Sidney Kingsley was an American dramatist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Men in White in 1934. Kingsley was born Sidney Kirschner in New York. He studied at Cornell University, where he began his career writing plays for the college dramatic club. He joined the Group Theater for the production of his first major work. In 1933 the company performed his play Men in White. Set in a hospital, the play dealt with the issue of illegal abortion, 1930s medical and surgical practices and the struggle of one promising physician who must choose to dedicate his life to medicine... or devote himself to his fiancee. The play was a box-office smash. Kingsley followed this success with the play Dead End in 1935. A story about slum housing and its connection to crime, the piece was also fairly successful, eventually spawning the Dead End Kids. The two plays which followed, the anti-war Ten Million Ghosts of 1936 and The World We Make of 1939, were flops and had short runs. But in 1943 Kingsley returned to his previous success with the historical drama The Patriots.
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| Birthdate: | October 22, 1906 |
| Date of death: | October 18, 1995 |
| Education: | Cornell University |
| Also known as: | Sidney Kirshner, Sidney kinsley |