Even though Lawrence and Lee had grown up only about thirty miles from each other, they did not meet until 1942 in New York City, where they formed a partnership to write and direct plays. Both men joined the army in 1942, temporarily suspending their professional collaboration. Their partnership resumed, however, after they returned home. Combining their talents, Lawrence and Lee wrote a myriad of plays and musicals, screenplays, radio plays, and scripts for radio and television programs, as well as stories and articles for various publications, biographies, and textbooks. Their partnership proved fulfilling, successful, and enduring and lasted until Lee’s death in 1998.
In their work, Lawrence and Lee wanted to make people think about mankind and react to the world around them. They were relentless in their determination to fight limitations placed on the individual mind—limitations such as censorship, fear of what others would think, and bigotry.
Major Themes
Lawrence and Lee’s passion for the freedom to think and the freedom to experience life is reflected in their work. Their protagonists, whether funny or serious, embody this philosophy. Drummond, in Inherit the Wind, shows audiences that differing perspectives must—and can—be valued with an open-mind. In Auntie Mame, Mame’s curiosity enables her to live beyond the limitations that most women of that era faced. In The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Thoreau suffered the consequences for willfully violating what he considers to be unjust laws.
Literary Influences
Lawrence and Lee claim to have been influenced by playwrights such as Clifford Odets, Thornton Wilder, Lillian Hellman, Robert Sherwood, and others. Maxwell Anderson’s work also had a significant impact on their work, particularly with Inherit the Wind. Anderson’s play Winterset concerns the Sacco-Vanzetti trial in which two men are convicted of murder and sentenced to die, only to be found innocent after their executions. In Winterset, Anderson used dramatic license to add to the original case and to eliminate facts that he considered irrelevant to his play. He also made the conflict (social injustice) universal and timeless. Lawrence and Lee adapted this style when they wrote Inherit the Wind. Like Anderson, they used dramatic license to create a play based on a conflict that, at its heart, is both universal and timeless.
Honors and Awards
Together, Lawrence and Lee wrote an amazing amount of work. Many of their plays—Inherit the Wind (1955), Auntie Mame (1956) and Mame (1966) (the musical onstage version of Auntie Mame), The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (1970), and First Monday in October, (1975)—have been hailed as contemporary classics and been translated and performed in over thirty languages. Their work has received much critical acclaim and been honored with numerous awards, including the following:
* Two George Foster Peabody awards for distinguished achievement in broadcasting (1949 and 1952)
* The Donaldson Award for best new play (1955) for Inherit the Wind
* The Variety Critics Poll award, both in New York (1955) and London (1960), for Inherit the Wind
* The Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Theatre Association (1979)
* The Writers Guild of America Valentine Davies Award (1984) for contributions to the entertainment industry that have brought honor and dignity to all writers
In 1990, Lawrence and Lee were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and received membership in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre.
Other Contributions
In addition to their great plays, Lawrence and Lee made numerous other contributions to the theatre. They were co-founders of the Margo Jones Award and American Playwrights Theatre. Lawrence is a member of the Authors League of America and the Dramatists Guild, and Lee was a member of the Writers Executive Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Throughout the years, Lawrence and Lee shared a deep commitment to teaching, and taught and lectured extensively throughout the United States and abroad.
