[Deathwatch] Elliot Norton, theatre critic, 100

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Elliot Norton, Influential Boston Theatre Critic, Dead at 100
Mon Jul 21, 5:57 PM ET

by Robert Simonson 

Elliot Norton, the "Dean of American Theatre Critics" and the last of
the great regional reviewers who exercised considerable influence over
the fare seen on Broadway during it golden years, died July 20 in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. He was 100.

Mr. Norton first became a theatre critic in 1934 and did not retire
until 1982. In his time, he wrote for The Boston Post, The Boston
Record American, and The Boston Herald American (now The Boston
Herald). Producers who tried their shows out of town before bringing
them to Broadway anxiously awaited Mr. Norton's verdicts, and often
consulted the critic directly as to how to improve their products.

In this way, his reviews were often as important to the success of a
new play or musical as were those of the drama critics for The New York
Times and other Gotham dailies. (Perhaps his only colleague in this
respect was his contemporary Richard Coe, the longtime critic of
Washington, D.C. productions.) Directors such as Mike Nichols and
Joshua Logan considered Mr. Norton a reliable gage of public opinion.
Producers like Alexander Cohen respected his reviews and frequently
changed their attractions in response to his criticisms.

Such interaction between theatre artists and powerful out-of-town
critics like Mr. Norton was common during the decades following World
War II, when the lines separating those who created theatre and those
who wrote about it were not so markedly drawn as they are today.
Stricter journalistic ethics and an increasingly adversarial atmosphere
between producers and critics have since made such interactions
impossible. Regional critics still often advise new shows on what works
and what doesn't-but only in print.

Neil Simon told the Boston Globe how Mr. Norton's input helped the
development of The Odd Couple: ''He invited one the stars and the
writer. He loved the play and gave it a wonderful review but he said
the third act was lacking something. On the show he said, `You know who
I missed in the third act was the Pidgeon Sisters,' and it was like a
light bulb went off in my head. It made an enormous difference in the
play. I rewrote it and it worked very well. I was so grateful to Elliot
... Elliot had such a keen eye. I don't know if he saved the play or
not, but he made it a bigger success.''

Mr. Norton was born in Boston in 1903 and attended Harvard University,
where he studied with George Pierce Baker, who taught a famous
playwriting class at the time. After graduating, he was hired as a
reporter for the Boston Post. In 1934, he became the paper's drama
critic. The Post folded in 1956 and Mr. Norton went to the Record
American, a Hearst paper. He won a George Jean Nathan award for drama
criticism in 1964 and was given a special Tony Award in 1971.

In 1982, the Elliot Norton Awards were established to honor theatre in
the Boston area.

Mr. Norton cut an imposing figure. He was more than six feet tall and
always nattily attired. Robert Brustein told the Globe, ''His
appearance at a show - straight as a ramrod, impeccably dressed,
elegant and distinguished - was a theatrical act in itself.''

His book, "Broadway Down East" was a collection of lectures he gave at
the Boston Public Library.

Mr. Norton leaves a son, David A.; two daughters, Elizabeth N. Norton
and Jane Norton Hardy; and three grandchildren. Burial will be in Mount
Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge. A funeral Mass will be held later this week
at St. Patrick's in Watertown.