American playwright and librettist perhaps best known for his witty and articulate librettos, on which he collaborated with such notables as P.G. Wodehouse, George Middleton, and Fred Thompson. In collaboration with P.G. Wodehouse and others, he wrote dozens of scripts scored by composers such as Jerome Kern (OH BOY! 1917), George Gershwin (LADY, BE GOOD!, 1924; GIRL CRAZY, 1930),and Cole Porter (ANYTHING GOES, 1934).