Joseph Kesselring

Joseph Otto Kesselring was an American playwright best known for the dark comedy Arsenic and Old Lace.

Born in New York City on 21 June 1902, he grew up in a family of German and English Canadian heritage. He spent much of his early career around the stage, teaching vocal music and directing theatre productions at Bethel College in Kansas from 1922 to 1924. After leaving teaching, he worked with amateur theatre groups before moving into full-time writing.

Kesselring began writing professionally in the 1930s. He went on to complete twelve plays, four of which were produced on Broadway. These included There’s Wisdom in Women (1935) and Cross-Town (1937), both comedies that explored social conflict through everyday characters.

His most successful work, Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), became one of Broadway’s longest-running plays. The show ran for 1,444 performances in New York and 1,337 performances in London. It later became a popular choice for school and community theatre productions and was adapted into a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant.

Arsenic and Old Lace followed two elderly sisters in Brooklyn who poison lonely men with arsenic-laced wine, and featured a chaotic family including a brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt. The play mixed farce with macabre humour and satirised respectability, wealth and American identity.

Audiences and critics responded to its sharp tone; The New York Times reviewer Brooks Atkinson wrote that Kesselring had produced a comedy “so funny that none of us will ever forget it.”

Kesselring continued writing for the stage after the success of Arsenic and Old Lace. His later works included Four Twelves Are 48 (1951) and comedies such as Maggie McGilligan (1942) and Identically Yours (1945). Although none matched his earlier success, he remained active in theatre circles and was a member of several professional organisations, including the Dramatists Guild.

Joseph Otto Kesselring died on 5 November 1967 in Kingston, New York. In 1980, the National Arts Club established the Joseph Kesselring Prize, funded by his widow, to support emerging American playwrights. Among those who have received the award are Tony Kushner, Anna Deavere Smith, and Doug Wright.