H. S. Kraft

Kraft, or Harold Kent (pseudonym due to Hollywood Blacklist), was an American screenwriter, playwright, and theatrical producer.

[1] Hy Kraft's 1954 musical play Top Banana was filmed for the screen and released as a movie in 1954, starring Phil Silvers as a television comic trying to regain his ratings on TV.

Feeling the show was a personal swipe at him, Milton Berle wrote of it, "The only public attack I got any pleasure from was the one dreamed up by Hy Kraft and Johnny Mercer, and starring Phil Silvers.

It was a big Broadway musical called Top Banana, in which Phil played an egomaniac named Jerry Biffle who had a top-rated television show and who directed his rehearsals with a whistle.

"[2] In 1950 Hy Kraft was made part of the Hollywood blacklist by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, after remarks by Artie Shaw.