# Mark Saltzman

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{{short description|American script writer}}
{{about||the professor of biomedical engineering|W. Mark Saltzman}}
{{Infobox person
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| alma_mater    = [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University)
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| occupation    =  Writer, playwright, lyricist
| years_active  =  1980s-present
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'''Mark Saltzman''' is an American script writer who has written films, stage plays and musicals and for TV. He worked for several years for PBS's ''[Sesame Street](/source/Sesame_Street)''.<ref name="Masters2001">{{cite book|last=Masters|first=Kim|title=The keys to the kingdom: the rise of Michael Eisner and the fall of everybody else : with a new epilogue|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sji-T_HeMV8C&pg=PT329|access-date=12 August 2011|date=2001-07-31|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-662109-8|pages=329–}}</ref><ref name="Sibley2006">{{cite book|last=Sibley|first=Brian|title=Peter Jackson: a film-maker's journey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljcdAQAAIAAJ|access-date=12 August 2011|date=2006-11-30|page=194|publisher=HarperCollins Entertainment|isbn=978-0-00-717558-1}}</ref> He has been given seven Emmy Awards for Best Writing for a Children's Show.<ref name="D">{{Citation|year=2019|title=Mark Saltzman|publisher=msaltzman.com|url=http://www.msaltzman.com/sesame-street.html}}</ref>

==TV and film work==
He graduated from [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University).<ref name="E"/>

Saltzman started his career writing cabaret shows and musicals that played at [New York City](/source/New_York_City) venues<ref name="C"/> such as The Ballroom, [Soho Rep](/source/Soho_Rep), [13th Street Theater](/source/13th_Street_Repertory_Theatre), and [The Village Gate](/source/The_Village_Gate), where he co-wrote the long-running revue ''A, My Name is Alice''.

As a writer on the musical revue ''A, My Name Is Alice,'' he befriended the late cast member [Alaina Reed](/source/Alaina_Reed), who had also been cast as [Olivia](/source/The_Robinson_family_(Sesame_Street)) on ''[Sesame Street](/source/Sesame_Street).''<ref name="C"/> Saltzman began working for ''Sesame Street'' in 1984, where he was a writer for 15 years.<ref name="C"/> He created the [Muppet](/source/Muppet) character of [Plácido Flamingo](/source/Pl%C3%A1cido_Flamingo) for season 18, and wrote more than 50 songs,<ref name="B">{{Citation|year=2018|title=Sesame Workshop Denies Bert and Ernie's Gay Relationship Despite Former Writer's Claim|publisher=Newsweek|url=https://www.newsweek.com/sesame-street-bert-ernie-not-gay-couple-writer-mark-saltzman-1127006}}</ref> including the lyrics for "[Caribbean Amphibian](/source/Caribbean_Amphibian)" and "[I've Got a New Way to Walk](/source/List_of_songs_from_Sesame_Street)."<ref name="D"/> He also created the character The Sublime Miss M, a take on [Bette Midler](/source/Bette_Midler).<ref name="A"/> He has seven Emmy Awards.<ref name="C"/>

For CBS, Saltzman wrote ''[Mrs. Santa Claus](/source/Mrs._Santa_Claus)'', a holiday musical movie starring [Angela Lansbury](/source/Angela_Lansbury) with songs written by Broadway legend [Jerry Herman](/source/Jerry_Herman).<ref name="E">{{Citation|year=2019|title=Bio|url=http://www.msaltzman.com/bio.html}}</ref> He also wrote ''[The Adventures of Milo and Otis](/source/The_Adventures_of_Milo_and_Otis)'' and ''Three Ninjas Kick Back''.<ref name="E"/>

His TV movie, ''The Red Sneakers'', which was directed by and starred [Gregory Hines](/source/Gregory_Hines), aired on [Showtime](/source/Showtime_(TV_network)) in 2004 and was nominated for a [Writers Guild Award](/source/Writers_Guild_Award).<ref name="E"/> For cable TV's [Here!](/source/Here!) network, Saltzman wrote the screenplay for ''[Third Man Out](/source/Third_Man_Out_(film))'', based on the novel by [Richard Stevenson](/source/Richard_Lipez).

In 2007, Mark served as writer-producer of the Emmy-nominated Disney Channel preschool show "[Johnny and the Sprites](/source/Johnny_and_the_Sprites)," starring [John Tartaglia](/source/John_Tartaglia).<ref name="F">{{Citation|year=2009|title=Saltzman's Comedy with Music, Set Up & Punch, to Premiere in Hollywood|publisher=Playbill|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/saltzmans-comedy-with-music-set-up-punch-to-premiere-in-hollywood-com-160108}}</ref>

Saltzman wrote ''[The Adventures of Milo and Otis](/source/The_Adventures_of_Milo_and_Otis)'', ''[Napoleon](/source/Napoleon_(1995_film))'' and ''[3 Ninjas Kick Back](/source/3_Ninjas_Kick_Back)''. He has also written screenplays for [Sony](/source/Sony), [Universal Studios](/source/Universal_Pictures), and [Disney](/source/Disney).

