The Obsession

In 1951, Meyer Levin’s wife gave him a copy of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, which had just been published in France. The Obsession is a candid account of his struggle to bring his version of Anne Frank’s diary to Broadway. Levin’s adaptation, begun with the support of Anne’s father, Otto, was eventually deemed ‘unstageworthy,’ and he was supplanted by non-Jewish writers. To Levin, it was a clear case of sanitizing Anne’s story in favor of mass appeal. He battled for his version in courtrooms and out, but the fallout nearly destroyed both his family and his career.