Flo Ziegfeld, American Broadway Producer

Flo Ziegfeld, American Broadway Producer

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. (March 21, 1867 - July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario. As a child he witnessed first hand the Chicago fire of 1871. Ziegfeld, Jr.'s father ran the Chicago Musical College and later opened a nightclub, the Trocadero, to obtain business from the 1893 World's Fair. To help his father's unsuccessful nightclub, Ziegfeld, Jr., hired and managed the strongman, Eugen Sandow. His stage spectaculars, known as the Ziegfeld Follies, began with Follies of 1907, which opened on July 7, 1907, and were produced annually until 1931. 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. 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, Ruth Etting, W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Marilyn Miller, Will Rogers, Bert Williams and Ann Pennington. 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. He died in 1932, at the age of 65, from pleurisy, related to a previous lung infection. He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl".

History: Personalities

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