Editing Joshua Logan

{{Short description|American director and writer (1908–1988)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Joshua Logan
| image              = Joshua Logan.jpg
| birth_name         = Joshua Lockwood Logan III
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1908|10|5}}
| birth_place        = [[Texarkana, Texas]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1988|7|12|1908|10|5}}
| death_place        = New York City, U.S.
| education          = [[Princeton University]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Director|writer|actor}}
| years_active       = 1932–1987
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Barbara O'Neil]]|1939|1940|end=div}}
* {{marriage|[[Nedda Harrigan]]<br>|1945}}}}
| children           = 2<ref name=WPost>{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=July 13, 1988|title=Broadway Director Joshua Logan Dies|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1988/07/13/broadway-director-joshua-logan-dies/f43b4f93-b4e3-4ab1-aeb3-c2fa07483f0e/|access-date=}}</ref>
}}
'''Joshua Lockwood Logan III''' (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American [[Theatre director|theatre]] and [[film director]], [[playwright]] and [[screenwriter]], and actor. He shared a [[Pulitzer Prize]] for co-writing the musical ''[[South Pacific (musical)|South Pacific]]'' and was involved in writing other musicals.

==Early years==
Logan was born in [[Texarkana metropolitan area|Texarkana]], [[Texas]], the son of Susan (née Nabors) and Joshua Lockwood Logan.<ref>[http://www.filmreference.com/film/78/Joshua-Logan.html "Joshua Logan Biography"], ''filmreference.com''</ref> When he was three years old, his father committed suicide. Logan, his mother, and his younger sister, Mary Lee, then moved to his maternal grandparents' home in [[Mansfield, Louisiana]], which Logan used 40 years later as the setting for his play ''The Wisteria Trees''. Logan's mother remarried six years after his father's death and he then attended [[Culver Military Academy]] in [[Culver,_Indiana|Culver]], [[Indiana]], where his stepfather served on the staff as a teacher. At school, he experienced his first drama class and felt at home. After his high school graduation he attended [[Princeton University]], here he was active in the Triangle Club, the university’s venerable musical theatre troupe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joshua Logan {{!}} American director and producer {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joshua-Logan |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Moreover, he was involved with the intercollegiate summer stock company, known as the [[University Players]], with fellow student [[James Stewart]] and also non-students [[Henry Fonda]] and [[Margaret Sullavan]]. During his senior year, he served as president of the [[Princeton Triangle Club]]. Before his graduation, he won a scholarship to travel to Moscow to observe the rehearsals of [[Konstantin Stanislavski]], and Logan left school without a diploma.

==Broadway==
Logan began his Broadway career as an actor in ''[[Carry Nation (play)|Carry Nation]]'' in 1932. He was also in ''I Was Waiting for You'' (1933).

He then spent time in London, where he staged two productions and directed a touring revival of ''Camille''. He also worked as an assistant stage manager.

===Director===
Back on Broadway he staged ''It's You I Want'' (1935) and ''To See Ourselves'' (1935) and was stage manager for ''Most of the Game'' (1935). He staged ''Hell Freezes Over'' (1935–36) and returned to acting with ''A Room in Red and White '' (1936).

He went to Hollywood where he did some dialogue directing on ''[[The Garden of Allah (1936 film)|The Garden of Allah]]'' (1936), ''[[History Is Made at Night (1937 film)|History Is Made at Night]]'' (1937), and ''[[Suez (film)|Suez]]'' (1938). Logan was given the chance to co-direct the feature film ''[[I Met My Love Again]]'' (1938) for [[Walter Wanger]].

Logan returned to Broadway where he had his first major success as a director with Paul Osborn's ''[[On Borrowed Time]]'' (1938), which ran for 321 performances. He followed it with the musical ''[[I Married an Angel]]'' (1938–39), which ran for 331 performances.

He directed ''[[Knickerbocker Holiday]]'' (1938), ''[[Stars in Your Eyes]]'' (1939), Osborn's ''[[Morning's at Seven]]'' (1939–40), ''[[Two for the Show (musical)|Two For the Show]]'' (1940), and ''[[Higher and Higher (musical)|Higher and Higher]]'' (1940, 84 performances). None of these was a break-out success but his revival of ''[[Charley's Aunt]]'' (1940–41) went for 233 performances, and the [[Rodgers and Hart|Hart-Rodgers]] musical ''[[By Jupiter]]'' (1942–43) with [[Ray Bolger]] went for 427 performances.

===World War II===
In 1942, Logan was drafted by the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]. During his service in [[World War II]], he acted as a [[Public relations officer|public-relations]] and [[intelligence officer]]. Logan was selected to become an [[assistant director]] of [[Irving Berlin]]'s ''[[This Is the Army]]'' and when in Europe organized "[[Jeep Show|jeep shows]]" of entertainers serving as soldiers doing their shows near the front lines.<ref>p. 37 Marill, Alvin H. ''Mickey Rooney: His Films, Television Appearances, Radio Work, Stage Shows, and Recordings'' McFarland, 8 Dec 2004</ref>

When the war concluded, he was discharged with the rank of [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] and returned to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. He married his second wife, actress [[Nedda Harrigan]], in 1945; Logan's previous marriage, to actress [[Barbara O'Neil]], a colleague of his at the [[University Players]] in the 1930s, had ended in divorce.

