The Ziegfeld Follies
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The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931.
They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
Inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies were conceived and mounted by Florenz Ziegfeld, reportedly at the suggestion of his then-wife, the entertainer Anna Held.
The shows' producers were turn-of-the-century producing titans Klaw & Erlanger.
They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
Inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies were conceived and mounted by Florenz Ziegfeld, reportedly at the suggestion of his then-wife, the entertainer Anna Held.
The shows' producers were turn-of-the-century producing titans Klaw & Erlanger.
History
The Follies were lavish revues, something between later Broadway shows and a more elaborate high class Vaudeville variety show. Many of the top entertainers of the era (including W.C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, Ann Pennington, Bert Williams, Will Rogers, Ruth Etting, Ray Bolger, Helen Morgan, Marilyn Miller, Ed Wynn, Gilda Gray, Nora Bayes, Sophie Tucker, and others) appeared in the shows. The Ziegfeld Follies were also famous for many beautiful chorus girls commonly known as Ziegfeld girls, usually decked in elaborate costumes by designers such as Erté, Lady Duff Gordon or Ali Ben Hagan, which became the talk of Broadway the following day.After Ziegfeld's death, his widow Billie Burke authorized use of his name for Ziegfeld Follies in 1934 and 1936. The name was later used by other promoters in New York City, Philadelphia and again on Broadway, with less connection to the original Follies. These latter efforts failed miserably. When later it toured, the 1934 edition was recorded in its entirety, from the Overture to Play-out music, on a series of 78 rpm discs, which were edited by the record producer David Cunard to form an album of the highlights of the production and which was released as a Compact Disc in 1997.
The 1936 Best Picture winner was The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell as the master showman. Co-starring Myrna Loy (as Ziegfeld's second wife Billie Burke), Luise Rainer (as Anna Held, which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress), and Frank Morgan (as a rival showman). Featuring numbers by Ray Bolger, Dennis Morgan, Virginia Bruce, and Harriet Hoctor, the film gave a glimpse into what the Follies were really like. The MGM blockbuster's show-stopper was "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody", which, by itself, cost more to produce than one of Ziegfeld's whole shows.
There was also a 1946 feature motion picture entitled Ziegfeld Follies with Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, William Powell, Gene Kelly, Fanny Brice, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Cyd Charisse, Lucille Ball, Kathryn Grayson, and others performing songs and sketches similar to those from the original Follies.
YouTube
The Follies
- Follies of 1907 at the Jardin de Paris
- Follies of 1908 at the Jardin de Paris
- Follies of 1909 at the Jardin de Paris
- Follies of 1910 at the Jardin de Paris
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1911 at the Jardin de Paris
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1912 at the Moulin Rouge (New York)
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920 at the New Amsterdam Theatre
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 at the Globe Theatre
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 at the New Amsterdam Theatre
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 at the Ziegfeld Theatre
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 at the Winter Garden Theatre
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 at the Winter Garden Theatre
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1943 at the Winter Garden Theatre
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1957 at the Winter Garden Theatre
Performers: Year-By-Year
1907
- Grace Larue
- Emma Carus
- Harry Watson
- Helen Broderick
- Nora Bayes (joined cast at end of run)
1908
- Nora Bayes
- Grace LaRue
- Mlle. Dazie
- Harry Watson
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1909
- Lillian Lorraine
- Bessie Clayton
- Sophie Tucker
- Nora Bayes
- Jack Norworth
- Eva Tanguay (joined cast in mid-run)
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1910
- Fanny Brice
- Bert Williams
- Lillian Lorraine
- Anna Held (in a filmed sequence)
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1911
- Fanny Brice
- Bert Williams
- The Dolly Sisters
- Lillian Lorraine
- Leon Errol
- Vera Maxwell
- Bessie McCoy
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1912
- Bert Williams
- Elizabeth Brice
- Leon Errol
- Ray Samuels
- Lillian Lorraine
- Harry Watson
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1913
- Leon Errol
- Frank Tinney
- Jose Collins
- Ann Pennington
- Nat M. Wills
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1914
- Ed Wynn
- Leon Errol
- Bert Williams
- Annette Kellerman
- Vera Maxwell
- Ann Pennington
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1915
- Leon Errol
- W.C. Fields
- Ann Pennington
- Ed Wynn
- Bert Williams
- Ina Claire
- Justine Johnstone
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Olive Thomas and Mae Murray)
- Bert Williams
- Fanny Brice
- W.C. Fields
- Ina Claire
- Will Rogers
- Ann Pennington
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Marion Davies and Olive Thomas)
1917
- Bert Williams
- Fanny Brice
- Dolores
- Eddie Cantor
- Will Rogers
- William E. Ritchie
- The Fairbanks Twins
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Peggy Hopkins Joyce)
1918
- Eddie Cantor
- W.C. Fields
- Marilyn Miller
- Ann Pennington
- Lillian Lorraine
- Frank Carter
- Joe Frisco
- Bert Savoy
- Jay Brennan
- Kay Laurell
- The Fairbanks Twins
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Doris Eaton)
1919
- Marilyn Miller
- Eddie Cantor
- Bert Williams
- Eddie Dowling
- John Steel
- Johnny and Ray Dooley
- Van and Schenck
