Fred Saidy
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Fred Saidy (February 11, 1907 - May 14, 1982) was an American playwright and screenwriter.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Saidy began his writing career in 1943 with the screenplay for the Red Skelton comedy I Dood It. The following year, he scripted both the Lucille Ball-Dick Powell feature film Meet the People and the book for the Harold Arlen-E. Y. Harburg musical Bloomer Girl. It was the first of several collaborations with Harburg, which included Finian's Rainbow (1947), Flahooley (1951), Jamaica (1957), and The Happiest Girl in the World (1961). He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical for Jamaica.
Saidy collaborated with Neil Simon and Will Glickman, among others, on Satins and Spurs, an original television musical for Betty Hutton, which was broadcast by NBC in September 1954.
Saidy's last project was the screenplay for the 1968 film adaptation of Finian's Rainbow with Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. He was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical.
