Jack Weinstock

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Jack Weinstock
Born
Jacob Lawrence Weinstock

May 15, 1905
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedMay 23, 1969(1969-05-23) (aged 64)
New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationMorris High School
Columbia College
New York University College of Medicine
OccupationsAuthor, playwright
Years active1949 – 1967
Spouse(s)Dorothy Abrahams
(m. 1933)
AwardsTony Award for Best Author
NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
1962
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Jacob Lawrence "Dr. Jack" Weinstock[1][2] (May 15, 1905 – May 23, 1969) was an American playwright, author, urologist, and surgeon, best known for co-authoring the musical book for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,[3] for which he and his onetime patient and longtime writing partner, Willie Gilbert,[1] received both a Tony Award and New York Drama Critics Award, as well as the Pulitzer Prize.[4][5][6][1][7]

Early life and career

Born in New York City on May 15, 1905,[2] Weinstock was one of four children born to Russian immigrant parents Esther and Hyman Weinstock.[8] He attended Morris High School in the Bronx,[9] as well as Columbia College and New York University College of Medicine.[10] It was during his time at Columbia that Weinstock's affinity for comedy writing first surfaced, with occasional contributions to the Columbia Spectator.[11] He discussed this evolution during a 1958 interview with the Lancaster Sunday News.

I used to write for the Columbia humor magazine and when I went into medical practice, I did humor writing as a hobby. Many doctors write, play music, or paint as hobbies. It's a form of artistic release for a man in a very precise profession. Then I was doing it just for fun, but now I work on the writing nights and weekends and no longer have time for a hobby as such.[12][13]

When asked whether this extensive moonlighting might not have hampered his performance as a physician, Weinstock was quick to point out that his scripting sideline, in particular the Howdy Doody connection, was more a help than a hindrance. "You'd be surprised how cooperative a difficult youngster undergoing examination or treatment becomes when I talk about Howdy Doody. "[13] One year later, Weinstock himself was the surprised party, when, while embarked on a globe-trotting vacation to destinations ranging from Hawaii to Hong Kong, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bangkok, children of Americans abroad proved every bit as devoted a Doody fan base as their stateside contemporaries.[14]

Weinstock and Gilbert also co-authored the play Catch Me If You Can,[15] and wrote the book for the musical Hot Spot.[16]

Personal life and death

On December 17, 1933, Weinstock married Dorothy Abrahams.[17] They had two children, both daughters.[18]

On May 23 1969, following a lengthy illness, Weinstock died at his Manhattan home, eight days after his 64th birthday.[a] He was survived by his wife and daughters, his three siblings, and six grandchildren.[6]

Filmography

Notes

  1. Although the obituaries appear to be unanimous in givng his age as 62[6][19][20][21] (thus implying a 1907 birth date), they are definitively overruled, both by Weinstock himself–via his 1940 WWII draft registration card, in which he clearly gives his age as 35, and his birth date as May 15, 1905[2]—and by Weinstock and, before him, his parents, via every available relevant U.S. Census form, from 1910 on.[22][8][23][18].