==Theater==
Saltzman's musical play ''[The Tin Pan Alley Rag](/source/The_Tin_Pan_Alley_Rag)'' tells the story of a fictional meeting in 1915 between [Scott Joplin](/source/Scott_Joplin) and a young [Irving Berlin](/source/Irving_Berlin). ''Tin Pan'' opened at the [Pasadena Playhouse](/source/Pasadena_Playhouse) in 1997 and was nominated for five Los Angeles [Ovation Awards](/source/Ovation_Awards), including Best Musical.<ref name="E"/> Saltzman also wrote the book for the play.<ref name="F"/> The show continued on to many US theaters, including Miami's [Coconut Grove Playhouse](/source/Coconut_Grove_Playhouse), [Goodspeed Musicals](/source/Goodspeed_Musicals), and the [Cleveland Play House](/source/Cleveland_Play_House). In the summer of 2009, it was produced in Off-Broadway by The [Roundabout Theatre Company](/source/Roundabout_Theatre_Company)<ref name="E"/> in a production starring [Michael Therriault](/source/Michael_Therriault) and [Michael Boatman](/source/Michael_Boatman) in a production described by critics as "tunefully original" and containing "flashes of brilliance."

Saltzman's stage musical ''Romeo and Bernadette'' played at the [Coconut Grove Playhouse](/source/Coconut_Grove_Playhouse) in [Miami](/source/Miami) and New Jersey's State Theater, The Paper Mill Playhouse. His comedy ''Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood'', based on the true story of [George Bernard Shaw](/source/George_Bernard_Shaw)'s 1933 visit to [MGM](/source/MGM), premiered at the [Laguna Playhouse](/source/Laguna_Playhouse) in April 2003. His play, ''Clutter'', had its world premier at the Colony Theater in Burbank on February 7 of 2004. In 2002 he adapted the musical classic ''[Show Boat](/source/Show_Boat)'' for a [Hollywood Bowl](/source/Hollywood_Bowl) performance.<ref name="E"/>

In May 2009, Saltzman's play "Setup and Punch" premiered at The Blank Theatre in Los Angeles.<ref name="F"/>

His play ''Rocket City''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080608185009/http://www.southernwritersproject.net/SWP_Productions.html] had its world premiere in April 2008 as part of the [Alabama Shakespeare Festival](/source/Alabama_Shakespeare_Festival)'s Southern Writers' Project, which has a mandate to encourage "plays that delve into [Southern](/source/Southern_United_States) issues and the [African American](/source/African_American) experience" and to contribute "nationally significant works to the [American theater](/source/Theater_in_the_United_States) canon."[https://web.archive.org/web/20080527001638/http://www.southernwritersproject.net/Southern_Writers_Project.html] ''Rocket City'', or ''Rocket City, Alabam','' is based on the true story of [Wernher von Braun](/source/Wernher_von_Braun) and his [recruitment by the US Government](/source/Operation_Paperclip) to work on the [U.S. missile program](/source/Redstone_(rocket)) and eventually the [Saturn V](/source/Saturn_V), the rocket used in the [Apollo program](/source/Apollo_program). Saltzman's play weaves von Braun's real-life in [Huntsville](/source/Huntsville%2C_Alabama), [Alabama](/source/Alabama), with a fictional plot in which a young [Jewish](/source/Jewish) woman in Huntsville becomes aware of von Braun's Nazi past and tries to inspire awareness and outrage among Huntsville's long-established Jewish community, the town in general, and the country at large.<ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.skokietheater.org/rocket-city-alabam.html|title=MadKap Productions presents ''Rocket City, Alabam' ''|publisher=[Skokie](/source/Skokie%2C_Illinois) [Illinois] Theatre and MadKap Productions|year=2017|access-date=November 29, 2017}}</ref>

==Affiliations==

Saltzman has, for many years,  been a mentor in the [Blank Theatre Company's](/source/Blank_Theatre_Company) Young Playwrights’ Festival, held annually in [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles). He is the president of the Arnold Glassman Fund, a charitable foundation that provides grants for film and theater projects.<ref name="E"/> He is also a graduate of [Cornell University's](/source/Cornell_University) English and Theater Departments.

==Personal life==
Saltzman's partner,<ref name="A">{{Citation|year=2018|title= There's More to That Viral 'Sesame Street' Interview Than Bert and Ernie's Sexuality|publisher=Observer|url=https://observer.com/2018/09/sesame-street-lgbt-aids-bert-ernie-mark-saltzman/}}</ref> Arnold "Arnie" Glassman, was a film editor known for his work on ''[The Celluloid Closet](/source/The_Celluloid_Closet_(film))'' and ''[Frailty](/source/Frailty_(2001_film))''. After first meeting in October 1979, by 1986 they were living together as an [out](/source/Coming_out) couple in New York. They were together for 20 years before Glassman died in 2003. According to Saltzman, when writing two ''[Sesame Street](/source/Sesame_Street)'' characters [Bert and Ernie](/source/Bert_and_Ernie), he wrote their interpersonal dynamic, playfulness and loving bond as a reflection of his own relationship with Glassman.<ref name="C"/>

Saltzman currently lives in Los Angeles.<ref name="C">{{Citation|year=2018|title=EXCLUSIVE: Are Bert & Ernie a couple? We finally have an answer…|publisher=Queerty|url=https://www.queerty.com/exclusive-bert-ernie-couple-finally-answer-20180916}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0759166}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saltzman, Mark}}
Category:Living people
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Writers from New York City
Category:American children's writers
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American television writers
Category:Songwriters from New York (state)
Category:American dramatists and playwrights
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:American male television writers
Category:American male dramatists and playwrights
Category:American LGBTQ screenwriters
Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mark Saltzman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Saltzman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Saltzman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.