author
Lewis Beach
1891–1947
Best remembered for the hit comedy The Goose Hangs High, this American playwright also moved easily between one-act experiments and full-length stage comedies. His work helped shape early 20th-century theater, from student writing at Harvard to Broadway success.
1 Audiobook
Washington Square Plays
by Lewis Beach, Alice Gerstenberg, Edward Goodman, Philip Moeller
About the author
Born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1891, Lewis Beach was an American playwright and author who began writing plays while he was a student at Harvard University. His early breakthrough was The Clod, a one-act play first produced by the Washington Square Players in 1916.
Beach went on to write a range of stage works, including A Square Peg, Ann Vroome, and Merry Andrew, but he is most closely associated with The Goose Hangs High, his best-known comedy. That play was later adapted into a 1949 film, showing how strongly his theater work connected with popular audiences.
He died in 1947. Even in a brief career overview, what stands out is his knack for writing plays that were lively, audience-friendly, and durable enough to keep circulating long after their first productions.