Cornelia Otis Skinner
Encyclopedia
Cornelia Otis Skinner was an American
author
and actress.
and his wife Maud (Durbin) Skinner. After attending the all-girls' Baldwin School
and Bryn Mawr College
(1918–1919) and studying theatre at the Sorbonne
in Paris
, she began her career on the stage in 1921. 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 she herself wrote. She wrote numerous short humorous pieces for publications like 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.
With Emily Kimbrough
, she wrote Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
, a hilarious description of their European tour after college. Kimbrough and Skinner went to Hollywood to act as consultants on the film version of the book, which resulted in We Followed Our Hearts to Hollywood. Skinner was portrayed by Bethel Leslie
in the short-lived 1950 television series The Girls based upon Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.
In 1952, her 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, now available on compact disk. In later years Skinner wrote Madame Sarah (a biography of Sarah Bernhardt
) and Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals about the Belle Epoque
. She also appeared with Orson Welles
on The Campbell Playhouse
radio play of The Things We Have on May 26, 1939.
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.”
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and actress.
Biography
Skinner was the daughter of the actor Otis SkinnerOtis Skinner
Otis Skinner was an American actor.He was the son of a Universalist minister; his brother, Charles Montgomery Skinner, was a noted journalist and critic in New York. Skinner was educated in Hartford, Connecticut, with an eye towards a career in commerce. A visit to the theater left him stage-struck...
and his wife Maud (Durbin) Skinner. After attending the all-girls' Baldwin School
Baldwin School
The Baldwin School is an all-girls private day school located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The school, founded in 1888 by Florence Baldwin, consists of a Lower, Middle, and Upper School totaling approximately 600 in enrollment...
and Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
(1918–1919) and studying theatre at the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, she began her career on the stage in 1921. She appeared in several plays before embarking on a tour of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1926 to 1929 in a one-woman performance of short character sketches she herself wrote. She wrote numerous short humorous pieces for publications like The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
. 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.
With Emily Kimbrough
Emily Kimbrough
-Biography:Emily Kimbrough was born in Muncie, Indiana on October 23, 1899. In 1921 she graduated from Bryn Mawr College and went on a trip to Europe with her friend Cornelia Otis Skinner. The two friends co-authored the memoir Our Hearts Were Young and Gay based on their European adventures...
, she wrote Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay is the title of a book by actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and journalist Emily Kimbrough, published in 1942. The book presents a description of their European tour in the 1920s, when they were fresh out of college from Bryn Mawr. Skinner wrote of Kimbrough, "To know...
, a hilarious description of their European tour after college. Kimbrough and Skinner went to Hollywood to act as consultants on the film version of the book, which resulted in We Followed Our Hearts to Hollywood. Skinner was portrayed by Bethel Leslie
Bethel Leslie
Bethel Leslie was an American theatre, film, and television actress and a screenwriter.Born in New York City, Leslie was discovered by George Abbott, who cast her in the play Snafu in 1944...
in the short-lived 1950 television series The Girls based upon Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.
In 1952, her one-woman show Paris '90 (music and lyrics by Kay Swift
Kay Swift
Kay Swift was an American composer of popular and classical music, the first woman to score a complete musical. Written in 1930, Fine and Dandy includes some of her best known songs; the title song has become a jazz standard. "Can't We Be Friends?" was another important hit...
) premiered on Broadway. An original cast recording was produced by Goddard Lieberson for Columbia Records, now available on compact disk. In later years Skinner wrote Madame Sarah (a biography of Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
) and Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals about the Belle Epoque
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
. She also appeared with Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
on The Campbell Playhouse
The Campbell Playhouse
The Campbell Playhouse was a CBS radio drama series directed by and starring Orson Welles. Produced by John Houseman, it was a sponsored continuation of the Mercury Theatre on the Air...
radio play of The Things We Have on May 26, 1939.
In a 1944 conversation with Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
, Skinner reportedly told the Danish comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
that she decided to drop the term “diseuse" from her act after reading in a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
newspaper: “Cornelia Otis Skinner, the American disease, gave a program last night.”
