|
Who's Who in Musicals: F
by John Kenrick
(Copyright 1997-2003)
Fain, Sammy
(b. Samuel Feinberg)
Composer
b. June 17, 1902 (New York City) - d. Dec. 6, 1989 (Los Angeles, CA)
After getting his start as a vaudeville singer and pianist, Fain began a
prolific songwriting career. He teamed with lyricist Irving Kahal to turn
out such pop hits as "Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella." They contributed
songs to a number of early Hollywood musicals, including "You Brought a New
Kind of Love to Me," introduced by
Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930).
They contributed songs to several 1930s Broadway productions, including the
perennial favorite "I'll Be Seeing You," introduced by Tamara in the
ill-fated Right This Way (1938).
Following Kahal's death in 1942, Fain collaborated with various
lyricists, including E.Y "Yip"
Harburgh, Paul Francis Webster and Mitchell Parrish. His film songs included
"Secret Love," introduced by Doris Day
in Calamity Jane (1953) – and the title tune for Love is a Many
Splendored Thing (1955). He composed scores for a string of tuneful but
unsuccessful Broadway musicals, including the satirical Flahooley (1951) and
the inept Something More (1964). Fain worked on film scores in his later
years.
Faye, Alice
(b. Alice Jeanne Leppert)
Actress, singer
b. May 5, 1915 (New York City) - d. May 9, 1998 (Rancho Mirage, CA)
Raised in New York City's infamous Hell's Kitchen, this attractive,
throaty-voiced blond was dancing in the chorus of
George White's 1931 Scandals when she caught
the eye of popular vocalist Rudy Vallee. She toured and recorded with Vallee's
band, and her appearance with them in the 1934 film version of the Scandals
launched her on a stellar screen career. Over the next ten years, 20th Century Fox
starred Faye in dozens of films, including 26 musicals. Her hits included
In Old Chicago (1938), Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938),
Rose of Washington Square (1939), Lillian Russell (1940) and
That Night in Rio (1941). Faye's co-stars included Don Ameche,
Tyrone Power and John Payne. She introduced many hit songs, but is best remembered
for singing the Academy Award winning wartime hit "You'll Never Know" in
Hello, Frisco, Hello (1944).
After an unsuccessful marriage to singer Tony Martin, Faye found the love of
her life with her second husband, bandleader and radio comedian Phil Harris. At the
height of Faye's popularity in 1945, she unhesitatingly retired from the screen after
disputes with idiotic Fox studio executives. She co-starred with Harris on a popular
radio series from 1946 to 1954, made frequent TV appearances, and returned to the
musical screen for a disappointing remake of State Fair (1962). She won
personal raves in the unsuccessful Broadway revival of Good News (1974) and
made a final screen appearance in the syrupy Magic of Lassie (1978). Never
forgotten by her millions of fans, Faye received affectionate public tributes
throughout her final years.
Felix, Seymour
Director, choreographer
b. Oct 23, 1892 (New York City) - d. Mar 16, 1961 (Los Angeles, CA)
One of the first important choreographers in American show business, Felix was
dancing in vaudeville by age 15. He made his Broadway debut in ensemble of
The Mimic World (1908), but it was not until eighteen years later that
made his first real impact as a director and choreographer – or in the parlance
of that time, dance director. After staging Hello Lola (1926), he helmed three
memorable hits – Vincent Youmans' nautical musical
Hit the Deck (1927), the long-running operetta Rosalie (1928),
and the wild Eddie Cantor vehicle
Whoopee (1928). Felix created the dances for such early screen musicals
as Sunny Side Up (1929) and Just Imagine (1930), then returned
to Broadway to choreograph the Ed Wynn vehicle
Simple Simon (1930) and the modest hit Strike Me Pink (1933).
