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George Jean Nathan (February 14 1882 – April 8 1958) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 drama
Drama

Drama is the specific Mode of fiction Mimesis in performance. The term comes from a Ancient Greek word meaning "Action " , which is derived from "to do" ....
 critic
Critic

The word critic comes from the Greek language ' , "able to discern", which in turn derives from the word ' , meaning a person who offers reasoned judgment or analysis, value judgment, interpretation, or observation....
 and editor.

an was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne is a city in northeastern Indiana, United States and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana. As of July 1, 2008, the city had an estimated population of 251,247, making it the List of United States cities by population Fort Wayne is Indiana's second largest city after Indianapolis, Indiana....
. He graduated from Cornell University
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
 in 1904, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger

Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent collegiate societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones of Yale University....
 society.

d for the erudition and cynicism of his reviews, Nathan was an early champion of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature. His plays are among the first to introduce into American drama the techniques of Realism , associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg....
. Together with H.L. Mencken, he co-edited the magazine The Smart Set
The Smart Set

The Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in America in March 1900 by William d'Alton Mann. It was edited by H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan....
 from 1914 and co-founded The American Mercury
The American Mercury

The American Mercury is a defunct magazine founded in 1924 as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured writing by some of the most important writers in the United States through the 1920s and 1930s....
 in 1924.






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George Jean Nathan (February 14 1882 – April 8 1958) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 drama
Drama

Drama is the specific Mode of fiction Mimesis in performance. The term comes from a Ancient Greek word meaning "Action " , which is derived from "to do" ....
 critic
Critic

The word critic comes from the Greek language ' , "able to discern", which in turn derives from the word ' , meaning a person who offers reasoned judgment or analysis, value judgment, interpretation, or observation....
 and editor.

Early life

Nathan was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne is a city in northeastern Indiana, United States and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana. As of July 1, 2008, the city had an estimated population of 251,247, making it the List of United States cities by population Fort Wayne is Indiana's second largest city after Indianapolis, Indiana....
. He graduated from Cornell University
Cornell University

Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a private university with four Statutory college. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar....
 in 1904, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger

Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent collegiate societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones of Yale University....
 society.

Drama critic career

Noted for the erudition and cynicism of his reviews, Nathan was an early champion of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature. His plays are among the first to introduce into American drama the techniques of Realism , associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg....
. Together with H.L. Mencken, he co-edited the magazine The Smart Set
The Smart Set

The Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in America in March 1900 by William d'Alton Mann. It was edited by H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan....
 from 1914 and co-founded The American Mercury
The American Mercury

The American Mercury is a defunct magazine founded in 1924 as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured writing by some of the most important writers in the United States through the 1920s and 1930s....
 in 1924. He was also a founder and an editor (1932–35) of the American Spectator
American Spectator (literary magazine)

The American Spectator was a monthly literary magazine which made its first monthly appearance in November 1932. It was edited by George Jean Nathan, though Eugene O'Neill, Ernest Boyd, Theodore Dreiser, and James Branch Cabell were also listed as joint editors....
, and after 1943 he wrote a syndicated column for the New York Journal-American.

Over the years, Nathan's criticisms were published in Mr. George Jean Nathan Presents (1917), The Critic and the Drama (1922), The Testament of a Critic (1931), Since Ibsen (1933), Passing Judgments (1935), The World of George Jean Nathan (1952), and The Magic Mirror (1960). Nathan's philosophy of criticism is laid out in Autobiography of an Attitude (1925).

Relationships and marriage

Though he published a paean to The Bachelor Life in 1941, Nathan had a reputation as a "ladies man" -- and one not averse to dating within his field; indeed the character of Addison De Witt, the waspish theater critic who squires a starlet (played by a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe) in the film All About Eve, was based on Nathan. His most famous relationship was reportedly with actress Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish

Lillian Diana Gish , was an United States stage, screen and television actor whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W....
. Their relationship began in the late 1920s and lasted almost a decade, with Gish repeatedly refusing his marriage proposals.

Nathan eventually married considerably younger stage actress Julie Haydon
Julie Haydon

Julie Haydon was an American actress who performed on Broadway theatre and in films....
 in 1955.

Death

Nathan died in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 in 1958, aged 76.

Legacy

The George Jean Nathan Award, an honor in dramatic criticism, is named after him.

Quote

"One does not go to the theater to see life and nature; one goes to see the particular way in which life and nature happen to look to a cultivated, imaginative and entertaining man who happens, in turn, to be a playwright." –George Jean Nathan