President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1949 to 1955
President of the Screen Writers Guild. [1938-1939]
Replaced Herman Mankiewicz as The New Yorker's theatre critic in 1925, only to leave for Hollywood, as his predecessor had done, in 1929. Worked with director/writer Billy Wilder's as his collaborator on 13 movies, including Sunset Blvd (1950).