Andrew P. Solt
Television and theater
Television and theater
----------------------

In the 1950s Solt took up writing scripts for television, mostly for the weekly anthology series that were popular at the time. He wrote a number of teleplays for *[Alfred Hitchcock Presents](/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock_Presents "Alfred Hitchcock Presents")* (still seen in reruns), and also for *[General Electric Theater](/wiki/General_Electric_Theater "General Electric Theater")*, *[Schlitz Playhouse of Stars](/wiki/Schlitz_Playhouse_of_Stars "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars")* and *[Ford Theatre](/wiki/Ford_Theatre "Ford Theatre")*.

Even after he had turned to screenwriting full\-time, Solt continued to be involved in the theater. In 1945, a tour was launched for his play *A Gift for the Bride*.*[St. Louis Post\-Dispatch](/wiki/St._Louis_Post-Dispatch "St. Louis Post-Dispatch")*, November 11, 1945\. It starred [Luise Rainer](/wiki/Luise_Rainer "Luise Rainer"), who had the unique distinction of being the only person to win the Best Actress Oscar two years in a row, for *[The Great Ziegfeld](/wiki/The_Great_Ziegfeld "The Great Ziegfeld")* (1937\) and *[The Good Earth](/wiki/The_Good_Earth_%28film%29 "The Good Earth (film)")* (1938\). In 1946 *Judy O'Connor*, a play he wrote with Hollywood producer [Frank Ross](/wiki/Frank_Ross_%28producer%29 "Frank Ross (producer)"), opened in Boston*[The Boston Globe](/wiki/The_Boston_Globe "The Boston Globe")*, March 27, 1946\. and starred [Don DeFore](/wiki/Don_DeFore "Don DeFore"), but never made it to Broadway. (Solt and Ross worked on a number of projects together. Solt did an early treatment of *[The Robe](/wiki/The_Robe_%28film%29 "The Robe (film)")* (1953\), a tale of the Christ in Roman times, which became one of Ross's biggest hits, and is still remembered as the first movie released in widescreen [CinemaScope](/wiki/CinemaScope "CinemaScope").)

One of his most tantalizing endeavors involved [Somerset Maugham](/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham "W. Somerset Maugham"), the world\-famous British novelist and short\-story writer. Solt's acquaintance [Lady Mendl](/wiki/Elsie_de_Wolfe "Elsie de Wolfe") (Elsie de Wolfe), the international socialite and renowned decorator, convinced her friend Maugham that the young Hungarian writer would be the perfect person to turn his first novel, *[Liza of Lambeth](/wiki/Liza_of_Lambeth "Liza of Lambeth")*, into a play. Maugham, who had resisted such proposals in the past, approved Solt's version, and the play was scheduled to open on Broadway in 1949\. But this project never came to fruition.


Who wrote the play 'Judy O'Connor' with Frank Ross?