Lee Goldsmith
Lyricist | Librettist
Lee Goldsmith, a native New Yorker, fell in love with musical theatre since seeing Ethel Merman in Anything Goes when he was a schoolboy. In the 1950s, Lee began writing revue material, collaborating with Fred Ebb and Paul Klein. With composer Lawrence Hurwit, he later wrote book and lyrics for two musicals: Sextet, a groundbreaking Broadway musical that served as Dixie Carter’s Broadway debut, and Gold Diggers of 1633, a musical adaptation of Moliere’s “School for Wives” as perhaps envisioned by Busby Berkeley. His musical adaptation of William Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba” with songwriter Clint Ballard was given two productions: the first starring Kaye Ballard and another with Donna McKechnie in the lead. With composer Roger Anderson, Goldsmith wrote the lyrics for Chaplin, which won South Florida’s Carbonell Award for Best New Work. In 2012 Chaplin was given its London Premiere at The Barbican Centre by the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Their musical Shine! The Horatio Alger Musical premiered in 1983 but finally made it to New York by way of the 2010 New York Music Theatre Festival, winning the Award for Excellence. Shine! is now published by Samuel French. Quality Street, for which Goldsmith wrote both book and lyrics, is based on the play by J. M. Barrie and has received successful staged readings in New York and Connecticut. Their final collaboration, Abe, premiered at the Muddy River Opera Company in Quincy, Illinois as part of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. Abe was immediately published by Samuel French.
Comic Book Writer
Goldsmith was also a writer for DC Comics. He authored and collaborated on stories of fictional characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Wonder Woman. He was also one of the journalists behind Girls’ Love Stories, a line of comics that was very popular with teenagers and young women until the 1970s. Goldsmith also helped write War Stories and The Westerns comics. [comics.org list of credited issues]