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((Short description|American humorist (1910–1985)))
((more citations needed|date=February 2016))
((Infobox person
| name          =  Abe Burrows
| image         =  AbeBurrows1.jpg
| birthname     =  Abram Solman Borowitz
| birth_date    =  ((birth date|1910|12|18))
| birth_place   =  New York City, U.S.
| death_date    =  ((death date and age|1985|05|17|1910|12|18))
| death_place   =  New York City, U.S.
| occupation    =  Author, composer, director
| spouse        =  ((plainlist|
* ((marriage|Ruth Levinson|1938|1948|end=divorced))
* ((marriage|Caron Smith Kinzel|1950))
))
| children = 2, including [[James Burrows]]
))
'''Abe Burrows''' (born '''Abram Solman Borowitz;''' December 18, 1910 – May 17, 1985) was an American [[humorist]], [[author]], and director for [[radio]] and the stage. He won a [[Tony Award]] and was selected for two [[Pulitzer Prize]]s,((citation needed|date=May 2021)) only one of which was awarded.

==Early years==
((Unreferenced section|date=January 2023)) 
Born Abram Solman Borowitz in [[New York City]], Burrows graduated from New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn and later attended both City College and [[New York University]]. He began working as a runner on Wall Street while at NYU, and he also worked in an accounting firm. After he met Frank Galen in 1938, the two wrote and sold jokes to an impressionist who appeared on [[Rudy Vallée]]'s radio program.

==Career==

===Radio===
His radio career gained strength when he collaborated with [[Ed Gardner]], the writer and star of radio's legendary ''[[Duffy's Tavern]]''. The two created the successful series after Gardner's character, Archie, premiered on ''This Is New York'', an earlier radio program. Burrows was made the show's head writer in 1941, and he credited his experience with inventing the Runyonesque street characters he fashioned for ''[[Guys and Dolls (musical)|Guys and Dolls]]''. "The people on that show," Burrows once said about ''Duffy's Tavern'', "were New York mugs, nice mugs, sweet mugs, and like ([[Damon Runyon|Damon) Runyon]]'s mugs they all talked like ladies and gentlemen. That's how we treated the characters in ''Guys and Dolls''."((Citation needed |date=January 2023)) 

Burrows also wrote for [[Danny Kaye]]'s short-lived mid-1940s radio comedy show, helping head writer [[Goodman Ace]] fashion material for Kaye and co-stars [[Eve Arden]] and [[Lionel Stander]]. He quit ''Duffy's Tavern'' in 1945 to work at Paramount Pictures but soon returned to radio. As a guest on ''Here's Morgan'' in 1947, Burrows performed "I'll Bet You're Sorry Now, Tokyo Rose, Sorry for What You Done."((Citation needed |date=January 2023)) 

Meanwhile, he became a popular guest on the Hollywood party circuit, performing his own satirical songs ("Darling Why Shouldn't You Look Well Fed, ‘Cause You Ate Up a Hunka My Heart?" and "The Girl with the Three Blue Eyes"). Such informal performances led to a nightclub act and regular appearances as a performer on CBS radio programs, and to his eventually hosting his own [[radio program]] on [[CBS Radio]] from 1947 to 1949,<ref name="dunningota">((cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22The+Abe+Burrows+Show,+sophisticated%22&pg=PA3|last1=Dunning |first1=John| title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio| date=1998| publisher=Oxford University Press| location=New York, NY| isbn=978-0-19-507678-3| page=3| edition=Revised| accessdate=2019-08-20))</ref> a 15-minute weekly comedy that Burrows wrote and directed as well.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=Variety&series=The%20Abe%20Burrows%20Show |title=Five episodes of 'The Abe Burrows Show' |publisher=RadioEchoes.com |date=1947–1948))</ref>

