ELMER RICE
B/w publicity photo from the Playwrights Company of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Elmer Rice in a suit-and-tie, signed "with all good wishes" in blue ink in 1954
Inscribed photo signed "For Alan Abrams./with all good wishes/Elmer Rice/Sept. 1954.". Pencil notations on verso in unknown hand. B/w, 7¾x9¾ overall, 7½x9¼ image, one surface. Photo by the Playwrights Company, with credit in pencil notation on verso. Rice was a member of the Playwrights Company was a Broadway theatrical production company. In the year this photo was signed, he directed his own play The Winner on Broadway. He also had his 1951 Broadway play The Grand Tour adapted for TV on The United States Steel Hour. American playwright Rice (1892-1967, born Elmer L. Reizenstein in New York City) had his first success with On Trial (1914). Rice, who won the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Street Scene, also wrote novels, essays and screenplays, including the screenplay for Holiday Inn (1942). From 1942 to 1956, he was married to stage and screen actress Betty Field, with whom he had three children. Lightly toned, cracked and creased. Signature has poor adhesion in places but is legible. Tape residue at top corners and bottom right corner and at left edge. Light chipping on image from creases. from Light chipping at top edge. Light paper loss and dent at left edge. Top right corner and bottom left corner are worn. Tape repair on verso (no show-through). Otherwise in fine condition.