Felix worked closely with directors and authors, designing his dance routines to
be a functional part of the story telling process. He was demanding – for the
Broadway production Peggy Ann (1926), he found only four acceptable
dancers from an audition pool of over 400. Felix shifted to fulltime
film work from 1933 onwards. After Kid Millions
(1934) and The Girl Friend (1935), he made his professional mark staging
the Oscar-winning "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" sequence in MGM's
The Great Ziegfeld (1936). He choreographed over two dozen more
films, including Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), Yankee Doodle Dandy
(1942), Cover Girl (1944), The Dolly Sister (1945) and
The I Don't Care Girl (1953).
Fielding, Harold
British producer
b. Dec. 4, 1916 (Woking, UK) - d. Sept. 28, 2003 (London, UK)
Through the 1940s and 50s, Fielding promoted British pop concert tours, moving into
theater by producing a London stage version of
Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II's Cinderella (1958),
which featured pop star Tommy Steele. After importing
the American hits The Music Man (1961) and Sail Away (1962), he
produced the long-running Half a Sixpence (1963), again starring Steele.
Fielding's blockbuster Charlie Girl (1965) ran on the West End for five
years, making him one of the most important figures in British theatre.
Unlike most commercial producers, Fielding invariably used his own money rather
than appealing to investors. This entitled him to full creative control and all
potential profits – as well as all the financial risk. Fielding scored with
the successful London version of Sweet Charity (1967) starring Juliet Prowse,
Mame (1969) starring Ginger Rogers,
a long-running revival of Show Boat (1971), and Barnum (1981) starring
Michael Crawford.
Fielding's stage adaptations of the MGM classics Gone With the Wind and
Singing in the Rain fared poorly with critics but did well at the box office.
Unfortunately, he lost millions on Ziegfeld (1988), Someone Like You
(a 1990 Civil War musical starring Petula Clark), and the disappointing London run
of Mack and Mabel (1995). In 1998, he suffered the first in a series of
strokes that ended his career. He died in 2003 at age 86.
Fields, Dorothy
Lyricist, librettist
b. July 15, 1905 (Allenhurst, NJ) - d. March 28, 1974 (New York City)
Part of a leading theatrical family (her father Lew
was a leading vaudeville and Broadway comic, brothers Herb
and Joe were librettists), Ms. Fields was the most successful female lyricist in 20th
Century show business. Her first Broadway score was for the long running
Blackbirds of 1928. Although most of
the shows and films she contributed to in the 1930s and
40s are not well remembered, her lyrics remain classics, including "I'm In the
Mood for Love" (music by Jimmy McHugh),
"Lovely to Look At" and "The Way You Look Tonight"
(music by Jerome Kern). One of the secrets of her long
career was her knack for writing lyrics that flowed as effortlessly as normal
conversation. As a rule, Dorothy and her collaborators would agree on the title and
general content of a song – then they created the music to which she would
fashion the words. Ms. Fields worked with both Kern and McHugh on a string of
successful Hollywood musicals, including Hooray for Love (1935) and the
Fred Astaire-
Ginger Rogers hit Swing Time (1936). Her
last film score was for The Farmer Takes a Wife (1954), music by
Harold Arlen.
Dorothy Fields returned frequently to Broadway, with impressive results. With
brother Herb, she co-authored the libretto for
Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun (1946).
She teamed with composer Arthur Schwartz for
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1953) and By the Beautiful Sea (1954).
Herb died while working with Dorothy and composer Albert Hague on Redhead
(1959), a vehicle for actress Gwen Verdon that won
the Tonys for Best Musical and Best Authors (the 1959 equivalent of "Best
Book"). In her final years, Dorothy collaborated with composer
Cy Coleman on two Broadway hits –
Sweet Charity (1966) and Seesaw (1973). Her ability to
adapt to rock rhythms and contemporary themes made her the envy of lyricists a
fraction of her age.
