Editing Martin Ritt (section)

==Early years and influences==
[[File:Power-Living-Newspaper-Poster-1937.jpg|right|thumb|Poster for ''Power'', a [[Living Newspaper]] play for the [[Federal Theatre Project]] (1937)]]

Ritt was born to a [[American Jews|Jewish]] family<ref>{{cite book | last=Erens | first=Patricia | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-v2Di_5ShGMC&q=John%20Stahl&pg=PA392 392] | title= [[The Jew in American Cinema]] | isbn=978-0-253-20493-6 | publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] | date=August 1988}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKW4I9cCucwC&q=ritt|first=John W.|last=Conesr|title=Patterns of Bias in Hollywood Movies|pages=88|publisher=Algora Publishing |date=October 8, 2012|isbn=9780875869582}}</ref>  in [[Manhattan]], the son of immigrant parents.<ref name=NYTObit /> He graduated from [[DeWitt Clinton High School]] in the Bronx.<ref name=NYTObit />

Ritt originally attended and played football for [[Elon College]] in North Carolina. The stark contrasts of the depression-era South, against his New York City upbringing, instilled in him a passion for expressing the struggles of inequality, which is apparent in the films he directed.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

===Early theatre===
After leaving [[St. John's University (New York City)|St. John's University]], Ritt found work with a theater group, and began acting in plays. His first performance was as ''Crown'' in ''[[Porgy and Bess]]''. After his performance drew favorable reviews, Ritt concluded that he could "only be happy in the theater."

Ritt then went to work with the Roosevelt administration's New Deal [[Works Progress Administration]] as a playwright for the [[Federal Theater Project]], a federal government-funded theater support program. With work hard to find and the Depression in full effect, many WPA theater performers, directors, and writers became heavily influenced by the radical left and [[Communism]], and Ritt was no exception. Years later, Ritt would state that he had never been a member of the [[Communist party|Communist Party]], although he considered himself a leftist and found common ground with some [[Marxism|Marxist principles]].

===Group Theatre===
Ritt moved on from the WPA to the Theater of Arts, then to the [[Group Theatre (New York)|Group Theatre]] in New York City. There, he met [[Elia Kazan]], who cast Ritt as an understudy to his play ''[[Golden Boy (play)|Golden Boy]]''.  Ritt continued his association with Kazan for well over a decade, later assisting—and sometimes filling in for—Kazan at [[Actors Studio|The Actors Studio]].<ref>{{cite book | quote=Whenever Kazan had to miss a class for professional reasons, his associate, Martin Ritt, would take over the session. Ritt was thoroughly familiar with Kazan's procedures and with the special talents and shortcomings of each member of the group. | first=David | last=Garfield | title=A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio | url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf | url-access=registration | year=1980 | publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. | location=New York | isbn=0-02-542650-8 | page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/57 57] | chapter=Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947-1950}}</ref> He eventually became one of the Studio's few non-performing life members.<ref>{{cite book | first=David | last=Garfield | title=A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio | url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf | url-access=registration | year=1980 | publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. | location=New York | isbn=0-02-542650-8 | page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/279 279] | chapter=Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980}}</ref>

===World War II===
During [[World War II]], Ritt served with the [[U.S. Army Air Forces]] and appeared as an actor in the Air Forces' [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] play and film ''[[Winged Victory (play)|Winged Victory]]''.

During the Broadway run of the play, Ritt directed a production of [[Sidney Kingsley]]'s play ''[[Yellow Jack (play)|Yellow Jack]]'', using actors from ''Winged Victory'' and rehearsing between midnight and 3 am after ''Winged Victory'' performances.

The play had a brief Broadway run and was performed again in [[Los Angeles]] when the ''Winged Victory'' troupe moved there to make the film version.