Born in
Odesa, on September 2, 1911, Entertainment writer
Leonard Lyons, writing in 1960 (more than two decades after the fact), informed readers that Liss's entry into the ranks of professional writers, circa late 1930s, had been both utterly unforeseen and purely expedient, arrived at wholly by means of simple elimination; an arrival, moreover, that had the added consequence of connecting Liss to yet another future dramatist of note. Joe Liss, now one of the most successful writers in television, started writing by accident. During the depression days he applied for a job at the WPA offices. There were several lines of applicants. The shortest line was for the "Writers" Section, and so he went there, and was hired. Liss was assigned to work with another young writer, Arthur Miller. Liss's radio career commenced in 1939 with scripts for
Columbia Workshop; by 1941, he had joined the
Library of Congress, alongside archivist
Alan Lomax, and engineer Jerome Wiesner, serving as the script editor for the Library's Radio Research Project. under whose auspices he contributed to programs such as
Report to the Nation and
Human Adventure. Arguably the pinnacle of Liss's
Studio One output is his June 1949 adaptation of
S. Ansky's
The Dybbuk. Produced by Miner, directed by
Paul Nickell, starring
Arnold Moss, and featuring "special choreography" by
Felicia Sorel, the broadcast was dubbed "the most satisfying dramatic performance I have yet seen on the new medium" by
New Republic critic Saul Carson, who goes on to commend Liss and Miner's "thorough grasp of television's possibilities" and concludes with the observation, "It would be tragic if the Liss-Miner 'Dybbuk' were relegated to the status of one-shot; it should be in television's repertory." Carson was similarly impressed the following year with Liss's
Philco Playhouse episode, "Ann Rutledge" (ostensibly an adaptation of the like-named, 24-minute
Cavalcade of America episode that had aired in 1949, scripted by the much better known
Norman Corwin, with whom Liss is credited jointly here). Corwin's contribution consisted of his name (the sponsors insisted on that) and dozen lines or so of dialogue. The play was an original, by Joseph Liss. Probably the busiest dramatist on TV this season, Liss's opportunities for original writing are rare: most often, he is held down to adaptations, like that of Christopher La Farge's The Sudden Guest, which he had to fit to the home screen a week earlier. On this occasion, however, he got his chance, and he used it well. Grace Kelly, who played the title role, and Stephen Courtleigh as the young Lincoln, were entirely credible. 'Ann Rutledge' is not only a fitting tribute to the martyred president; it was also a commentary on what TV might receive from its better writers. Liss's drama, "The Inward Eye" (aka "The Inward Horizon"), was produced by
Goodyear Playhouse, starring
Phyllis Kirk,
Philip Abbott,
David White, and
Steven Hill. The following year it was produced by
London Playhouse, starring
Patricia Owens, along with
William Hartnell,
John Horsley, and
David Markham. In her review of a January 1958 episode of
Wide Wide World entitled "A World on Wheels",
Montreal Star TV critic Pat Pearce credits Liss for at least "managing to make an informative 90 minutes out of what was, in essence, one giant motor car commercial". ==Personal life and death==