Samson Raphaelson

Bio: University of Illinois alumnus Samson Raphaelson worked as an English Literature professor, an advertising man, and a New York Times crime reporter before turning to playwriting. Raphaelson's most famous Broadway effort was 1926's The Jazz Singer, which was subsequently adapted for the screen three times. Another of his theatrical works, Accent on Youth, was… More Bio: University of Illinois alumnus Samson Raphaelson worked as an English Literature professor, an advertising man, and a New York Times crime reporter before turning to playwriting. Raphaelson's most famous Broadway effort was 1926's The Jazz Singer, which was subsequently adapted for the screen three times. Another of his theatrical works, Accent on Youth, was likewise thrice-filmed: first under its original title in 1935, and then in 1950 and 1959, as respectively Mr. Music and But Not for Me. Other Raphaelson plays to make the transition to films included Hilda Crane, A Rose Is Not a Rose (as 1951's Bannerline), and Skylark, which Raphaelson had adapted for the stage from his own novel The Streamlined Heart. Among his screenwriting credits were several Lubitsch pictures (Trouble in Paradise, Shop Around the Corner, Heaven Can Wait), Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941), and The Perfect Marriage (1946), which he also produced. Samson Raphaelson was the uncle of writer/director Bob Rafelson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi