HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CORNELIA OTIS SKINNER
(March 30, 1901-July 9, 1979)

She was the daughter of the celebrated actor Otis Skinner and his actress wife, Maud Durbin.  So it was natural that she should study theatre and she began her stage career in 1921. But she was primarily known for her tours in a one-woman show of character sketches she wrote herself.   Her humorous pieces were published by The New Yorker and were eventually compiled into a series of books, including Nuts in May, Dithers and Jitters, Excuse It Please!, and The Ape in Me, among others.

In addition to her solo performances, she continued to appear in stage productions in New York, in summer theatre, and on tour across the country. But it was in the 1940s and 1950s she found roles in a number of noteworthy plays that revealed her talent: The Searching Wind (1944), Lady Windermere's Fan (1946), Major Barbara (1956), and The Pleasure of His Company which she wrote with S. A. Taylor (1958). Her performance as Jessica's mother in the last named play pleased NY Times critic Brooks Atkinson.  He wrote: "She plays it with taste and distinction and also with wit--wit not only in the edging of phrases but also in posture, movement and in the silent language of her eyes."

 In 1966 she published Madame Sarah, a vivid and affectionate biography of Sarah Bernhardt, the French actress. Harper's Magazine critic Clive Barnes commented, "Miss Skinner is an authority on this period of French theatre, and in addition to the story of Madame Bernhardt, the book also contains lots of information about the stage of the period."

Despite her heavy performance schedule, she found time to serve on many committees and was given special awards for her contributions to American culture. She received the Barter Theatre Award in 1952 and in 1954 was invested as an officer de Academie in Paris. She also received honorary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Tufts University, Emerson College, Bryn Mawr College, Mills College and many others.

It is reported that in a conversation with celebrated pianist/comedian Victor Borge, she told him that she decided to drop the term "disuese" from her act after reading in a Scottish newspaper: "Cornelia Otis Skinner, the American disease, gave a program last night."