Fields, Herbert
Librettist
b. July 26, 1897 (New York City) - d. March 24, 1958 (New York City)
Son of Lew and older brother of
Dorothy, Herb Fields made his mark as librettist for the
early musicals of Richard Rodgers and
Lorenz Hart, including The Garrick Gaities
(1925), A Connecticut Yankee (1927) and Present Arms (1928). He and
sister Dorothy then began a fifteen year string of musical comedies with songwriter
Cole Porter, providing the witty libretti for
Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929), The New Yorkers (1930),
DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), Let's Face It (1941) and
Something for the Boys (1943). Herb & Dorothy's biggest joint hit was
the book for Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun
(1947). They enjoyed continued success collaborating on Arms and the Girl
(1950) and By the Beautiful Sea (1954). Herb died while collaborating with
his sister Dorothy on the Tony-winning Gwen Verdon
vehicle Redhead (1959).
Fields, Lew
(b. Moses Schoenfeld)
Actor, producer, director
b. Jan. 1, 1867 (Poland) - d. July 20, 1941 (Beverly Hills, CA)
Fields met Joe Weber when they were both schoolboys on
Manhattan's impoverished Lower East Side. They formed a comedy act, developing a
series of ethnic routines while touring the variety circuits. In time, they
perfected the characters 'Meyer' (the tall Fields) and 'Mike' (the diminutive
Weber), bewhiskered German immigrants with broad accents, bristling whiskers
and garish clothes. Meyer invariably tried to swindle Mike out of his money,
always leading to a knockabout battle. Weber and Fields became vaudeville's
definitive "Dutch" act (a corruption of the German word
"deutsch.") Weber once said that "all the public wanted to see was
Fields knock the hell out of me." Combining topical humor with slapstick
physical battles, they became one of the all-time top vaudeville acts, inspiring
numerous imitators.
Weber and Fields expanded their act into a series of full
length musical burlesques that spoofed hit
shows and current events. They also produced musical comedy extravaganzas,
co-starring some of the greatest musical stars of the day – including
DeWolf Hopper,
Lillian Russell
and Faye Templeton. Whirl-i-gig (1899),
Hoity-Toity (1901) and Hokey-Pokey (1912) combined the usual Weber
and Fields silliness and slapstick physical comedy with lavish production values.
After ending his partnership with Weber in 1904, Fields became a prolific
producer, bringing more than 40 musicals to Broadway. His most memorable hits were
six Richard Rodgers
and Lorenz Hart shows with libretti by his son
Herbert, including Peggy-Ann (1926) and
A Connecticut Yankee (1929). Lew saw his daughter
Dorothy distinguish herself as the top female
lyricist of her time. Weber and Fields re-united to headline the opening night
of New York's Radio City Music Hall in 1932, and again four years later for
a short-lived Federal Theater project. They appeared as themselves in
several film musicals, including The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
(1939) and Lillian Russell (1940). A heavy smoker, Fields succumbed
to pneumonia at age 74. For more, read the magnificent From the
Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theater
(Fields, Armond & L. Marc Fields, New York, Oxford University Press, 1993).
Flaherty, Stephen
Composer
b. Sept. 18, 1960 (Pittsburgh, PA)
Encouraged in his teen years by conductor Lehman Engel to pursue a
career composing for the stage, Flaherty met lyricist/composer
Lynn Ahrens at the BMI musical theater workshop
in 1982. After developing several projects, they followed the short lived but
hilarious Off-Broadway musical farce Lucky Stiff (1988) with the acclaimed
Caribbean fantasy Once On This Island (1990), which moved to Broadway, ran
for over a year, and won the Olivier for Best West End musical in 1994.
After a disappointing reception for My Favorite Year (1992), Ahrens
and Flaherty spent several years working on the epic stage version of
Ragtime (1998). One of the finest stage scores ever written, it
brought the duo their first Tony for Best Score. He and Ahrens provided
the charming score for the animated Anastasia (1997), and for Broadway's
ill-fated Seussical (2000). Flaherty also composed incidental music
for Neil Simon's Proposals (1997). Ahrens & Flaherty's A
Man of No Importance had a brief off-Broadway run. Among the few songwriters who understand
how to use songs as dramatic tools, Ahrens and Flaherty remain two of the brightest
hopes for the musical theater's future.
