"We see things as we are, not as they are." -- Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten (April 11, 1908 - February 19, 1997) was born in Lodz, Russian Empire (now Poland) and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism and Yiddish lexicography.
"A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead.""A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood.""An angel is a spiritual creature created by God without a body for the service of Christendom and the church.""Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad.""Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined.""Extremists think "communication" means agreeing with them.""First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.""Happiness comes only when we push our brains and hearts to the farthest reaches of which we are capable.""Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.""I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.""I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe.""If you are going to do something wrong at least enjoy it.""Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap promptly warns us that if we hesitate we are lost; that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind.""Satire is focused bitterness.""Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them.""The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it.""The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others.""Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense.""Why did God give me two ears and one mouth? So that I will hear more and talk less.""Words must surely be counted among the most powerful drugs man ever invented."
Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in what is now Poland, but emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1911 at age three. His parents were Samuel C. Rosten and Ida Freundlich Rosten, both trade unionists. They opened a knitting shop in the Greater Lawndale area of Chicago, where Rosten and his younger sister grew up among other working-class Jewish families. Like their neighbors, the children spoke both English and Yiddish. Rosten showed an interest in books and language very early, and began writing stories when he was only nine. He put himself through school and earned degrees from both the University of Chicago, where he obtained his doctorate, and the London School of Economics.
During the Depression, when he was unable to find other work, he taught English to recent immigrants at night. These experiences eventually became the source of his most popular works, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N and The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N.
Scriptwriter
Rosten was a successful screenwriter. He wrote the story for The Dark Corner, a film noir starring Mark Stevens; and Lured, the Douglas Sirk-directed period drama featuring Lucille Ball. He is listed as one of the writers for Captain Newman, M.D. adapted from his novel of the same title. Other films: Mechanized Patrolling (1943) (as Leonard Q. Ross), They Got Me Covered (1943) (story) (as Leonard Q. Ross), All Through the Night (1942) (story) (as Leonard Q. Ross), The Conspirators (1944) (screenplay), The Velvet Touch (1948), Sleep, My Love (1948) (novel) (screenplay), Double Dynamite (1951)(story), Walk East on Beacon (1952), and Mister Cory (1957) (story).
Stories and books
Rosten is best remembered for his stories about the night-school "prodigy" Hyman Kaplan (first published in The New Yorker in the 1930s, and later reprinted in 1937 in two volumes—The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N and The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, under the pseudonym Leonard Q. Ross).
He is also well-known for his encyclopedic volume The Joys of Yiddish (1968), a guide to the Yiddish language and to Jewish culture (as well as a source for anecdotes and Jewish humor). It was followed by O K*A*P*L*A*N! My K*A*P*L*A*N! (1976), and Hooray for Yiddish! (1982) , a humorous lexicon of the American language as influenced by Jewish culture. Another Rosten work is Leo Rosten's Treasury of Jewish Quotations.
Quotations
Among his own many quotations are: "A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead," "Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense," "We see things as we are, not as they are," and "I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all."
At a tribute dinner to fellow humorist W. C. Fields, a youngish and reportedly nervous Rosten came up with the unscripted remark about Fields that "any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad." This statement is often misattributed to Fields himself.
Personal life
On March 30, 1935, Rosten married Priscilla Ann "Pam" Mead (1911—1959), a fellow graduate student at the University of Chicago and sister of anthropologist Margaret Mead. They had two daughters: Madeline Rosten and Margaret Ramsey Rosten; and a son, Philip Rosten (1938—1996), who in turn had 6 grandchildren: Josh and Ben Lee (Madeline), Seth Muir (Margaret), and Alexander, Carrie and Pamela Rosten (Phillip). Carrie followed in her grandfather's literary footsteps and has authored three books, including a young adult novel, Chloe Leiberman (Sometimes Wong). Leo's and Pam's marriage ended in divorce in 1959; she took her own life on December 1 the same year. Rosten's second wife, whom he married January 5, 1960, was Gertrude Zimmerman (1915—1995).
Rosten's obituary in The Independent on February 21, 1997, written by Chaim Bermant, describes his personality as follows:
"Rosten was an inveterate Anglophile. He had enjoyed his years at LSE, was amazed by the enthusiastic reception Kaplan had received in the English press, and returned to London whenever opportunity dictated and even when it didn't. He lived in considerable luxury in a penthouse flat in Sutton Place, one of the most exclusive areas of New York, and rented a mews flat in Mayfair. England represented the tranquillity he could not find in America. He loved to rummage in English bookshops and wear English clothes - he contrived to display a subdued elegance - to go to the London theatres and entertain and be entertained in London clubs. He himself was a member of the Savile, the Reform and the Garrick."
According to Alex Abella's Soldiers of Reason, Rosten was influential in forming the Social Sciences division of RAND Corporation.
