Welcome
Welcome to the Official Website of the Garson Kanin. Playwright Garson Kanin was a 20th Century Renaissance Man: a musician, burlesque comedian, actor, stage and film director, writer, and raconteur. He wrote plays, essays, screenplays, short stories, novels, memoirs, songs, and a libretto, and directed plays, musicals, documentaries and films.
Garson Kanin E-Books Now Available!
One Hell of an Actor
By Garson Kanin
Now available for:
amazonimage barnesimage itunesimageRemembering Mr. Maugham
By Garson Kanin
Now available for:
amazonimage barnesimage itunesimageA Thousand Summers
By Garson Kanin
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amazonimage barnesimage itunesimage–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980
I suppose most of existence is purely accidental. We design a plan, but in the end—a chance meeting, an odd happening—a twist of circumstance determines the course of life.
–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980
We’re not here to pass moral judgments on one another. Just see that you behave well, and leave the others to their own devices.
–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980
All’s fair in love and war and musicals
–Garson Kanin Smash c 1980
Humor means coming to terms with the nonsense and inequities and chaos and craziness of everyday life.
-Garson Kanin (interview, 1977)
I’m a tomorrow kid, and I don’t like looking back.
-Garson Kanin (interview, 1977)
Memory is an inexact science, and your memory will play tricks on you sometimes.
-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978
Each decade of one’s life, indeed each year, has its own colors and qualities, its strengths and weaknesses.
-Garson Kanin It Takes Long Time to Become Young c 1978
One of bureaucracy’s cruelest frauds is the cynical and hypocritical kick-under-the-carpet of problems by establishing special committees, subcommittees, research groups, and task forces — then publicizing them highly. The public at large is led to believe that the formation of a committee equals the solution of the problem.
The full moblization of a nation’s labor force is essential to its power and well-being.
The full moblization of a nation’s labor force is essential to its power and
well-being.
An enlightened society understands that education should be a continuing, never-ending process.
An enlightened society understands that education should be a continuing, never-ending process.
Life is not, or should not be, a spectator sport. It must be lived, not observed.
Life is not, or should not be, a spectator sport. It must be lived, not observed.
By and large, every successful enterprise is the result of one individual’s imagination, enterprise, and perseverance.
By and large, every successful enterprise is the result of one individual’s imagination, enterprise, and perseverance.