Fosse, Bob
Director, choreographer, dancer, singer
b. June 23, 1927 (Chicago, IL) - d. Sept,. 23, 1987 (Washington, DC)
Fosse got his start in vaudeville as one of the dancing Riff Brothers, later
polishing his skills as a ballroom dancer in nightclubs. He won attention
understudying the lead in a revival of Pal Joey (1952), and was
featured in several MGM films including Kiss Me Kate (1953) –
sharing a sizzling dance duet with Carol Haney
– and My Sister Eileen (1955). His ended a brief marriage with dancer
Mary Ann Niles to marry musical comedienne Joan McCracken. Fosse returned to the
stage as choreographer for director
George Abbott, winning acclaim for his work
on The Pajama Game (1956) and Damn Yankees (1957). His dances
throbbed with sexuality, bringing a powerful edge to these popular musicals. When
he and Abbott clashed over a whorehouse ballet in New Girl in Town (1957),
Fosse resolved to work as both director
and choreographer on all his future projects.
Many of Fosse's hits were built around his third wife and longtime
collaborator, the dazzling Gwen Verdon.
(He divorced McCracken shortly before his marriage to Verdon in
1960.) Verdon was the prototypical
"Fosse dancer" – lithe, limber, and capable of exuding both fire and
ice. Damn Yankees, New Girl in Town, Redhead (1958) and
Sweet Charity (1966) brought Fosse four Tonys for choreography.
For Pippin (1972), Fosse won Tonys for both choreography and
direction, and he created the first successful Broadway TV commercial –
forever changing theatrical marketing strategy. Pippin's cast included
dancer Ann Reinking, who became Fosse's
protégé and longtime companion.
Fosse directed three musical films:
Sweet Charity (1968), Cabaret (1972) – which won him an
Oscar – and the autobiographical All That Jazz (1979). In
1972, he became the only person in history to win a Tony (Pippin),
Emmy (Liza With a Z) and Oscar (Cabaret) in the same year.
He
played a snake in the screen adaptation of The Little Prince (1974),
offering a characteristically sinuous dance solo. Fosse's later stage
hits included Chicago (1975) and the long running Dancin' (1978),
for which he won yet another Tony for choreography. After
Big Deal (1986) failed on Broadway, he directed an acclaimed revival
of Sweet Charity (1987) starring Debbie Allen. While rehearsing
Donna McKechnie for the touring company of
that production in Washington DC, the hard drinking, chain-smoking Fosse suffered
a fatal heart attack at age 60. Verdon was at his side when he collapsed
-- and to the surprise of many, was still legally Fosse's wife. Her
tireless efforts to preserve his artistic legacy led to Fosse (1999), a
revue of his most memorable stage and screen choreography. This
Tony-winning show was co-directed by Ann Reinking, who had long been on
cordial terms with Verdon.
Fox, George Washington Lafayette
Actor, librettist
b. July 3, 1825 (Boston, MA) - d. Oct. 24, 1877 (Cambridge, MA)
Born into a theatrical family, Fox's patriotic names (inspired by his
birth on the 3rd of July) led to his being nicknamed "Laff"
– the perfect moniker for America's first great stage clown. He learned the
art of live performance throughout his childhood on stages in and around
Boston, appearing with such prestigious actors as Junius Booth, Edwin
Forrest and Charles and Fanny Kemble. Fox was particularly influenced
by the Ravel family, a British troupe that specialized in French-style
pantomimes – shows that placed fairytale characters in melodramas
heavily laced with acrobatic comedy.
Fox made his New York debut in 1850, and soon found stardom playing various
roles in the popular stage version of Uncle Tom's Cabin. He interrupted
his career to serve as a lieutenant in the Union army. Through the 1860s, Fox
starred in a series of musical pantomimes that involved Mother Goose characters
being turned into commedia dell' arte clowns. After initial success on the
Bowery, he appeared at more respectable venues like Barnum's Museum and various
Broadway houses. Such productions as The Devil's Doctor
and Jack and the Beanstalk enjoyed successful two to three month
runs, but Fox brought the art form to new heights when he starred
in the title role of Humpty-Dumpty
(1868). The plot had young Humpty and his Mother Goose playmates turn into
harlequinade characters and romp through a candy store, an enchanted garden and
Manhattan's costly new City Hall. The score threw together recycled
Offenbach and music hall songs, with a lavish (and irrelevant) ballet
added for good measure. Fox's Humpty bore no resemblance to the
nursery rhyme character – he played the role made up as the classic commedia
"Clown," a white faced, rubber featured soul who suffers all sorts of
indignities in silence. Blending wit with lowdown physical humor, Fox's vulnerable
characterization enchanted audiences of all ages and classes.