As he recalled years later, his show came about while he was scripting a radio show for [[Joan Davis]] when [[George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel]] asked him, "When the hell are you gonna become a professional?" Burrows continued as Davis' head writer while doing his own show. Mixing comic patter ("I guess I could tell you exactly what I look like, but I think that's a lousy thing to say about a guy") with his clever comic songs, ''The Abe Burrows Show'' was popular with listeners and critics but not with its sponsor, Lambert Pharmaceutical, then the makers of Listerine mouthwash, but promoting a Listerine toothpaste on the show. Lambert, according to Burrows, complained that the show wasn't selling much of the toothpaste. "It seems that my fans were being naughty," he wrote. "While they were laughing at my jokes, they were sneering at my toothpaste."((Citation needed |date=January 2023)) 

The New York Public Library holds the Abe Burrows papers, which include complete runs of both ''The Abe Burrows Show'' (CBS, 1947–48) and ''Breakfast with Burrows'' (CBS, 1949), as well as appearances on other radio shows.((Citation needed |date=January 2023)) 

Both of Burrows' radio shows originated from [[KNX (AM)|KNX]], CBS's Los Angeles affiliate, whose program director Ernie Martin encouraged Burrows, who had done some film work, to think about writing plays. "I told him I felt my funny stuff was okay for radio, but I didn't think people would pay theater prices to hear it," Burrows recalled.((Citation needed |date=January 2023))

===Broadway===
Burrows credited his success in the theatre to his work under the theatre legend [[George S. Kaufman]]. In the Kaufman biography by [[Howard Teichmann]], Burrows is quoted as saying that what he said (as a director, to his cast) was what he heard Kaufman say in their collaboration on ''[[Guys and Dolls]]''.

Eventually, Burrows wrote, [[Script doctor|doctored]], or directed such shows as ''[[Make a Wish (musical)|Make a Wish]]'', ''[[Two on the Aisle]]'', ''[[Three Wishes for Jamie]]'', ''[[Say, Darling]]'', ''[[Guys and Dolls]]'', ''[[How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical)|How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying]]'', ''[[Cactus Flower (play)|Cactus Flower]]'', ''[[Four on a Garden]]'', ''[[Can-Can (musical)|Can-Can]]'', ''[[Silk Stockings]]'', ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (musical)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'', ''[[Good News (musical)|Good News]]'' (1974 revival), and many others. With his collaborator [[Frank Loesser]], Burrows won a [[Pulitzer Prize]] for ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying''.<ref>((cite web |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1962 |title=1962 Pulitzer Prizes |website=www.pulitzer.org))</ref>

Burrows wrote and directed the first Broadway musical version of a [[Jane Austen]] novel, ''[[First Impressions (musical)|First Impressions]]'', a rewriting of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''. The show, which ran for 84 performances in 1959, is widely described as a flop. Burrows thought that critics panned the show because they wondered why a comedy guy was taking on "tired period drama," but the script shows some unusual choices. Burrows had his version of heroine Elizabeth Bennet decide to join forces with her marriage-hungry mother in order to snag hero Mr. Darcy.<ref>((Cite book|last=Looser|first=Devoney|title=The Making of Jane Austen|location=Baltimore, MD|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2017|page=137|isbn=978-1421422824))</ref>

Burrows also became a famous script doctor, enough so that the desperate remark of a producer, "Get me Abe Burrows!", remained for many years Broadway shorthand for a script that needed repair. Yet Burrows himself downplayed that role in his memoir, and discussed his fixing of ''Make a Wish'':
((blockquote |I have... performed surgery on a few shows, but not as many as I'm given credit for. I've been involved in 19 theatrical productions, plus their road company offshoots. Only a few of these have been surgical patients. And I don't usually talk about them. I feel that a fellow who doctors a show should have the same ethical approach that a plastic surgeon has. It wouldn't be very nice if a plastic surgeon were walking down the street with you, and a beautiful girl approached. And you say, "What a beautiful girl." And the plastic surgeon says, "She was a patient of mine. You should have seen her before I fixed her nose." Doctoring seldom cures a show. The sickness usually starts at the moment the author puts the first sheet of paper in his typewriter. All the redirecting and recasting can never help much if the basic story is wrong.))

