Charles Klein

Born in London on January 7, 1867, he moved to the United States as a teenager and set out to make a life in the theater. He first worked as an actor, then turned to writing and revising plays, building the practical stage sense that would define his career.

His output was remarkably wide-ranging. He wrote comedies, operettas, farces, melodramas, and socially minded dramas, with notable successes including The Music Master, The Lion and the Mouse, The Third Degree, and Potash and Perlmutter. He also wrote librettos for operettas, including works connected with John Philip Sousa.

By the early 20th century, he was one of the best-known playwrights on the American stage. His career was cut short on May 7, 1915, when he died during the sinking of the Lusitania, but his plays remain part of the story of Broadway's rise and popular theater in that era.