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Samson Raphaelson

Writer, Additional Credits
Born March 30, 1894Died July 16, 1983 (89 years)
​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samson Raphaelson (March 30, 1894 in New York City – July 16, 1983 in New York City) was an American screenwriter and playwright.

Born in New York City, Raphaelson worked on nine films with Ernst Lubitsch, including Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Shop Around the Corner (1939), Heaven Can Wait (1943), and That Lady in Ermine (1948). He also collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941). He is the author of the play Day of Atonement, which was made into The Jazz Singer (1927), the first talking picture, produced by Warner Brothers in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. Samson Raphaelson was also Ernst Lubitsch's favorite screenwriter.

Samson Raphaelson considered Suspicion to be "in many ways my best screenplay." Raphaelson also co-wrote Lubitsch's only sound-era drama Broken Lullaby (The Man I Killed, 1932). Though praised by playwright Robert E. Sherwood as "the best talking picture that has yet been seen and heard," the film was a box office flop. Aside from his more popular work, Raphaelson also wrote the college fight song for the University of Illinois in 1921. Titled, "Fight, Illini!: The Stadium Song" the music was composed by Rose J. Oltusky.

In 1977 the Writers Guild of America Awards granted him the "Laurel" for lifetime achievement. He taught playwriting at Columbia University until the last years of his life. His wife Dorshka (Dorothy Wegman) (1904-2005) was the author of 'Morning Song' and, until her death in 2005, was the second oldest surviving Ziegfeld Follies dancer. His nephew is filmmaker Bob Rafelson, and his grandson is photographer Paul Raphaelson.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Samson Raphaelson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

  • You've Got Mail
  • The Shop Around the Corner
  • Suspicion
  • Trouble in Paradise
  • Heaven Can Wait
  • The Jazz Singer
  • The Smiling Lieutenant
  • Frantz
  • The Jazz Singer
  • The Merry Widow
  • One Hour with You
  • Angel
  • Green Dolphin Street
  • In the Good Old Summertime
  • Broken Lullaby
  • But Not for Me
  • The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
  • That Lady in Ermine
  • Ziegfeld Follies
  • The Gay Deception
  • The Jazz Singer

Filmography

1998
You've Got Mail · as Original Film Writer
1980
American Playhouse (TV Series)
1955
Matinee Theater (TV Series)
1953
1949
In the Good Old Summertime · as Original Film Writer
1948
That Lady in Ermine · as Screenplay
1947
Green Dolphin Street · as Screenplay
1946
The Harvey Girls · as Screenplay
1945
1943
Heaven Can Wait · as Screenplay
1941
Suspicion · as Screenplay
1940
1937
Angel · as Screenplay
1937
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney · as Screenplay
1935
Dressed to Thrill · as Screenplay
1935
1934
The Merry Widow · as Screenplay
1934
1934
1932
Trouble in Paradise · as Screenplay
1932
1932
Broken Lullaby · as Screenplay
1931
The Smiling Lieutenant · as Screenplay
1931

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