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Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
File:Florenz-ziegfield.jpg
Florenz Ziegfield
Born(1867-03-21)March 21, 1867
Chicago, Illinois
DiedJuly 22, 1932(1932-07-22) (aged 65)
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
SpouseBillie Burke (1914-1932)
PartnerAnna Held (1897-1913)

Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld, Jr. (March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario. He is best known for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931), inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat. He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl".[1]

Early life and career

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. was born on March 15, 1867 in Chicago, Illinois (some sources, including his obituary, give the year of birth as 1869). His father was a German immigrant who ran the Chicago Musical College, and later opened a nightclub, The Trocadero to obtain business from the 1893 World's Fair.[2] To help his father's unsuccessful nightclub, Ziegfeld hired and managed the strongman, Eugen Sandow.[2]

File:Flo Ziegfeld & Sandow c. 1893.jpg
Flo Ziegfeld (extreme left) and Sandow (extreme right), on horse-drawn wagon, c. 1893

His stage spectaculars, known as the Ziegfeld Follies, began with Follies of 1907, which opened on July 7, 1907,[3] and were produced annually until 1931.[4] These extravaganzas, with elaborate costumes and sets, featured beauties chosen personally by Ziegfeld in production numbers choreographed to the works of prominent composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Jerome Kern.[1] The Follies featured many performers who, though well-known from previous work in other theatrical genres, achieved unique financial success and publicity with Ziegfeld. Included among these are Nora Bayes, Fanny Brice, W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Marilyn Miller, Will Rogers, Bert Williams and Ann Pennington.[4]

His promotion of the Polish-French Anna Held, including press releases about her milk baths, brought her fame.[5] Ziegfeld helped oversee her meteoric rise to national fame. It was Held who first suggested an American imitation of the Parisian Follies to Ziegfeld.[2][6] Her success in a series of his Broadway shows, especially The Parisian Model,, was a major reason for his starting the "series of lavish revues in 1907", the Ziegfeld Follies.[7]

Ziegfeld married Held in 1897 but she divorced him in 1913, according to her obituary in the New York Times dated August 13, 1918.[8][9] However, according to Eve Golden, Held and Ziegfeld had never actually married, but had an "informal" wedding in 1897, and they had lived together long enough to "qualify as legal man and wife". Held's divorce from Ziegfeld became final on January 9, 1913. Held had submitted testimony about Ziegfeld's relationship with another woman.[10]

The following year, Ziegfeld married actress Billie Burke,[2][7] who in 1939 would go on to play Glinda in The Wizard of Oz. They had one child, Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson (1916 — 2008). The family lived on his estate in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida.[11]

Fanny Brice, a comedienne, was one of Ziegfeld's stars

Ziegfeld Theatre and Show Boat

At a cost of $2.5 million, he built the 1600-seat Ziegfeld Theatre on the west side of Sixth Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets. Designed by Joseph Urban and Thomas Lamb, the auditorium was egg-shaped with the stage at the narrow end. A huge medieval-style mural, The Joy of Life, covered the walls and ceiling.[12] To finance the construction, Ziegfeld borrowed from William Randolph Hearst,[13] who took control of the theater after Ziegfeld's death.

The Ziegfeld Theatre opened in February 1927, with his production of Rio Rita, which ran for almost 500 performances. This was followed by Show Boat,[7] which had the "largest advance ticket sale up to that time" and became a "substantial hit."[14] "When the stunned opening night audience reacted to the show in near silence, Ziegfeld was convinced his gamble had failed. The rave reviews in the papers and long lines at the box office the next morning proved otherwise."[2] It was a great success, with a run of 572 performances.[2] In May 1932, after Ziegfeld lost much of his money in the stock market crash, he staged a revival of Show Boat. "By Depression standards, it was a hit." It ran for six months.[15] That same year, he brought his Follies stars to CBS Radio with The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.[16]

Film

William Powell as Ziegfeld in The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Screen versions of three of Ziegfeld's hit stage musicals were produced in the early sound film era: Sally (First National, 1929) starring Marilyn Miller;[17] Rio Rita (RKO, 1929) starring Bebe Daniels and John Boles;[18] and Whoopee! (Goldwyn, 1930) starring Eddie Cantor.[17] All were filmed in Technicolor and closely followed the original stage productions, although Whoopee! featured an almost entirely new score with only three of the songs from the stage used. Whoopee! was made under Ziegfeld's personal supervision, with Ziegfeld as a producer with Samuel Goldwin.[19]

Show Boat was filmed three times. The first version, a part-talkie released in 1929 while the stage show was still playing, "is more closely based on the source novel than the stage play." It did keep one song from the stage musical, "Ol' Man River".[20] Nevertheless, Ziegfeld appeared in a sound prologue made to be shown before the actual film.

