Jerome Weidman

Jerome Weidman is an American novelist and playwright. Weidman was the son of two Jewish immigrants and grew up in The Bronx. Like his father, he worked in the garment trade before attending New York University Law School. Throughout his time at school, Weidman wrote short stories and novels. He made his debut as a novelist in 1937 when he published I Can Get It For You Wholesale, which was turned into a musical in 1962. Weidman published over 30 novels and short stories, with his writings being featured in The New Yorker, Story, and American Mercury. He married Peggy Wright in 1942 and had two sons, John and Jeffery.

Weidman made his theatre debut as the librettist for Fiorello!, a musical he co-wrote with Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and George Abbot. Fiorello! would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the NY Drama Critics Award, and tie with The Sound of Music for the Tony for Best Musical in 1960. Weidman collaborated with Bock and Harnick on Tenderloin (1960). Barbara Streisand made her Broadway debut in Weidman’s I Can Get It For You Wholesale in 1962.