Constellation Similarity Assertions

Morrie Ryskind, playwright, poet, and columnist, was born on October 20, 1895 in Brooklyn. After high school he attended The Columbia University School of Journalism where he served as editor of Columbia's humor magazine The Jester . In 1917, six weeks from graduation, Ryskind was expelled for writing an editorial which called Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler, "Czar Nicholas". Ryskind was later awarded his degree in 1942.

Ryskind's professional career as a writer began soon after his expulsion when he was hired as a reporter by The World, a post he held until 1921. That year he published a book of light verse called Unaccustomed as I Am, which received favorable reviews. Ryskind's poetry had appeared in numerous collegiate as well as professional publications. In 1924 Ryskind wrote shorts for the Garrick Gaieties drawing the attention of George Kaufman who asked him to collaborate on the musical Cocoanuts, a Marx Brothers vehicle with music by Irving Berlin. Ryskind worked with Berlin again in 1940 on the Broadway hit, The Louisiana Purchase . His collaboration with Kaufman included Animal Crackers and the film A Night at the Opera . Ryskind later adapted Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers for the screen, both successes for the Marx Brothers. When he married Mary House in 1929, Groucho Marx was his best man.

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