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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Woollcott. Hart, who loved to act and was damned good at it, too, took it to the South Pacific for the troops and played it on all of the islands. Just before he left, Kaufman said, “For god's sake, Moss, don't let yourself be captured by the Japs. They've got the lousiest psychoanalysts in the world.”

Another wonderful story about Moss and Kaufman and their relationship... The first time that Moss went to Hollywood, he was scared. He was always scared, or pretended to be scared, by new adventure. And now here he was going out to Hollywood and leaving George. His analyst had told him, “You've got to get out from under George Kaufman. He has become your shield. You've got to be Moss Hart now, not Kaufman and Hart.” So Moss accepted a contract out in Hollywood at a starting price of somewhere around $2,000 a week. By this time he was a recognized success. He spent his last night in Manhattan with George. He expected, since they were breaking up after all of these years, that George would be sentimental and give him a lot of advice and tell him who to look up. That wasn't the way that Kaufman did things. Not a word was said the entire evening about his going to Hollywood. Finally, George said, “Well, so long, kid,” and walked off. Moss was terribly put out. But when he got home he found waiting for him a twelve-page letter from George Kauffman, telling him how much he loved him and what he should do when he got to Hollywood. Kauffman had to write how deeply he felt; he couldn't say it.





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