Introduction & Overview of The Diary of Anne Frank by Albert Hackett

The Diary of Anne Frank Introduction

The Diary of Anne Frank, the play adapted from Anne Frank's famous diary, made its theater debut in 1956. Since then, it has been reproduced countless times on stages across the country and abroad (the playscript, with extensive notes, is readily available from Dramatists Play Service). Collaborators Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, longtime Hollywood writers, had little experience with such a story as that of the Frank family. Previous scripts included sophisticated comedies such as The Thin Man or lively musicals such as Easter Parade. However, Goodrich and Hackett researched the play meticulously, drawing not only on Anne's diary but also on the experience of visiting Otto Frank and the attic hideout. As Evelyn Ehrlich noted in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Hackett in 1956 said, "We all felt we were working for a cause, not just a play."

The Diary of Anne Frank was an immediate critical and popular...
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