Arthur Kober | |
|---|---|
| Born | Arthur Kober August 25, 1900 Brody, Galicia, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | June 12, 1975 (aged 74) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse |
|
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Andrew Kober (grandnephew) |
Arthur Kober (August 25, 1900 – June 12, 1975) was an American humorist, author, press agent, and screenwriter. He was married to the dramatist Lillian Hellman.
Kober was born into a Jewish family in Brody, Galicia, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of western Ukraine). His family emigrated to the United States when he was 4. They first moved to Harlem before settling in The Bronx.[1]
He attended the High School Of Commerce (later known as Louis D. Brandeis High School) for one semester before working at a series of jobs, including as a stock clerk at Gimbels. He then found work as a theatrical press agent for the Shubert brothers, Jed Harris, Herman Shumlin, and Ruth Draper.[1]
His grandnephew is actor Andrew Kober.
Kober married Lillian Hellman on December 31, 1925. During their marriage, they often lived apart. They divorced in 1932, after Hellman had started a relationship with Dashiell Hammett.[2] He later married Margaret Frohnknecht in 1941, who died in 1951. They had one daughter, Catherine.[1]
Kober began writing humorous short fiction for The New Yorker in 1926 and became a prolific contributor. Many of his characters, such as the husband-hunter Bella Gross, were based on his Jewish upbringing in the Bronx.[3] His New Yorker stories were later collected in the anthologies Thunder Over the Bronx (1935), Pardon Me for Pointing (1939), My Dear Bella (1941), Parm Me (1945), Bella, Bella Kissed a Fella (1951), and Oooh, What You Said! (1958).[4]
He became a screenwriter in Hollywood, working on about 30 films in the 1930s and 1940s, including The Little Foxes (1938), based on Hellman's semi-autobiographical play.[1]
Kober wrote the Broadway play Having Wonderful Time, a comedy set in a Jewish resort in the Catskills.[5] It was staged in 1937 and the following year it was made into a Hollywood film, though the Jewish ethnic humor was sanitized.[5] It was adapted as a stage musical, Wish You Were Here, in 1952.[5]
Kober died of cancer in New York on June 12, 1975, at the age of 74.[1] He was portrayed by David Paymer in the 1999 film, Dash and Lilly.[6]
