Russel Crouse

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Russel Crouse (February 20, 1893 – April 3, 1966) was a U.S. playwright and librettist, best known for his work in the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse.

Born in Findlay, Ohio, Crouse began his Broadway career in 1928 as an actor in the play Gentlemen of the Press, in which he played Bellflower. By 1931, however, he had turned his attention to writing, penning the book for the musical The Gang's All Here, collaborating with Frank McCoy, Morrie Ryskind and Oscar Hammerstein II. His first work with his long-time partner Howard Lindsay came in 1934, when the two men revised P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton's book for the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes.

Later, Lindsay and Crouse became Broadway producers, often acting in that capacity for their own work, and also owned and operated the Hudson Theatre on 44th Street in New York.

Perhaps their best-known collaboration was on the book for the 1960, Tony Award winning, musical The Sound of Music, which featured music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Crouse's old collaborator Oscar Hammerstein II. Their 1946 play State of the Union won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Their last collaboration was Mr. President in 1962.

Russel Crouse named his daughter Lindsay Ann Crouse in an intentional tribute to his collaboration with Howard Lindsay.