Robert Emmet Sherwood was born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1896. His writing career began early, when at age seven he edited a magazine called Children's Life. His mother was an artist and illustrator, and she encouraged his writing throughout his whole life.

After graduating from Milton Academy in Massachusetts in 1914, Sherwood entered Harvard, where he became editor of the internationally famous humor magazine Harvard Lampoon. His college career was cut short when he went to fight in World War I with the Canadian Black Watch. His service in the war was to have a lasting effect on Sherwood's writing: most of his plays, like Idiot's Delight, reflect a sense of the horrors of warfare and its devastating effects on community.

Returning from Europe in 1919, Sherwood secured a job as drama critic for Vanity Fair magazine. There, he became associated with some of the greatest humorists...