Born in
Findlay, Ohio, Crouse was the son of Sarah (née Schumacher) and Hiram Powers Crouse, a newspaperman. He began his Broadway career in 1928 as an actor in the play
Gentlemen of the Press, in which he played Bellflower. By 1931, however, he had turned his attention to writing, penning the book for the musical ''The Gang's All Here,'' collaborating with Frank McCoy,
Morrie Ryskind and
Oscar Hammerstein II. His first work with his long-time partner
Howard Lindsay came in 1934, when the two men revised the
P. G. Wodehouse/
Guy Bolton book for the
Cole Porter musical
Anything Goes. They then went on to adapt Clarence Day's
Life with Father, which became one of the longest running Broadway plays. Lindsay and Crouse later became Broadway producers, often acting in that capacity for their own work. They also owned and operated the
Hudson Theatre on 44th Street in
New York City. Perhaps their best-known collaboration was on the book for the 1960
Tony Award-winning musical
The Sound of Music, which featured music by
Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Crouse's old collaborator Oscar Hammerstein II. Their 1946 play
State of the Union won that year's
Pulitzer Prize for Drama. They also collaborated on
Call Me Madam,
Happy Hunting,
Mr. President, and
The Great Sebastians (1955). Crouse joined
The Lambs social club in 1941 and remained a member until his death. Crouse is the father of writer
Timothy Crouse, and named his actress daughter
Lindsay Ann Crouse in an intentional tribute to his collaboration with Howard Lindsay. ==References==