References

  1. "How to Succeed". The Newark Advocate Entertainment Guide. July 16, 1962. p. 10. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Medical Tribune: Unknown to the general public, as well as to most of his medical colleagues, is the double life of Jacob L. Weinstock, M.D., New York urologist and medical director of a life insurance company. For he also is co-author of the play,'How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.' He did find his collaborator, Willie Gilbert, in a directly medical way however; he performed an emergency appendectomy on him some 14 years ago. Since that time, by working nights and weekends, they have written extensively for television and are currently at work on a new musical.
  2. "New York, New York City, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WHP5-HG6Z : Sat Apr 12 15:16:52 UTC 2025), Entry for Jacob Lawrence Weinstock and Self, 16 Oct 1940.
  3. "Biography of Jack Weinstock" Musical Theatre International. Retrieved 2015-8-9.
  4. "Ms. Ellant to Wed Howard J. Reiter". The New York Times. January 7, 1990. p. A-49. ProQuest 427500890. Mr. Reiter graduated from the Hopkins Grammar School and Princeton University and received a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the vice president, and his father is the president, of the Rome Fastener Corporation in Milford, Conn. [...] He is also a grandson of the late Dr. Jacob L. Weinstock of New York, a urologist, surgeon and playwright who received a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
  5. "WEDDINGS; Debra Reiter, Gerson Panitch". The New York Times. May 28, 1995. p. A-43. ProQuest 430156155. The bride's maternal grandfather, the late Dr. Jacob L. Weinstock, was a urologist and a playwright who in 1962 received a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award as a co-author of the original Broadway play 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.'
  6. Associated Press (May 25, 1969). "Pulitzer Prize Winner Dies In Manhattan". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 2. Retrieved June 30, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Dr. Jack Weinstock, a successful physician who won a Pulitzer prize because he couldn't suppress an itch for comedy writing, died Friday at his Manhattan home after a long illness. He was 62. Weinstock wrote "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" with Willie Gilbert, whose appendix he had removed. The doctor relationship blossomed from consultation-room repartee to gag-writing for radio and television comedy. Following 'How to Succeed,' the two collaborated on "Hot Spot,' 'Catch Me If You Can,' and a musical now in production, 'Candy Store.' 'How to Succeed' won Pulitzer prize for 1961, the Drama Critics Award and seven Tony Award prizes.
  7. Pressley, Kristin Stultz (2025). Pulitzer Prize-Winning Musicals. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 9781350459144. "What Follows is the rationale presented by Brown (and on behalf of Gassner) which insightfully illuminates the thought processes of both the nominating jury and the voting board: 'The Pulitzer Board has long since, and wisely, recognized in Of Thee I Sing and South Pacific that our musicals can be among the most notable productions of the American theatre. Mr. Gassner and I have always shared this feeling, even though we did not feel that Fiorello!, highly enjoyable as it was, was truly top-flight. We both think that How to Succeed is. And no two people could be less lonely than we are in this opinion. We realize that some may argue that the Pulitzer Prize should not be given with too great frequency to musical comedies. But we hope you will agree that How to Succeed should not be penalized because of the recent selection of Fiorello!.' As alternatives to How to Succeed, the jury suggested Ossie Davis's Purlie Victorious. In a letter of his own, Gassner also suggested Paddy Chayefsky's Gideon, but Brown 'did not think it is more than seventy-five percent successful.' Gessner also recommended Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iguana, which Brown did not acknowledge in his own letter. The Award went to Burrows and Loesser alone. Though the How to Succeed team elected to keep Gilbert and Weinstock's names on the script as acknowledgment of their work prior to the musical, the acknowledgment was offered on the condition that neither of the playwright would attempt to alter or interfere with Burrows and Loesser's adaptaion."
  8. "United States, Census, 1920", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJGR-R3K : Fri Nov 28 04:41:25 UTC 2025), Entry for Hyman Weinstock and Ethel Weinstock, 1920.
  9. Associated Press (May 25, 1969). "NEWS OF N. Y. High Schools". The Evening World. p. 12. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. For the second time in twenty-five years, the senior class at Morris High School will have a class book. 'Willie' Stegal, President of the class, has appointed the following committee [...] According to custom of spring senior classes, the candidates will take a trip up the Hudson in May. The arrangements committee is: Siegal, Loy Sacks, Jack Weinstock.
  10. Associated Press (December 13, 1953). "TELEVISION AND RADIO: TV Script Is Written Between Operations". The Baltimore Sun. p. A26. Retrieved June 30, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. THE script for 'Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers' on CBS-TV literally is written between operations. The authors are Dr. Jack Weinstock, practicing surgeon, and Willie Gilbert, one time vaudeville performer and shipping clerk. They do their writing at night and on week ends so as not to interfere with Dr. Weinstock's regular practice. [...] Weinstock had been writing since his Columbia University days, but as a hobby.
