Fay Kanin, Writer for Film and Stage, Dies at 95 (March 28)

In a speech in 2003 Ms. Kanin recalled her start as a playwright. Her brother-in-law Garson Kanin had brought the script of “Goodbye, My Fancy” to a major producer, Max Gordon, who said he loved it, but lamented that he could produce only one more play that season and had on his desk a comedy by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, who had written the classic comedies “Dinner at 8” and “Stage Door.” “Now, if you were Max Gordon, which play would you do?” he asked Ms. Kanin, who reluctantly gave him the answer he wanted.

“I’ll be the producer,” Michael Kanin told his wife, and he then mortgaged their house to raise the money.

The Kaufman-Ferber comedy disappeared almost immediately, while “Goodbye, My Fancy” became a hit. The next time she met Mr. Gordon, Ms. Kanin said, he looked at her sadly.

“Why did you give me such lousy advice?” he asked. Link