After starring in Humpty Dumpty for a record-setting Broadway run of 483
performances, Fox headlined an ongoing series of tours, revivals and sequels,
eventually playing Humpty more than 1,400 times. A poor businessman, Fox was
often ill-used by unscrupulous managers and producers.
Although he could be difficult with his fellow actors, he was noted for
an abstemious private life, so many were shocked when the great clown began
acting irrationally both on and offstage. His once brilliant performances were
interrupted by incoherent monologues or emotional breakdowns. Although
family and friends blamed this behavior on harmful chemicals in his make-up,
his symptoms all too clearly indicated the "softening of the brain"
associated with advanced syphilis. After pelting the audience with props during
a performance in November 1875, Fox was forced into retirement. He died two
years later at age 52. His unbridled style of physical
comedy would live on in the routines of many vaudeville and silent film stars.
For more on this forgotten star, see Laurence Senelick's carefully researched
The Age and Stage of George L. Fox, 1825-1877 (Univ. Press of New England,
1988 – Paperback: Univ. of Iowa Press, 1999).
Foy, Eddie, Sr.
(b. Edwin Fitzgerald)
Actor, dancer, vaudevillian
b. Mar. 9, 1854 (New York City) - d. Feb. 16, 1928 (Kansas City, MO)
When his Irish immigrant father died, six year old Foy began performing in
local saloons to support his family. He played the variety circuits for years
in a series of song and dance acts, eventually rising
to musical comedy stardom in such Broadway hits as The Strollers (1901),
Mr. Bluebeard (1903), and Mr. Hamlet of Broadway (1908). Foy
specialized in eccentric routines and costumes, often appearing in drag to
hilarious effect. He spoke with a slurred lisp that audiences
adored.
Foy had several wives, the third of which gave him eleven
children – seven survived. Foy earned tons of publicity with stories
about his spirited brood, whose misbehavior he pretended to indulge far beyond the
strict standards of that era. In 1910, he formed a family vaudeville act,
and "Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys" quickly turned into a national
institution. With Eddie acting as a stern disciplinarian backstage and an
indulgent papa onstage, the Foys toured successfully for over a decade.
When Eddy remarried in 1923, the children went their separate ways. A dedicated
trouper, the elder Foy continued to appear in vaudeville and starred in the hit
Broadway comedy The Fallen Star. He died while headlining on the Orpheum
circuit at age 73. His son Eddie Jr. went on to musical
comedy stardom on Broadway.
Foy, Eddie, Jr.
(b. Edwin Fitzgerald Jr.)
Actor, singer, vaudevillian
b. Feb. 4, 1905 (New Rochelle, NY) - d. July 15, 1983 (Woodland Hills, CA)
Eddie Foy, Jr. began his career in vaudeville with his family at age 5 as part of
"Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys." Eddie was the only
"Little Foy" who remained in show business after childhood, going on to
a long career in musical theater. He originated the role of Denny Kerrigan in
Florenz Ziegfeld's production of Show Girl
(1929). He starred in Jerome Kern's The Cat and the
Fiddle (1931) and the played the comic Kid Conner in a long-running revival of
Victor Herbert's The Red Mill (1945).
Foy offered a brief but delightful impersonation of his father in the film
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). He is probably best remembered for his
scene-stealing performance as Hines in the stage and screen versions of
The Pajama Game (1954/1957),
and as the bookie Sandor in the screen version of Bells Are Ringing
(1960). He starred as a cartoon character come to life in the short-lived
Rumple (1957). Much loved by audiences and critics alike, Foy made his final
Broadway appearance as Mikeen Flynn in Donnybrook! (1961), an unsuccessful
musical version of The Quiet Man. He continued to play featured television and
film roles until his final years, dying of pancreatic cancer at age 78.
