John Murray

Who was John Murray?

John Murray was a playwright best known for writing the 1937 play Room Service with Allen Boretz.

Murray was born in New York and attended DeWitt Clinton High School, City College of New York, and Columbia University. His 1937 play, Room Service ran for 500 performances on Broadway and was turned into two films, the first, Room Service, starred the Marx Brothers, the second, Step Lively, starred Frank Sinatra. The play was also adapted for two television productions.

During World War II, Murray served in the United States Army as a captain in the Signal Corp, marrying Joan Loewi in 1941. He return to writing for Broadway after the war, writing songs and sketches for the Ziegfeld Follies and Alive and Kicking. Murray also began writing for the Eddie Cantor radio show and the Phil Baker radio show. Eventually, he turned to writing for television as well.