The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Television Plays

by Paddy Chayefsky

A collection of six television plays by this brilliant Holiday Song , Printer's Measure , The Big Deal , Marty , The Mother , and The Bachelor Party . Includes an introduction and notes for each play by the author.

Genres: Writing, Film, Tv

292 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 1994

About the author

Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay.

He was considered one of the most renowned dramatists of the so-called Golden Age of Television. His intimate, realistic scripts provided a naturalistic style of television drama for the 1950s, and he was regarded as the central figure in the "kitchen sink realism" movement of American television.

Following his critically acclaimed teleplays, Chayefsky continued to succeed as a playwright and novelist. As a screenwriter, he received three Academy Awards for Marty (1955), The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976). Marty was based on his own television drama about a relationship between two lonely people finding love. Network was his scathing satire of the television industry and The Hospital was considered satiric.

Chayefsky's early stories were notable for their dialogue, their depiction of second-generation Americans and their sentiment and humor. They were frequently influenced by the author's childhood in the Bronx. The protagonists were generally middle-class tradesmen struggling with personal problems: loneliness, pressures to conform or their own emotions.

Chayefsky died in New York City of cancer in August 1981 at the age of 58.

Reviews

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The navigation in this is poor but at the beginning there is a table of contents which directs you to the play. There are no errors noted this far and the reviews for the individual plays will be under the title.

[Paulio Himmelmench · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent plays, all. The questions of bare existence are asked and answered with the sincerity and forthrightness of a child. Chayefsky’s ability to simplify the complex and complexify the simple is second to none. His endnotes, though, are the reason to buy this collection. He talks about his work like a skilled carpenter; self-assured but with the humbleness that comes with ‘just doing your job’. Excellent, if a little dated, insight and advice.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Television Plays
Author: Paddy Chayefsky
Year: 1983
Genre: Nonfiction - Script collection, drama
Page count: 292 pages
Date(s) read: 11/13/22-11/17/22
Reading journal entry #306 in 2022