Freed, Arthur
Lyricist, film producer, vaudevillian
b. Sept. 9, 1894 (Charleston, SC) - d. April 12, 1973 (Hollywood, CA)
A onetime boy vocalist on vaudeville's Orpheum Circuit, Freed moved into songwriting
and was hired as a lyricist by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) after the development of
sound film. Collaborating with composer
Nacio Herb Brown,
he penned the hit songs "Broadway Melody" and "You Were Meant for
Me" for the first Oscar-winning musical, The Broadway Melody (1929). They
also provided "Singing in the Rain" for MGM's
Hollywood Revue of 1929.
After ten years as a staff lyricist at MGM, Freed developed
The Wizard of Oz (1939) and produced the hit screen version of
Babes In Arms (1939). Louis B. Mayer was so impressed
that he allowed Freed to organize a musical production unit that became the envy of
Hollywood. Freed shrewdly surrounded himself with peerless creative talent
(Busby Berkley,
Vincent Minnelli,
Stanley Donen,
Robert Alton,
Betty Comden &
Adolph Green) and a roster of exceptional performers
(Judy Garland, Gene
Kelly, Fred Astaire,
Cyd Charisse). With the gifted musician
Roger Edens
as his top assistant, Freed produced some of the finest film musicals ever, from the
Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney "let's put on a
show" series to Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) and beyond.
In the 1950s, the Freed Unit produced several of the greatest screen
musicals of all time -- Singing In The Rain (1951), The Band Wagon
(1953) and two Academy Award winners:
An American in Paris (1951) and Gigi (1958). After MGM dismantled its
production units, Freed completed an uneven screen version of Bells Are
Ringing (1960). He produced most of the
Academy Awards telecasts from 1960 through 1968. Sadly, he did not live to see the
revival of interest in MGM's musicals that began with the release of
That's Entertainment (1974). For more on Freed's career at MGM, see
Hugh Fordin's The World of Entertainment: Hollywood's Greatest Musicals
(Doubleday, NYC, 1975); paperback edition, MGM's Greatest Musicals: The Arthur
Freed Unit (Da Capo Press, New York, 1996).
Friml, Rudolph
Composer
b. Dec. 7, 1879 (Prague) - d. Nov. 12, 1972 (Los Angeles, CA)
When Victor Herbert refused to compose a new operetta
for temperamental diva Emma Trentini, the assignment went to this popular concert
violinist. The Firefly (1912) became a popular hit, and Friml
went on to compose twenty Broadway scores and two original screen musicals.
After working on a prolonged series of mediocre musical comedies, he
returned to composing lush, romantic operettas in the 1920s, with
spectacular results. Friml collaborated on Rose Marie (1924) with lyricist
Oscar Hammerstein II and co-composer
Herbert Stothart. This tale of a
Mountie in love became a worldwide hit. The Vagabond King (1925)
(lyrics by Brian Hooker) included "Song of the Vagabonds" and
"Only a Rose," and The Three Musketeers (1928) (lyrics by
P.G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey) included
the ravishing "Ma Belle" and "The March of the Musketeers."
Friml's best known song is Rose Marie's "Indian Love Call"
("When I'm calling yoo-oo-oo-oo"), introduced on Broadway by
Dennis King and
Mary Ellis – and sung on screen by
Nelson Eddy and
Jeanette MacDonald. In close second is "The
Donkey Serenade," a Friml melody adapted by Stothart and lyricists
Bob Wright and George Forrest,
and introduced by Alan Jones in the screen version of
The Firefly (1937). When musical tastes changed in the 1940s, Friml retired
from composing for the stage and screen. He remained an active lecturer and classical
composer in his later years, including occasional appearances on TV.
Back to Who's Who In Musicals
|