Steven Vinaver(1936-1968)

Steven Vinaver, born 1936 in Berlin, was a Polish/American librettist, composer and stage and screen director. His father Chemjo Vinaver was a composer, musicologist and conductor, while his mother Mascha Kaléko was a poet. The family exiled to the U.S.A. via France in September 1938. They settled in New York, but lived in Hollywood for a few months in 1940/1941, as Chemjo Vinaver had the hope of being able to work in the film industry. Steven Vinaver found work on Broadway, writing, composing and directing for the theater. He was also connected to the BBC and Schiller Theatre in Berlin. In addition to his work for the theater, he also wrote a number of screenplays for American television and also directed television. In 1961, he wrote the screenplay for "His Polyvinyl Girl" episode of the TV series Armchair Theatre. In the following two years, he wrote for 37 episodes of Ned Sherrin's TV series "That Was the Week That Was". His last work was in 1966, for director Dwight Hemion's TV movie "The Soupy Sales Hour". Steven Vinaver died on July 28, 1968, in Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, at the age of 31 after a serious illness.