===Post-war success===
Logan's directing career resumed with the musical ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (musical)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'' (1946–49), which ran for 1,147 performances.

He followed it with [[Anita Loos]]' ''[[Happy Birthday (play)|Happy Birthday]]'' (1948, 563 performances), and [[Norman Krasna]]'s ''[[John Loves Mary]]'' (1948–49, 423 performances). Logan's golden run continued with ''[[Mister Roberts (play)|Mister Roberts]]'' (1948–1951) which he co-wrote as well as directed; it ran for 1157 performances and earned him a Tony Award.

Then he directed and co-wrote ''[[South Pacific (musical)|South Pacific]]'' (1949–54), which went for 1,925 performances. Logan shared the 1950 [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] with [[Richard Rodgers]] and [[Oscar Hammerstein II]] for co-writing ''South Pacific''. The show earned him a [[Tony Award]] for Best Director. Despite his contributions to the musical, ''The New York Times'' originally omitted his name as co-author, and the Pulitzer Prize committee initially awarded the prize to only Rodgers and Hammerstein. Although the mistakes were corrected, Logan wrote in his autobiography: "I knew then why people fight so hard to have their names in proper type. It's not just ego or 'the principle of the thing,' it's possibly another job or a better salary. It's reassurance. My name had been so minimized that I lived through years of having people praise ''South Pacific'' in my presence without knowing I had had anything to do with it."

Logan wrote, produced and directed ''The Wisteria Tree'' (1950), an adaptation of ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'', which was a minor success.

Logan cowrote, coproduced, and directed the 1952 musical ''[[Wish You Were Here (musical)|Wish You Were Here]]''. After the show was not initially successful, Logan quickly wrote 54 new pages of material, and by the ninth performance, the show looked new. In its fourth week of release, the show sold out, and continued to offer sell-out performances for the next two years.

He had another success with ''[[Picnic (play)|Picnic]]'' (1953–1954), the play by [[William Inge]], which went for 477 performances. Krasna's ''[[Kind Sir]]'' (1953–54) lasted 166 performances, and ''[[Fanny (musical)|Fanny]]'' (1953–1954) which Logan co-wrote, co-produced and directed, ran 888 performances.

==Hollywood==
When director [[John Ford]] became sick, Logan reluctantly returned to Hollywood to complete the filming of ''[[Mister Roberts (1955 film)|Mister Roberts]]'' (1955). It was a success commercially and critically.

Logan directed the film adaptation of his own ''[[Picnic (1955 film)|Picnic]]'' (1955), for which he received an Oscar nomination. ''[[Bus Stop (1956 film)|Bus Stop]]'' (1956) with [[Marilyn Monroe]], his next movie, was another hit.

Logan returned to Broadway, directing ''[[Middle of the Night]]'' by [[Paddy Chayefsky]], which ran 477 performances.

He visited Japan to direct [[Marlon Brando]] in ''[[Sayonara]]'' (1957), which earned him a second Oscar nomination for Best Director. He did the movie version of ''[[South Pacific (1958 film)|South Pacific]]'' (1958).

Logan went back to Broadway and directed ''[[Blue Denim]]'' (1958, 166 performances) and the hugely popular ''[[The World of Suzie Wong (play)|The World of Suzie Wong]]'' (1958–1960, 508 performances). He produced ''[[Epitaph for George Dillon]]'' (1958).

Logan returned to Hollywood with ''[[Tall Story]]'' (1960), which introduced [[Jane Fonda]] to movie audiences. Back on Broadway, he directed ''There Was a Little Girl'' (1960), his first theatre flop in some years, running for only 16 performances. In Hollywood he did the movie adaptation of ''[[Fanny (1961 film)|Fanny]]'' (1961).

In 1961, he was a member of the jury at the [[2nd Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow1961">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1961 |title=2nd Moscow International Film Festival (1961) |access-date=November 4, 2012 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116210653/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1961 |archive-date=January 16, 2013 }}</ref>

Logan continued to alternate Broadway and Hollywood for the rest of the 1960s. He did the Broadway musicals ''[[All American (musical)|All American]]'' (1962, 86 performances) and ''[[Mr. President (musical)|Mr. President]]'' (1962–1963, 265 performances), and ''Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright'' (1962–1963, 33 performances), then made the film ''[[Ensign Pulver]]'' (1964).

After ''Ready When You Are, C.B.!'' (1964–1965, 80 performances), he did the movies of [[Lerner and Loewe]]'s ''[[Camelot (film)|Camelot]]'' (1967) and ''[[Paint Your Wagon (film)|Paint Your Wagon]]'' (1969). Back on Broadway, he did ''[[Look to the Lilies]]'' (1970, 31 performances).

