Allan Friedman:
CLASS OF 1958
Texas Western CollegeClass of 1958
El paso, TX
Allan's Story
Allan Jay Friedman
Founder and President of Picture Book Productions, LLC and President of The Center for Top Performance
Allan Jay Friedman is an Award Winning Producer-Writer-Composer-Lyricist, who The New York Daily News said is known for his innovation in new art forms.
His theatrical career began when he wrote a modern day adaptation of the fairytale, "Rapunzel." This was optioned by Roger L. Stevens, the Founder of The Kennedy Center and the Producer of "West Side Story."
Soon thereafter, he was commissioned by The Dramatic Publishing Company to compose the score for the only authorized versions of A.A. Milne's "Winnie The Pooh" and J.R.R. Tolkien musical stage adaptation of "The Hobbit."
It was Jackie Kennedy who gave Friedman's career a jump-start. She approved him as the Producer-Creator and Composer of the Emmy Award winning Television Special based on the life of JFK, "The Young Man From Boston." ( This production introduced many of the famous JFK photographs known today.)
Later, Bobby Kennedy chose Friedman as the Producer-Writer-Composer of the TV Series, "The 1000 Days of JFK."
Along with winning Emmy Awards, UPI and Cathlolic Association Awards and many other Theatrical Awards, Friedman has written over 5000 pieces of music and 20 produced musicals published by such companies as the Dramatic Publishing Company, Samuel French, etc. Mr. Friedman gets hundreds of productions a year which have been performed at such places as the Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center.
Additionally, Friedman wrote the musical version of "The Emperor's New Clothes" with Academy Award Winner, Paul Francis Webster; "Pinocchio and Mounette," written with Bob Merrill ( Funny Girl and Carnival); "One Shining Moment,"written with Academy-Tony-Award Winner, Leslie Bricusse (Longest running Musical at Chicago's Drury Lane); "The Bad Children" written with Shirley Jackson; "Lady Windemere's Fan," the musical, written with Dorothy Parker; "Shakespeare and the Indians," written with Tony Award Winner, Dale Wasserman (Man of La Mancha and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest); "A Walk In The Sky" written with Dale Wasserman; "Walden Pond," written with Academy Award Winner, Eddie Heyman; and, "Love In New York" ( in workshop).
Through a collaboration ...Expand for more
with Frank Sinatra, he was introduced to Gene Kelly, who became one of Friedman's first producing partners.
Friedman is currently in pre-production on a new style motion picture with music: "Never Say Goodbye"; a reality T.V. Series, "So You Want To Be On Broadway;" and two Broadway Musicals, "Kennedy" (which he is writing in collaboration with Leslie Bricusse) and one which will soon be announced.
Mr. Friedman has recently completed several books: "Timothy Bolt and The Magic Mirror of What Is"; "Time To Fly" (The Mis-Adventures of Cornelius Puck); "Pinocchio and Mounette" and "The Mystical JFK;" along with a Children's Encyclopedia of Entertainment-Health Books,, "Think and Bea"(Adventures Through the Human Body). These short picture-health books will also be a children's action-adventure TV series that takes place in the human body. The books are being written by Friedman and major doctors throughout the world, who specialize in each specific organ.
Mr. Friedman attended the University of Texas in El Paso, where he majored in Pre-Med, History and Pre-Law. He was President of the Student Council and elected to Who's Who In American Colleges and Universities. He won the Distinguished Military Award and was an Officer in the US Military. Friedman attended Law Schools at the University of Texas and New York University Law Schools. He was offered a Doctoral Scholarship from Harvard and received a Masters Degree at UCLA in Public Health Administration. This degree was to further pursue his interest in elevating the spirit, mind and body of people everywhere by bringing first class entertainment to show how to achieve the highest level of spiritual, mental, physical and environmental health.
Mr. Friedman is the President of The Center for Top Performance whose Board of Advisors include Nobel Prize Laureates, Olympic and Professional Athletes and Celebrities. He is the Founder and Chairman of Picture Book Productions, LLC, which presents a revolutionary new Art Form that combines Hollywood with Broadway. PBP has recently work shopped its second Musical using an amazing new three-dimensional visual-audio Art Form that starred Tony Award Winner, Bobby Morse, and was directed by Joel Zwick ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding.")
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