Elliot Norton

William Elliot Norton (May 17, 1903 – July 20, 2003) was an American theater critic. In a half-century career spanning across various Boston newspapers, he authored 6,000 reviews and became one of the most influential regional theater critics in the country, gaining the moniker "The Dean of American Theatre Critics". Reflecting Boston's historic status as a major pre-Broadway tryout town, Norton practiced a style of criticism known as "play doctoring", where he made suggestions on how to improve a show; his criticism was taken seriously by producers, directors and playwrights, including Joshua Logan, Mike Nichols, and Neil Simon.

Norton was called "the most valuable critic in America" by producer Alexander Cohen. According to Logan: Elliot had an absolute dead eye for a play. He could see it once and form an opinion that struck at the very core. He was very helpful to me on every show I brought to Boston. He had a gentlemanly manner, and even if what he had to say was rough, he could tell you without breaking your heart.

Early life Born William Elliot Norton in Boston to William L. Norton and Mary (Fitzgerald) Norton, he attended Harvard College (Class of 1926) after graduating from the Boston Latin School.

Journalism career Norton began his career as a newspaperman with The Boston Post after graduating from Harvard in 1926. By 1934, he was promoted from reporter to the editor of the drama section, where he began to make his name as a critic. The Post went out of business in 1956, and Norton was hired by the Boston Record American, which evolved into the Boston Herald American, which eventually became the Boston Herald after he retired in 1982.

The Odd Couple Neil Simon said that Norton's criticism of The Odd Couple helped him improve the play. Appearing on the show Eliott Norton Reviews, in his conversation with Simon, Elliott said that the play went "flat" in its final act. As it appeared originally in Boston, the characters the Pidgeon Sisters did not appear in the final act. In 2002, he moved from Watertown, Massachusetts, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to be closer to family.

Publications Broadway Down East: An Informal Account of the Plays, Players, and Playhouses of Boston from Puritan Times to the Present (1978)