Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
American theatrical producer who brought the revue to spectacular heights under the slogan "Glorifying the American Girl." During the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Ziegfeld managed bodybuilder Eugen Sandow (billed as the Great Sandow). In 1896 he turned to theatrical management. His promotion of French beauty Anna Held, with ...
Women glorify gowns and certain gowns can glorify certain girls.
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[1925, explaining what he looked for in a "Ziegfeld Girl"] Beauty, of course, is the most important requirement and the paramount asset of the applicant. When I say that, I mean beauty of face, form, charm and manner, personal magnetism, individuality, grace and poise. These are details that must always be settled before the applicant has demonstrated her ability either to sing or dance. It is not easy to pass the test that qualifies a girl for membership in a Ziegfeld production, but I am frank to say that once she has done so, much of the element of doubt is removed so far as the future success of her career before the footlights is concerned.
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I don't have a very quick sense of humor. Half of the great comedians I've had in my shows and that I paid a lot of money to and who made my customers shriek were not only not funny to me, but I couldn't understand why they were funny to anybody. You'd be surprised how many of the expensive comics I've run out on and locked myself in my office when they were on stage.
Longtime companion of Anna Held (1897-1913). They never officially married.
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Always maintained that, as a teenager in an exhibition shooting match, he actually outshot Annie Oakley. Ms. Oakley didn't remember the incident, however, and the story itself is probably apocryphal.
On his death bed, he went delirious, shouting stage directions, apparently for the closing number of one of his productions seen only in his mind. His last words were, "Looks good! Looks good!".
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He loved sending telegrams. On a lark, he had one sent to an actor rehearsing on stage while Ziegfeld himself was watching in the same theater.
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He always maintained that he had no sense of humor and that he always considered the comedians he hired to be strictly secondary to the famous Ziegfeld Girls. And yet, the comedians who rose to fame in the Follies and other shows he produced may well be his greatest legacy to audiences. Among those who started with Ziegfeld were Will Rogers, Bert Williams, Eddie Cantor, W.C. Fields, Fanny Brice, Leon Errol, Ray Bolger and countless others.
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In 1927 he produced what is considered his greatest artistic achievement--the original Broadway production of "Show Boat". Although he recognized its artistic value, he was terrified that it would fail because of its unusually dramatic storyline. According to an eyewitness, on opening night the audience barely applauded. It was not because they disliked the show. It was because they were so taken aback by it. The show was a huge success. By 1932, after Ziegfeld had lost much of his money in the stock-market crash, he decided to try what he now considered a sure thing, a revival of the show. It worked, and for a time became the biggest grosser on Broadway, until the Depression finally affected its run. Ziegfeld died that same year.
$850,000
