Sabath, Bernard
Dates
- Existence: 1923 - 2014
Biography
Bernard "Barney" Sabath was born on January 9, 1923, the son of Aria Sabath (formerly Schabashkewicz) and Rose Fox Sabath. He grew up in Rock Island, Illinois, along the Mississippi River, and was an active and engaged student at Rock Island High School. Sabath attended college, taking a bachelor of arts degree, and also served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, stationed at St. Petersburg, Florida. He spent much of his life in Chicago, working in advertising and teaching professional fiction techniques in the Evening Divisions of Northwestern University. Sabath had success in publishing fiction and staging plays by the early 1960s. While his plays covered a number of themes, many took inspiration from the works of Mark Twain and from the lives of Twain (Samuel Clemens) and his family. Best known of Sabath’s plays is The Boys in Autumn, an imagined reunion, after a separation of fifty years, of Twain’s best known characters, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Sabath relocated to Sarasota, Florida, to concentrate on his work as a playwright. He died there on November 20, 2014.
Occupations
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Bernard "Barney" Sabath (1923-2014) Papers
The papers of playwright Bernard "Barney" Sabath, also a longtime lecturer in professional fiction techniques in Northwestern University's Evening Divisions. The collection is organized into four series: general materials and correspondence, photographs, Sabath’s play scripts, and examples of his other written formats.