CHODOROV, JEROME

CHODOROV, JEROME (1911–2004), U.S. playwright and director; brother of playwright/screenwriter edward chodorov . Born in New York City, Chodorov worked as a journalist for the New York World before moving to California. He collaborated with Joseph Fields in writing the play My Sister Eileen (1940). In the 1953 musical version, Chodorov and Fields supplied the book, Rosalind Russell played the lead role of Ruth Sherwood, and leonard bernstein , betty comden , and adolph green wrote the score. Other Chodorov and Fields Broadway successes included Junior Miss (1941), Wonderful Town (1953), and Anniversary Waltz (1954). In 1958 Chodorov directed the New York production of The Gazebo. Chodorov also supplied the books for several other musicals, including The Girl in Pink Tights (1954), which was composer sigmund romberg 's last Broadway musical, and I Had a Ball (1964), starring Buddy Hackett. His last Broadway production was A Talent for Murder (1981), a comedy-mystery that Chodorov co-wrote with Norman Panama, which starred Claudette Colbert and Jean-Pierre Aumont. In 1953 Chodorov was blacklisted for a time after having been named in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee as having attended meetings of the Communist Party. He and his brother were denounced after the Broadway opening of Wonderful Town by the show's choreographer, jerome robbins . In California Chodorov worked on more than 50 films, including Dancing Feet (1936), All Over Town (1936), Dulcy (1939), Louisiana Purchase (1942), Murder in the Big House (1942), Those Endearing Young Charms (with his brother, 1945), Man from Texas (1948), Tiki Tiki (1971), and Lucky Luciano (1974) as well as film versions of My Sister Eileen (1942), Junior Miss (1945), the TV movie Wonderful Town (1958), Happy Anniversary (1959), and the TV movie A Talent for Murder (1984), starring Angela Lansbury and Laurence Olivier. (Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)