===Later career===
Logan's 1976 autobiography ''Josh: My Up-and-Down, In-and-Out Life'' gives a frank account of his [[bipolar disorder]]. He appeared with his wife in the 1977 nightclub revue ''Musical Moments,'' featuring Logan's most popular Broadway numbers. He published ''Movie Stars, Real People, and Me'' in 1978.

In 1979, he produced [[Larry Cohen]]'s ''Trick'' on Broadway. He directed ''Horowitz and Mrs. Washington'' (1980), which ran for six performances.

From 1983 to 1986, he taught theater at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. He was also responsible for bringing [[Carol Channing]] to Broadway in ''Lend an Ear!''.

==Personal life==
Logan experienced mood fluctuations for many years, which in the 1970s psychiatrist [[Ronald R. Fieve]] treated with [[lithium (medication)|lithium]], and the two appeared on TV talk shows extolling its virtues.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fBxyTAEiSUIC Blaming the Brain: The Truth About Drugs and Mental Health] Pg 49–51. Elliot Valenstein, Simon and Schuster, 1 Feb 2002</ref>

Logan was married briefly (1939–1940) to actress [[Barbara O'Neil]]. After the couple divorced, he was married to [[Nedda Harrigan]] from 1945 until his death from [[progressive supranuclear palsy]] (PSP) in New York City in 1988; they had a daughter, Susan Harrigan Logan, and a son, Thomas Heggen Logan.<ref name=WPost/>

In 2019, [[Jane Fonda]], who starred in Logan's 1960 film ''[[Tall Story]]'', claimed both she and Logan were in love with lead actor [[Anthony Perkins]] at the time of filming, causing tension during an already difficult shoot.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stafford |first1=Jeff |title=Tall Story (1960) |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/26575/tall-story#articles-reviews |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=15 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions &#124; WIRED |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9tgFMR4wgA?t=63  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/m9tgFMR4wgA| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|website=YouTube | date=January 22, 2019 |publisher=Wired |access-date=15 February 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Filmography==
* ''[[I Met My Love Again]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Mister Roberts (1955 film)|Mr. Roberts]]'' (1955, uncredited)
* ''[[Picnic (1955 film)|Picnic]]'' (1955)
* ''[[Bus Stop (1956 film)|Bus Stop]]'' (1956)
* ''[[Sayonara]]'' (1957)
* ''[[South Pacific (1958 film)|South Pacific]]'' (1958)
* ''[[Tall Story]]'' (1960)
* ''[[Fanny (1961 film)|Fanny]]'' (1961)
* ''[[Ensign Pulver]]'' (1964)
* ''[[Camelot (film)|Camelot]]'' (1967)
* ''[[Paint Your Wagon (film)|Paint Your Wagon]]'' (1969)

==Bibliography==
* Logan, Joshua (1976). ''Josh: My Up and Down, In and Out Life''. [[Delacorte Press]], New York.
* Logan, Joshua (1978). ''Movie Stars, Real People, and Me''. Delacorte Press, New York.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Joshua Logan}}
*{{cite news | author=Staff writers | title=Joshua Logan, Stage and Screen Director, Dies at 79|  work=The New York Times | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4DD163BF930A25754C0A96E948260 | date=July 13, 1988 | access-date=May 28, 2008}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{iobdb name|2171}}
*{{IMDb name|517597}}
*[https://archive.today/20121213121546/http://lccn.loc.gov/mm%2089080138 Joshua Logan papers, 1723–1992 (bulk 1940–1980), held by the Library of Congress]
* [http://archives.nypl.org/the/21507 Joshua Logan correspondence and ephemera, 1920–1989], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,  [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*{{Find a Grave|32618180}}
*''[https://www.allmovie.com/artist/joshua-logan-vn15501967 Joshua Logan]'', on ''[[AllMovie]]'', All Media Network.
*''[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joshua-Logan Joshua Logan]'', su ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Enciclopedia Britannica]]'', Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

{{Joshua Logan}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Joshua Logan
|list =
{{Golden Globe Award for Best Director 1943-1965}}
{{PulitzerPrize DramaAuthors 1926-1950}}
{{TonyAward BestAuthor}}
{{TonyAward MusicalBook 1950–1975}}
{{TonyAward Director}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Logan, Joshua}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:American theatre directors]]
[[Category:Broadway theatre directors]]
[[Category:Tony Award winners]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners]]
[[Category:Donaldson Award winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Shreveport, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Broadway theatre producers]]
[[Category:Film directors from Texas]]
[[Category:Film directors from Louisiana]]
[[Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners]]
[[Category:20th-century American memoirists]]
[[Category:Male actors from Shreveport, Louisiana]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:Culver Academies alumni]]
[[Category:United States Army officers]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Texas]]
[[Category:People with bipolar disorder]]
[[Category:People from Texarkana, Texas]]
[[Category:People from Mansfield, Louisiana]]