date=July 5, 2000|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9781557832696 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5E30LzAbCyMC&dq=vivian+cosby&pg=PA281|title=Every Step a Struggle: Interviews with Seven who Shaped the African-American Image in Movies|first=Frank|last=Manchel|date=July 5, 2007|publisher=New Academia Publishing, LLC|isbn=9780978771300 |via=Google Books}}
Trick for Trick (1933), co-author{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0F-WBgAAQBAJ&dq=vivian+cosby&pg=PT550|title=William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come|first=James|last=Curtis|date=November 17, 2015|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9781101870679 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/06/10/archives/murder-and-magic.html|title=Murder and Magic.|work=The New York Times |date=June 10, 1933|via=NYTimes.com}}
No Time for Romance (1949){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTGSCgAAQBAJ&dq=vivian+cosby&pg=PA126|title=African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography|first=Larry|last=Richards|date=September 17, 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476610528 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93SDBwAAQBAJ&dq=vivian+cosby&pg=PA25|title=Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events|first=Jessie Carney|last=Smith|date=December 1, 2012|publisher=Visible Ink Press|isbn=9781578594245 |via=Google Books}}

Personal life

Cosby was engaged to librettist Erving Plummer on April 9, 1922, while both were attending Boston University and working together on the university's theatre production.{{cite news |author= |date=April 10, 1922 |title=Cupid Assumes Role In All-B. U. Show Rehearsals: Engagement of Miss Vivian Cosby, Coach, and Erving Plummer, Librettist, Announced |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-plummer-erving-first/101837575/ |work=The Boston Globe |access-date=May 27, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com}} She died on August 11, 1963, in Hollywood.{{cite magazine|title=Vivian L. Crosby |journal=Variety |date=August 21, 1963 |page=63 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1963-08/page/n207/mode/2up?q=%22Vivian+L+Cosby%22}}{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9SX-3JK3?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQLBQ-Y1D8&action=view |title=Certificate of Death |author= |date=August 21, 1963 |website=FamilySearch |access-date=May 27, 2024}}

References

Category:1901 births

Category:1963 deaths

Category:American women novelists

Category:American women dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:American radio producers

Category:Novelists from Boston

Category:Boston University alumni