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| Thornton Wilder himself played the minister in a 1950 production of Our Town. |
The language was not above our heads, but few seventh graders had a lived grasp of the theme: that life in all its moments, special and jejune, is not appreciated until it's over. But who can fault us; not quite teenagers, our eyes were looking forward, not back.
Speaking of looking back, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright kept meticulous tax records:
For Thornton Wilder 1968 was especially noteworthy for his (deductible) European travels to watch and work on plays that he adapted to the American theatre. He spent months in Martha's Vineyard recuperating from surgery, then returned to Paris in the fall.Like any conscientious taxpayer, Wilder carefully documented his tax-deductible business expenses. His returns from 1968 to 1972 include meticulous, multi-page accounts of his work-related travel and associated expenditures. Originally intended to justify tax write offs, today these records offer a unique perspective into Wilder’s writerly life at the twilight of his career...
Wilder explained [in an attachment to his tax returns] that living in a big city or near New York subjected him to constant harassment from “interviewers, photographers, enthusiasts, student delegations, visitors from Europe and Asia.”
“It is necessary that I remove myself,” he stated...
His travel and hotel expenses for 1968 totaled $4,658.76, according to the tax documents, which is about $34,000 today adjusted for inflation.
1) Thornton Wilder does look like an accountant in his college year book photo, doesn't he?
2) Yes, boys and girls, CPA's used to type the tax returns. (Look at the mis-aligned "X" in the middle photo.) Typing often took more time than filling out the draft in pencil.
3) To pre-empt possible questions, additional documents and/or explanatory notes such as Thornton Wilder's narrative descriptions were regularly attached to tax returns. Later this practice became impossible with some e-filing software.
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