William F. Brown, whose libretto for Broadway’s The Wiz earned him a Tony Award nomination, died yesterday in Westport, Ct, according to his wife and collaborator Tina Tippit. Brown was 91.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey on April 16, 1928, Brown attended Princeton University, wrote for Look Magazine, served a year in the U.S. Army, and, from 1952-54 was a TV producer for the advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne (Bbdo), all before launching the freelance writing career that would include contributing comedy sketches and lyrics to nine of cabaret producer Julius Monk’s revues in New York and Chicago through the 1950s and ’60s.
Brown’s Broadway debut came when his play The Girl in the Freudian Slip opened at the Booth Theatre on May 18, 1967. The contemporary comedy about a married psychiatrist who finds himself attracted to a patient ran only four performances but is remembered as the first...
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey on April 16, 1928, Brown attended Princeton University, wrote for Look Magazine, served a year in the U.S. Army, and, from 1952-54 was a TV producer for the advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne (Bbdo), all before launching the freelance writing career that would include contributing comedy sketches and lyrics to nine of cabaret producer Julius Monk’s revues in New York and Chicago through the 1950s and ’60s.
Brown’s Broadway debut came when his play The Girl in the Freudian Slip opened at the Booth Theatre on May 18, 1967. The contemporary comedy about a married psychiatrist who finds himself attracted to a patient ran only four performances but is remembered as the first...
- 6/24/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
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