The other two film versions of Show Boat were made after Ziegfeld's death, and were more faithful to the stage version. The highly acclaimed and financially successful 1936 film version featured many people who had either worked on or appeared on the stage show, such as Helen Morgan.[21] The 1951 Technicolor film, with a plot that is close to the Broadway stage show and almost all of the original songs included, was a "financial success".[22]

A semi-biographical film, The Great Ziegfeld, was produced in 1936.[23][24] A film recreating the Follies with an all-star cast, Ziegfeld Follies, was produced in 1946. Both were made by MGM and featured William Powell as Ziegfeld.[24]

A 3-hour made-for-television film, Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women, starring Paul Shenar as Ziegfeld, Samantha Eggar as Billie Burke and Barbara Parkins as Anna Held, was produced by Columbia Pictures and shown on NBC in 1978.[24][25]

Death

Ziegfeld died in Hollywood, California on July 22, 1932 from pleurisy related to a previous lung infection.[1] He had been in Los Angeles only a few days after moving from a New Mexico sanitarium.[1] His death left Burke with substantial debts, driving her toward film acting in an effort to settle them.[13] He is interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, Westchester Co., New York.

Broadway productions

Poster for Ziegfeld Follies of 1912

Source: Musicals101[26]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Florenz Ziegfeld Dies in Hollywood After Long Illness". New York Times. July 23, 1933. Retrieved 2009-02-19. Florenz Ziegfeld, musical comedy producer, died tonight at a hospital here. Death came at 10:31 P. M., after an unexpected setback that developed only tonight. Only Dr. Marcus Radwin, attending physician, and a nurse were in the room when the producer died. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kenrick, John. "Florenz Ziegfeld:A Biography" Musicals101, (Copyright 2002-2004), accessed January 13, 2011
  3. ^ Vlastnik, Frank; Bloom, Ken. "Ziegfeld Follies of 1919" Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time, Black Dog Publishing, 2010, ISBN 1579128491, p. 332
  4. ^ a b Green, Stanley. "Florenz Ziegfeld" Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Da Capo Press, 1980, ISBN 0306801132, pp. 463-464
  5. ^ Van Dagens, Margaret. "Book review, Anna Held And The Birth Of Ziegfeld's Broadway by Eve Golden, University Press of Kentucky" New York Times, May 14, 2000
  6. ^ Cambridge Guide to the American Theatre, (New York: Cambridge UP, 1995) p. 511
  7. ^ a b c "Florenz Ziegfeld biography" pbs.org, accessed January 13, 2011
  8. ^ "Anna Held Dies After Brave Fight" New York Times, August 13, 1918
  9. ^ "Anna Held Dies After Brave Fight" New York Times, article preview, August 13, 1918
  10. ^ Golden, Eve "Chapter: The Unchastened Woman" Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway, University Press of Kentucky, 2000, ISBN 0813121531, p. 160-161
  11. ^ "Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson, Daughter of Legendary Broadway Impresario". Jazz News. 2008-04-25. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  12. ^ Innes, C.D. "Chapter: Stage and Screen" Designing modern America: Broadway to main street, Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0300108044, pp.60-62
  13. ^ a b Hayter-Menzies, Grant. "Chapter 18. The Great Ziegfeld" Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Public and Private Lives of Billie Burke McFarland, 2009, ISBN 0786438002, p. 114, 159
  14. ^ Green, Stanley. "Chapter:Jerome Kern" The World of Musical Comedy (4ed.), Da Capo Press, 1984, ISBN 0306802074, p. 62
  15. ^ Jones, John Bush. "The Depression Hits Broadway" Our Musicals, Ourselves:A Social History of the American Musical Theater, UPNE, 2003, ISBN 0874519047, p. 82
  16. ^ Dunning, John.On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
  17. ^ a b "NY Times: Sally". NY Times. Retrieved 2011-01-13. Cite error: The named reference "NY Times" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ "'Rio Rita' Overview, Review, Cast, Production Credits, Awards" allmovie.com, accesed January 13, 2011
  19. ^ Bradley, Edwin M. "'Whoopee!'; Chapter 7, 1929-1939, 'Rio Rita'" The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171, McFarland, 2004, ISBN 0786420294, pp. 114-115; 173-175
  20. ^ "'Show Boat', 1929, Overview, Cast, Production Credits allmovie.com, accessed January 13, 2011
  21. ^ "'Show Boat', 1936, Overview, Review, Cast, Production Credits, Awards" allmovie.com, accessed January 13, 2011
  22. ^ "'Show Boat', 1951, Overview, Review, Cast, Production Credits, Awards" allmovie.com, accessed January 13, 2011
  23. ^ "'The Great Ziegfeld' Overview, Review, Cast, Production Credits, Awards" allmovie.com, accessed January 13, 2011
  24. ^ a b c Vogel, Michelle. "Chapter: Rags to Riches" Olive Thomas: The Life and Death of a Silent Film Beauty, McFarland, 2007, ISBN 0786429089, p. 23
  25. ^ Berard, Jeanette M.; Corwin, Norman; Englund, Klaudia. "Specials" Television Series and Specials Scripts, McFarland, 2009, ISBN 0786433485, p. 425
  26. ^ Kenrick, John. Ziegfeld's Broadway Productions" Musicals101, accessed January 13, 2011

References

Redniss, Lauren, Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies, New York, Harper Collins, 2006, ISBN 9780060853334.

External links

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