Oscar-Nominated Alum Robert Kaplow Who Wrote the Blue Moon Screenplay Sharpened His Powers of Observation at Rutgers

The 1976 Rutgers grad has been nominated for best original screenwriter at the March 15 Academy Awards for Blue Moon

Robert Kaplow he took as many literature and film electives as possible at Rutgers and spent his free time producing radio theater on WRSU to hone his skills as a writer.

Rutgers alum Robert Kaplow always knew he'd be a writer, but he wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. The pieces came together at Rutgers in the 1970s, where he took as many literature and film electives as possible and spent his free time producing radio theater on WRSU.

It all paid off. Not only did Kaplow pursue a career writing novels, he also became a screenwriter. He is up for his first Academy Award this month for Blue Moon.

Kaplow, who graduated from Rutgers College in 1976 with an English degree, is nominated for a best original screenplay Oscar for Blue Moon, directed by Richard Linklater. Ethan Hawke, who gives a powerhouse performance in every scene of the movie, is nominated for best actor as the gifted, lonely Lorenz Hart. For two decades Hart, a lyricist, worked with Richard Rodgers to produce songs for Broadway and Hollywood. Before the theater-writing team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and Hart. .

Toward the end of Blue Moon there is a scene in which a college student, played by Margaret Qualley, beguiles Hart with a tale about her disastrous 20th birthday.

"There was a fingernail clipping of a moon," she says, setting the scene, and Hart is all ears. What follows is an anecdote more memorable for how it is told than for what is actually said. Kaplow's characters are in love with words, and, in this case, their hearts become entangled because of their mutual respect for a good story.

Like his characters, Kaplow, too, is enchanted with words. As a novelist and screenwriter, he falls under the spell of his own compelling stories, so much so that when he discusses his characters, it's as if he's talking about real people, with agency beyond his creative powers: "I think what he's saying here is…" or "I think she understands that."

Kaplow, who grew up in Westfield and settled in Metuchen, lived at Clothier Hall while a Rutgers student. Dorm life sharpened his powers of observation.

"It taught me things about people," he recalled. "I got to Rutgers somehow knowing I wanted to be a writer, that this was something I could do. But I didn't have the technical chops yet."

To remedy that, Kaplow took every literature and film course he could fit into his schedule. He is still amazed that he has managed to make a life with his words, noting that he and his college girlfriend, author Marian Calabro, "both wanted to be writers, and we both pulled it off."

Director Richard Linklater (left) with Blue Moon actors Margaret Qualley and Ethan Hawke Ethan Hawke, who was nominated for best actor for his performance in the film.

His fascination with Orson Welles, the groundbreaking, volatile director of stage, screen and radio, led Kaplow to WRSU-FM 88.7, the student-run radio station.

"I wanted to do a radio theater program," he said, "as if I were Orson Welles."

What developed was The Punsters, a goofy comedy ensemble and musical venture with his friends Tim Korzun, Michael Townsend, Carmen Presti, Ken Cohen, Lou Ippolito and the late Marc Lanzoff. Kaplow said The Punsters' style was influenced by mid-century radio programs such as The Goon Show and Firesign Theatre. In his senior year, Kaplow asked his professor, the author Betty Fussell, if the radio show could count as an independent study course. Fussell agreed. "So, I even got credit for it," Kaplow said. "It was really generous of her to do."

The Punsters also gigged in New Brunswick at the legendary Court Tavern and at The Golden Spike on Easton Avenue. After National Public Radio producer Jay Kernis liked their demo, The Punsters created segments for NPR's"Morning Edition"from the mid-1980s to 2001, led by Kaplow as the zany Moe Moskowitz.

Unlike his alter ego on NPR, Kaplow is a soft-spoken, careful listener. He has kind eyes. If you were casting someone to be the supportive, inspirational teacher in a teen movie, Kaplow might be an apt choice. Indeed, Kaplow retired in 2014 after 34 years at Summit High School, where he was a beloved teacher with a creative approach to his AP English classes, such as having his students analyze the lyrics of the great American songbook, including those by Lorenz Hart.

"The atmosphere of a school appealed to me," Kaplow said. "I understood the teenager that was still inside me. I really remembered what it felt like to be 17 and I could empathize with that."

Many of Kaplow's books center on young people, including Alessandra in Love(1989), and Alessandra in Agony (2023), set in the halls of Westfield High School; and Rutgers Girl: Naked in Italy (2022), the journal of a fictional 19-year-old freshman.

Kaplow's zest for comedy and teen angst did not lessen his attachment to Orson Welles. The 2008 movie "Me and Orson Welles," also directed by Linklater, was based on Kaplow's 2003 historic fiction novel of the same name. The movie stars Christian McKay as Welles and Zac Efron as the teenager he impulsively casts as Lucius in the Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar. Claire Danes also stars as a young woman who intrigues both men.

Robert Kaplow on the set of "Blue Moon"

Linklater bought a draft of Blue Moon shortly after Kaplow's retirement. A 12-year tinkering process followed.

"I rewrote it at least twice every year during that period, from beginning to end," Kaplow said. "About once a year or so, we three - Hawke, Linklater, and I - would re-read it, often in Hawke's townhouse in New York. I'd sit there with a pen in my hand, and Richard would say, 'You know, I think the audience has heard that already, you probably don't need to say that.' And they had a good sense of reality about that, they'd often say, 'Well, Robert, wouldn't he react when she says that? Wouldn't she say something?' That was good. It could be very well written but it's gotta sound like real people communicating.''

As a writer, Kaplow said he is accustomed to being "invisible." The Oscar nomination has changed that.

"One of the things about the Academy Awards is that I've heard from these students from 30 years ago, saying, 'Congrats,' and 'Your class made such a difference to me.' I didn't expect that people would notice, and then connect, 'That's the guy who taught me AP English.'"

On March 15, Kaplow will don the black suit he wears to weddings and funerals and head to the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Lynn Lauber, who also is a writer. If Kaplow wins the Oscar, he won't have time to list all the students, colleagues, mentors, and friends who have shaped his life. The orchestra would play him out long before he finished. But they'll be on his mind.

"I had a student write, 'You managed to see the genius in every student you taught,'" Kaplow said. "You can't ask for a nicer remembrance than that. That's better than the nomination."

The Academy Awards show will be broadcast live on ABC and Hulu on March 15, beginning at 7 p.m. EST.