  11. Associated Press (December 13, 1953). "TELEVISION AND RADIO: TV Script Is Written Between Operations". The Baltimore Sun. p. A26. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. THE script for 'Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers' on CBS-TV literally is written between operations. The authors are Dr. Jack Weinstock, practicing surgeon, and Willie Gilbert, one time vaudeville performer and shipping clerk. They do their writing at night and on week ends so as not to interfere with Dr. Weinstock's regular practice. [...] Weinstock had been writing since his Columbia University days, but as a hobby.
  12. "Lookin' 'n' Listenin'". Lancaster Sunday News TV Week. December 13, 1953. p. 4. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. >I used to write for the Columbia humor magazine and when I went into medical practice, I did humor writing as a hobby. Many doctors write, play music, or paint as hobbies. It's a form of artistic re-
  13. LSN TV Week, op. cit., p. 40. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. "'lease for a man in a very precise profession. Then I was doing it just for fun but now work on the writing nights and weekends and no longer have time for a hobby as such.' Asked if comedy writing has hampered his medical practice , he says, "No, it has helped me. You'd be surprised how cooperative a difficult youngster undergoing examination or treatment becomes when I talk about Howdy Doody.'"
  14. "Mention Howdy Doody's Name in Tokyop and You'll Find Kids Oriented to Show". Marion Leader-Tribune. July 25, 1959. p. 16. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. In Hawaii, New Delhi, Hong Kong and Bangkok, just mention "The Howdy Doody Show" and you will be surrounded by youngsters. [...] 'The world-wide popularity of the show is amazing,' Weinstock said. 'It is an institution and children, including some who have never been to the U. S., knew about the program and were interested in hearing about it.'
  15. Associated Press (September 17, 1969). "'Catch Me If You Can' Won Praise on Broadway". The Green Bay Press-Gazette. p. C-4. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. The pair met in a professional capacity, for Jack Weinstock, a graduate of Columbia College and New York University Medical School, was a practicing surgeon, and Willie Gilbert was a man with an infected appendix. Introductions took place preceding successful surgery. Dr. Weinstock first discovered his gift for comic writing as a student contributor to the Columbia (University) Spectator. In addition to his other activities as medical director at an insurance company, a practicing urologist and writer, he taught medicine at two New York hospitals. At Dr. Weinstock's death in May 1969, he and Gilbert had a half-finished play in half-completed state "The Candy Store.
  16. Associated Press (April 20, 1963). "'Hot Spot' Puts Judy on One With Patchy Plot, Dull Score". The Reporter-Dispatch. p. 9. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. They've All Done Better. They, briefly, are a lamentably patched-together book by. Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert - who, together, helped once in genesis of a far, far better opus, 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'; routine music by Mary—daughter of Richard—Rodgers; ditto lyrics by Martin Charnin; and direction for which no one gets blame on the program.
  17. "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24D2-4Q1 : Thu Jul 24 21:16:02 UTC 2025), Entry for Jacob L. Weinstock and Dorothy Abrahams, 17 December 1933.
  18. "United States, Census, 1940", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7MC-6LQ : Sat Jul 13 06:22:35 UTC 2024), Entry for Jacob L Weinstock and Dorothy Weinstock, 1940.
  19. "Last Chapter". Democrat and Chronicle. May 25, 1969. p. 2. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Dr. Jack Weinstock, who collaborated in writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,' died Friday at age 62.
  20. "People". San Francisco Chronicle. June 1, 1969. p. TW-3. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Dr. Jack Weinstock, medical director of the United States Life Insurance Company, professor of medicine, a practicing urologist and co-author of the prize winning play, 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,' died after a long illness at his home in New York City at the age of 62.
  21. "Obituary: Dr. Jack Weinstock". New York Daily News. May 24, 1969. p. 35. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. A funeral service for Dr. Jack Weinstock, 62, physician and prize-winning playwright, conducted tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Park West Chapel, 115 W. 79th St. He died yesterday at his home, 150 E. 69th St.
  22. "United States, Census, 1910", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X39F-G4H : Tue Oct 21 21:46:19 UTC 2025), Entry for Hyman Weinstock and Estelle Weinstock, 1910.
  23. "United States, Census, 1930", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X7DL-XZG : Fri Jul 12 17:07:53 UTC 2024), Entry for Hyman Feinstock and Ethel Feinstock, 1930.
  24. Nollen, Scott Allen; Nollen, Yuyun Yuningsih (2021). KARLOFF and the EAST: Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and Oceanian Subjects in His Screen Career. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 389. ISBN 978-1-4766-8063-7. "Tales of Tomorrow: 'Past Tense' (April 3, 1953) Credits. Director: Don Medford; Producer: George F. Foley; Assistant producer: James Lister; Teleplay: Wille Gilbert, Jack Weinstock; Story: Robert F. Lewine"
  25. "A Trend to Silent Films on Television?". Broadcasting. April 17, 1961. p. 123. ProQuest 962830752. The writers on Funny Manns are Willie Gilbert and Jack Weinstock, whose credits include Howdy Doody, Dough Re Mi and Space Cadets in tv and Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason and Jack Carter in comedy.