''[[Guys and Dolls]]'' was apparently selected as the winner for the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in Letters. However, because of Burrows' troubles with the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC), no Pulitzer for Letters was awarded in 1951, as the Trustees of Columbia University had the right of veto.<ref>((cite book |last1=Steven |first1=Suskin |author1-link=Steven Suskin |title=Opening night on Broadway : a critical quotebook of the golden era of the musical theatre, Oklahoma! (1943) to Fiddler on the roof (1964) |date=1990 |publisher=[[Schirmer Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-02-872625-1 |page=275  | oclc = 629935106 | url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/openingnightonbr00susk/page/275/mode/1up |access-date=5 April 2022))</ref>

Burrows wrote the screenplay for ''[[The Solid Gold Cadillac]]'' in 1956 as well as produced a television series ''[[Abe Burrows' Almanac]]'' (1950) and ''The Big Party'' (1959).

In 1980, he published his memoir, ''Honest, Abe: Is There Really No Business Like Show Business?'', in which he recalled the meat of his career. He mentored several comedy writers,  including future ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' writer [[Larry Gelbart]] (who was once a ''Duffy's Tavern'' writer), [[Nat Hiken]], [[Dick Martin (comedian)|Dick Martin]] as well as [[Woody Allen]], who was a distant cousin of Burrows.

===Television===

Over three decades, Burrows appeared as a panelist on programs such as ''[[This Is Show Business]]'', ''[[What's My Line?]]'', ''[[To Tell the Truth]]'', and ''[[Match Game 77]]'', all on CBS. He also appeared on ''Call My Bluff'' on NBC. On October 27, 1952, he guest-starred on CBS's ''[[Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town]]'' when the television series visited The Bronx.

==== Recordings ====
Burrows recorded albums for [[Decca Records|Decca]] and [[Columbia Records|Columbia]].

*''The Girl with the Three Blue Eyes and other typical type songs'' (1947, Decca A-607), 10-inch 78((nbsp))rpm, reissued on 10-inch LP (1950, Decca DL 5288)
*''Abe Burrows Sings?'' (1950, Columbia), with orchestra under the direction of Milton DeLugg, 10-inch LP
*''Fun House!'' (1959, [[Harmony Records]]), various artists, includes ''Boulder Dam'' by Burrows

==Personal life==
((Unreferenced section|date=January 2023)) 
He was married twice.  His son, [[James Burrows]], became an influential television director whose credits have included ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'' and ''[[Cheers]]''. His daughter, Laurie Burrows Grad, is the author of four cookbooks and host of her own cooking show on [[The Learning Channel]].

Abe Burrows died from [[Alzheimer's disease]] in his native New York City.

==References==
((reflist))

==Further reading==
*Burrows, Abe. ''Honest Abe: Is There Really No Business Like Show Business?'' Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1980. ((ISBN|0-316-11771-4))
*Sies, Luther F. ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960''.  Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2000. ((ISBN|0-7864-0452-3))

==External links==
((Portal|Biography))
* ((IBDB name))
* ((IMDb name|123242))
* ((iobdb name|39854))
*[http://archives.nypl.org/the/21645 Abe Burrows papers, 1904-1993], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[http://archives.nypl.org/the/18631 Abe Burrows scores, 1947-1949], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b7113132 Abe Burrows collection of sound recordings], at the [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[https://archive.org/download/DuffysTavern/duff.1943.12.14_Dinah_Shore_Joan_Davis.mp3 ''Duffy's Tavern'': "Leave Us Face It" (14 December 1943) with guest star: Dinah Shore]
*[https://archive.org/details/PublicDomainTheAbeBurrowsShow ''The Abe Burrows Show'', four surviving episodes]
*[http://www.wnyc.org/story/abe-burrows-librettist-and-proud-it Abe Burrows speaking at an ASCAP seminar on the musical theater as broadcast by WNYC on October 21, 1962.]

((Abe Burrows))
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((DEFAULTSORT:Burrows, Abe))
[[Category:Jewish American writers]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners]]
[[Category:Tony Award winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease]]
[[Category:Deaths from dementia in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Broadway theatre directors]]
[[Category:New Utrecht High School alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Comedians from Brooklyn]]

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