The keeper of Kaufman’s plays

NEW YORK —  Think of Anne Kaufman Schneider as a theatrical gatekeeper -- a stylish, intelligent and wittily opinionated woman who is one of the people you have to go through to put “You Can’t Take It With You,” “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” “The Royal Family” or “Dinner at Eight” on stage.

Asked what type of control she exerts over these 20th century classics, she smiles and says succinctly, “Plenty.”

As the daughter of playwright George S. Kaufman, Schneider is the guardian of his literary estate, a cornucopia of nearly four-dozen plays he co-wrote from the 1920s onward with such illustrious folk as Moss Hart, Edna Ferber, Marc Connelly, Ring Lardner and more.

These days, she is extolling the virtues of “Dinner at Eight,” a social comedy of manners and morals her father wrote with Ferber. The play, a big Broadway hit in 1932 and a famous movie a year later, now has resurfaced in a lavish revival by Lincoln Center Theater. It features a cast of 27, one lap dog and seven separate sets.

The 77-year-old Schneider, dressed casually in black pants and a colorful blouse, sits in the living room of her East Side apartment just off Madison Avenue. It’s a formal space, floral print chairs and a plush sofa. Theatrical memorabilia of her father are across the entrance foyer hall in another room.

But Kaufman’s presence is felt as Schneider talks about his work, which also included the direction of such big hits as “The Front Page” and “Guys and Dolls,” as well as many of his own plays.

“I think he would be absolutely astonished by what has happened,” Schneider says. “I don’t think it occurred to him that his plays would ever be done again. I don’t think he ever thought very much about them. He died in 1961 and, except for summer stock, there were no revivals.”

Things changed in 1965 when Ellis Rabb, with his APA-Phoenix Repertory Company, brought the Kaufman and Hart comedy “You Can’t Take It With You” back to Broadway. Rabb later cemented the playwright’s reputation with a well-received production of “The Royal Family,” which Kaufman also co-wrote with Ferber, and which starred Eva Le Gallienne and Rosemary Harris.

Schneider, a widow, often confers about possible projects with Hart’s widow, Kitty Carlisle Hart, who lives in the next block. “We are very close and agree on everything -- and if we don’t, we talk about it until one of us gives in. She really is my best friend.”