Jo Swerling
American screenwriter and lyricist (1897–1964)
Jo Swerling (April 8, 1897 – October 23, 1964) was an American theatre writer, lyricist, and screenwriter.
Early life
Born Joseph Zwerling (Цверлингъ, Tsverling) in Berdichev, Ukraine, Swerling was one of a number of Jewish refugees from the Tsarist regime. He grew up on New York City's Lower East Side, where he sold newspapers to help support his family.
Career
He worked as a newspaper and magazine writer in the early 1920s. He wrote the Marx Brothers' The Cinderella Girls, which was a failure, and he also wrote their first movie, the unreleased silent comedy short film Humor Risk (1921). He scored a major success with the book and lyrics for the musical revue The New Yorkers (1927) and the play The Kibitzer (1929), the latter co-written with actor Edward G. Robinson.
In Hollywood
Swerling was brought to Hollywood by Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn to work on the screenplay for Frank Capra's Ladies of Leisure (1930), the first of several collaborations with the director. His dozens of screenplays in the 1930s and 1940s include Platinum Blonde, Behind the Mask, Once to Every Woman, The Pride of the Yankees (for which he received an Academy Award nomination), Lifeboat, Leave Her to Heaven, and It's a Wonderful Life. He also provided some uncredited writing for Gone with the Wind.
Back to Broadway
Swerling returned to Broadway in 1950 to write the book for Guys and Dolls.
“Jo Swerling” enters the record as american screenwriter and lyricist (1897–1964). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Swerling, American and screenwriter can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Jo Swerling” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Swerling, American and screenwriter provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q369404. VIAF identifies the subject as 16298552. The Library of Congress control number is n87911850. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1897, 1964, 1921 and 1927.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jo Swerling”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jo Swerling primary sources, Jo Swerling archive and Swerling research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jo Swerling”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jo Swerling” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.