As an actress
- KismetKismet (1920 film)Kismet is a silent film version of the 1911 play Kismet by Edward Knoblock, starring Otis Skinner and Elinor Fair, and directed by Louis J. Gasnier. Skinner's daughter, author Cornelia Otis Skinner, plays a small role. This version was released by Robertson-Cole Distributing Company, and was...
(1920) - The Things We Have (1939)
- The UninvitedThe Uninvited (1944 film)The Uninvited is a 1944 American supernatural mystery/romance film directed by Lewis Allen. It is based on the Dorothy Macardle novel Uneasy Freehold.Charles Lang was nominated for a 1945 Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography.-Plot:...
(1944) - General Electric Guest House (1951), episode dated 1 July 1951 (TV Episode)
- Paris '90 (1952)
- The Girl in the Red Velvet SwingThe Girl in the Red Velvet SwingThe Girl in the Velvet Swing is a film directed by Richard Fleischer from a screenplay by Walter Reisch and Charles Brackett, and starring Joan Collins, Ray Milland and Farley Granger...
(1955) - Max Liebman Presents: Dearest Enemy (1955) (TV Episode)
- The Alcoa HourThe Alcoa HourThe Alcoa Hour is a live anthology television series sponsored by Alcoa and telecast in the United States from 1955 to 1957. The series was seen Sundays on NBC at 9pm.-Overview:...
(1956), "Merry Christmas Mr. Baxter" (TV episode) - The SwimmerThe Swimmer"The Swimmer" a short story by American author John Cheever, published in 1964 in the short story collection The Brigadier and the Golf Widow. Originally conceived as a novel and pared down from over 150 pages of notes, it is probably Cheever's most famous and frequently anthologized story...
(1968)
As herself
- Stage Door CanteenStage Door CanteenStage Door Canteen is a musical film produced by Sol Lesser Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by Frank Borzage and features many cameo appearances by celebrities, and the majority of the film is essentially a filmed concert although there is also a storyline to the...
(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)
- What's It For? (1957) TV episode dated 12 October 1957
- What's My Line?What's My Line?What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
(1959) TV episode dated 29 March 1959 - This Is Your LifeThis Is Your LifeThis Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
(1959) Charlie Ruggles (TV episode)
Novels and biographies
- Our Hearts Were Young and GayOur Hearts Were Young and GayOur Hearts Were Young and Gay is the title of a book by actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and journalist Emily Kimbrough, published in 1942. The book presents a description of their European tour in the 1920s, when they were fresh out of college from Bryn Mawr. Skinner wrote of Kimbrough, "To know...
(with Emily Kimbrough, 1942) Dodd, Mead and Company Inc. - Family Circle (1948) - an autobiographical work. Entitled Happy Family in the UK.
- Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals (1962) - a book about the Belle EpoqueBelle ÉpoqueThe Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
in Paris. - Madame Sarah (1967) - a biographyBiographyA biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Sarah BernhardtSarah BernhardtSarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
. - Life with Lindsay and Crouse (1976) - a biography of Howard LindsayHoward LindsayHoward Lindsay was an American theatrical producer, playwright, librettist, director and actor. He is best known for his writing work as part of the collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse, and for his performance, with his wife Dorothy Stickney, in the long-running play Life with...
and Russell Crouse.
Essay compilations
- Tiny Garments (1932)
- Excuse It, Please! (1936)
- Dithers and Jitters (1937)
- Soap Behind the Ears (1941)
- 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 BarnesMargaret Ayer BarnesMargaret Ayer Barnes was an American playwright, novelist, and short-story writer....
- The Girls (1950) TV series
- The Pleasure of His CompanyThe Pleasure of His CompanyThe Pleasure of His Company is a comedy film starring Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds, released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1958 play of the same name by Samuel A. Taylor and Cornelia Otis Skinner.-Plot:...
(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)