ABBOTT, GEORGE

(1887-1995)

   After studying under George Pierce Baker at Harvard University, seeing one of his short plays produced there, and winning a prize for the best one-act comedy at the Bijou in Boston, George Abbott considered himself ready to conquer Broadway as a playwright. However, the tall, attractive young man first earned success as an actor, making his Broadway debut in 1913 in The Misleading Lady and notably playing a leading role in the Pulitzer PRiZE-winning play Hell-Bent??? fer Heaven (1924). He worked with John Golden and David Belasco, then moved into directing. Among the seven plays Abbott directed in 1926 and 1927, four were coauthored by him, including Broadway (which he directed again on Broadway for his 100th birthday) and Coquette, which took Helen Hayes to stardom. While Abbott is best remembered for his remarkable record of directing 113 Broadway productions, he also gained respect as a play doctor and, from the mid-1930s, as a producer. His crisp, snappy directorial style became known as "the Abbott touch," while fellow artists always addressed him as "Mister Abbott," the epithet that served as the title for his 1963 autobiography.