- The Fairbanks Twins
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Billie Dove and Doris Eaton)
1920
- Fanny Brice
- W.C. Fields
- Mary Eaton
- Jack Donahue
- Bernard Granville
- Charles Winninger
- Van and Schenck
- Ray Dooley
- Moran and Mack
- Art Hickman's Orchestra
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Doris Eaton)
1921
- Fanny Brice
- W.C. Fields
- Raymond Hitchcock
- Van and Schenck
- Mary Eaton
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Anastasia Reilly)
- Gallagher and Shean
- Jack Whiting
- Will Rogers
- Mary Eaton
- Olsen & Johnson
- Gilda Gray
- Nervo and Knox
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Barbara Stanwyck and Anastasia Reilly)
1923
- Fanny Brice
- Bert Wheeler
- James J. Corbett
- Ann Pennington
- Paul Whiteman
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Anastasia Reilly)
1924-25
- Will Rogers
- Ann Pennington
- Frank Tinney
- Lupino Lane
- Ethel Shutta
- Vivienne Segal
- Ray Dooley (joined the cast later in run)
- W.C. Fields (joined the cast later in run)
- Dorothy Wegman
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Louise Brooks, Paulette Goddard, Claire Dodd, and Anastasia Reilly)
1927
- Eddie Cantor
- Cliff Edwards
- Ruth Etting
- The Brox Sisters
- Clair Luce
- Dorothy Wegman
- Billie Burke
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Joan Blondell and Paulette Goddard)
1931
- Harry Richman
- Jack Pearl
- Ruth Etting
- Helen Morgan
- Hal LeRoy
- Mitzi Mayfair
- Albert Carroll
- John Bubbles
- Ernest McChesney
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Iris Adrian)
1934
- Fanny Brice
- Jane Froman
- Buddy Ebsen (with sister Vilma)
- Eugene Howard
- Willie Howard
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1936
- Fanny Brice
- Bob Hope
- Josephine Baker
- The Nicholas Brothers
- Eve Arden
- Judy Canova
- Gertrude Niesen
- June and Cherry Preisser
- Gypsy Rose Lee (replacement)
- Bobby Clark (replacement)
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1943
- Milton Berle
- Arthur Treacher
- Ilona Massey
- Dean Murphy
- Jack Cole
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1956
- Tallulah Bankhead
- Carol Haney
- Bea Arthur
- Julie Newmar
- The Ziegfeld Girls
1957
- Beatrice Lillie
- Jane Morgan
- Billy DeWolfe
- Harold Lang
- The Ziegfeld Girls (including Carol Lawrence)
Quotes
-
I breathed and ate and drank and lived theater -- in my neighborhood were all the nationalities of all of Europe. That is where I learned my accents; the Polish woman with her intonation rising up like chant. I saw Loscha of the Coney Island popcorn counter and Marta of the cheeses at Brodsky's Delicatessen and the Sadies and the Rachels and the Birdies at the Second Avenue dance halls. They all welded together and came out staggeringly true to type in one big authentic outline.
~Fanny Brice, 1936
Further Reading
Jazz Age Beauties: The Lost Collection of Ziegfeld Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston
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Ziegfeld Follies
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Spotlight
The Ziegfeld Touch: The Life and Times of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.
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DVD
Spotlight
Ziegfeld Follies
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Music
Spotlight
Ziegfeld Follies
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Links
- Ziegfeld Theatre - Wikipedia
- The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theater formerly located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 54th Street...
- Joseph Urban - Wikipedia
- Joseph Urban (May 26, 1872 - July 10, 1933) Born in Vienna, Austria, died in New York City, trained as an architect, known also for his theatre...
- Encores!
- This article is about City Center's musical revivals.
- Esther's Follies
- Esther's Follies is a modern day vaudeville theatre located on 6th Street in downtown Austin, Texas. The group is named after actress Esther Williams...
- Florenz Ziegfeld and The Ziegfeld Follies
- Our January, 2004 issue , about Florenz Ziegfeld and his Follies that changed American music & stage
- Dancer History Archives by StreetSwing.com - Ziegfeld Girls - Main Page
- Ziegfeld Girls were a product of the famous impresario Florenz Ziegfeld [3/21/1869-1932] Dubbed as the Most beautiful girls in the world
- Ziegfeld 101 - The Follies - Part 1
- Musicals101.com
History of Musicals
The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, broadcast on CBS during the 1930s, attempted to bring the success of Florenz Ziegfeld's stage shows to the new medium of radio.Eddie Dowling hosted the musical variety format. Sponsored by Chrysler Motors, the half-hour series aired Sunday evenings from April 3 to June 26, 1932, moving April 24 from 8:30pm to 10:30pm. With Al Goodman leading the orchestra, the line-up of guests included Fanny Brice, Helen Morgan, Jack Pearl, Will Rogers and Ziegfeld himself. Pearl introduced his Baron Munchausen character.
In 1932, Ziegfeld died July 22, but the series came back for a run from February 22 to June 6, 1936, serving as a tribute to the showman. Goodman returned as orchestra leader, and Brice appeared in the sketch series that eventually expanded into The Baby Snooks Show. Other guests included Patty Chapin, James Melton and Benny Fields. Few episodes survive.
Link List
The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
- Radio Journeys: The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air (April 3, 1932)
- The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, broadcast on CBS during the 1930s, attempted to bring the success of Florenz Ziegfeld's stage shows to the new medium of radio.
- Radio Journeys: The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air (April 10, 1932)
- The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, broadcast on CBS during the 1930s, attempted to bring the success of Florenz Ziegfeld's stage shows to the new medium of radio.
Albertina-Rasch-Dancers - in costume for Rio Rita, by Alfred Cheney Johnson
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