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David Merrick

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: David Merrick
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(born Nov. 27, 1912, St. Louis, Mo., U.S. — died April 25, 2000, London, Eng.) U.S. theatrical producer. He practiced law until 1949, when he became a producer in New York City. His first independent production, Clutterbuck (1949), was followed over the next 40 years by more than 85 other Broadway shows, including Look Back in Anger (1957), The Entertainer (1958), Gypsy (1959), Oliver! (1963), Hello, Dolly! (1964), and 42nd Street (1980). Many of his productions were critical and commercial successes, and he was known for his skillful use of publicity.

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American Theater Guide: David Merrick
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Merrick, David [né Margulois] (1911–2000), producer. One of Broadway's busiest, most successful, and most controversial showmen, he was born in St. Louis where he studied then practiced law. He served under Herman Shumlin before producing his first success, Fanny (1954), followed by many and varied successes: The Matchmaker (1955), Look Back in Anger (1957), The Entertainer (1958), The World of Susie Wong (1958), La Plume de Ma Tante (1958), Gypsy (1959), Take Me Along (1959), A Taste of Honey (1960), Becket (1960), Irma La Douce (1960), Carnival (1961), Stop the World!—I Want To Get Off (1962), Oliver! (1963), Hello, Dolly! (1964), Cactus Flower (1965), Marat/Sade (1965), Promises, Promises (1968), Play It Again, Sam (1969), and 42nd Street (1981). In all he produced more than seventy plays, many of them importations of foreign hits. His methods of publicizing his plays often made front‐page news. During the run of Look Back in Anger, he paid a woman to climb on stage and slap an actor. For an advertisement of one of his musicals to which the critics had been lukewarm, he found a group of men with the same names as the leading Broadway theatre critics and printed the nonprofessionals' more favorable remarks with their names subscribed. Merrick remained a colorful figure to the end, still making headlines with his last failed ventures Oh Kay! (1990) and State Fair (1996). Biography: Howard Kissell, David Merrick: The Abominable Showman, 1993.

Dictionary: Mer·rick   (mĕr'ĭk) pronunciation, David
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1912-2000.

American theatrical producer whose many successful Broadway productions include Becket (1960) and Hello Dolly! (1965).


Actor: David Merrick
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  • Born: Nov 27, 1912 in St. Louis, Missouri
  • Died: Apr 25, 2000 in London, England
  • Active: '70s-'80s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Romance
  • Career Highlights: Semi-Tough, The Great Gatsby, Child's Play
  • First Major Screen Credit: Child's Play (1972)

Biography

One of Broadway's legendary personalities, producer David Merrick mounted more than 80 shows over the course of his long career. Not all of these shows were successes, but Merrick cemented his reputation as a one-of-a-kind showman by hyping his would-be flops with publicity stunts that often proved more memorable than the shows themselves.

Born in St. Louis, MO, on November 27, 1912, Merrick originally planned to have a career in law, but eventually was swayed from this vocation by his love of the theater. He produced his first play -- and, as it turned out, first flop -- in 1949. Five years later, he had his first big hit with the musical Fanny. The production opened to disastrous notices, but Merrick salvaged it with a series of publicity stunts, which included the erection of the show's belly dancer in Central Park.

Such gimmicks were to mark the rest of his career. Although he had a number of bona fide hits, his failures were spectacular and often accompanied by such stunts as the one he pulled for Subways Are Sleeping, for which he hired various men with the same names as critics who hated the production to provide glowing reviews. To increase publicity for Look Back in Anger, Merrick hired a woman to jump on stage and slap one of the actors.

Merrick had his heyday during the 1950s and 1960s, when he produced such hits as A Taste of Honey, Becket, Irma La Douce, Look Back in Anger, and Cactus Flower. Although many of his productions were eventually adapted for the screen, Merrick never really crossed over into film production, although he did act in such a capacity for a handful of films during the 1970s and early '80s. Instead, he preferred to concentrate his talents on Broadway and was in large part responsible for innovating the New York theater by importing such British productions as Peter Brook's postmodern A Midsummer Night's Dream and Oliver!, and introducing American audiences to the likes of John Osborne, Tom Stoppard, and Shelagh Delaney.

Armed with countless Tonys and even more cash, Merrick had his last great hit with 42nd Street. Based on a 1933 film, the musical ran for over a decade and was performed 3,486 times before it closed in 1989. Merrick continued to work almost until his death, and died on April 25, 2000. In a twist of irony, his death came just three days after that of producer Alexander Cohen, who had long been Merrick's arch-rival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: David Merrick
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David Merrick (November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000) was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.

Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law. In 1940 he left his legal career to become a successful theatrical producer. He often was his own competition for the Tony Award, and he frequently won multiple nominations and/or wins in the same season.

Merrick on the cover of Time Magazine in 1966

Merrick was known for his love of publicity stunts. One of his most famous promoted the poorly-reviewed 1961 musical Subways Are For Sleeping. Merrick found seven New Yorkers who had the same names as the city's seven leading theater critics: Howard Taubman, Walter Kerr, John Chapman, John McClain, Richard Watts, Jr., Norman Nadel, and Robert Coleman. Merrick invited the seven namesakes to the musical and secured their permission to use their names and pictures in an advertisement alongside quotes such as "One of the few great musical comedies of the last thirty years" and "A fabulous musical. I love it."

Merrick then prepared a newspaper ad featuring the namesakes' rave reviews under the heading 7 Out of 7 Are Ecstatically Unanimous About Subways Are For Sleeping. Only one newspaper, the New York Herald Tribune, published the ad, and only in one edition; however, the publicity that the ad garnered helped the musical remain open for 205 performances (almost six months). Merrick later revealed that he had conceived the ad several years previously, but had not been able to execute it until Brooks Atkinson retired as the New York Times theater critic in 1960 since he could not find anyone with the same name [1].

On the morning of August 25, 1980, Gower Champion died of a rare blood cancer. Merrick kept his death a secret so he could announce it himself at the opening-night curtain call for 42nd Street, which he had produced and Champion had directed.

Merrick suffered a stroke in 1983, which confined him to a wheelchair. He established the David Merrick Arts Foundation in 1998 to support the development of American musicals.

Merrick was married six times, to Lenore Beck, Jeanne Gibson, Etan Aronson (twice), Karen Prunczik, and Natalie Lloyd. He was married to Lloyd at the time of his death in London; all of his previous marriages had ended in divorce. He had two daughters according to Peter Filichia, writing in the Newark Star-Ledger on April 27, 2000.

In 2001 Merrick was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

An unauthorized biography by Howard Kissel is titled David Merrick: The Abominable Showman (ISBN 1-55783-361-3).

Contents

Quotes

  • "It is not enough that I should succeed - others should fail." (This statement has also been attributed to Francois De La Rochefoucald and Gore Vidal.)

Awards and nominations

  • 1986 Tony Award for Best Reproduction (Loot, nominee)
  • 1986 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival (Loot, nominee)
  • 1981 Tony Award for Best Musical (42nd Street, winner)
  • 1981 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical (42nd Street, nominee)
  • 1976 Tony Award for Best Play (Travesties, winner)
  • 1976 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival (Very Good Eddie, nominee)
  • 1975 Tony Award for Best Musical (Mack & Mabel, nominee)
  • 1973 Tony Award for Best Musical (Sugar, nominee)
  • 1972 Tony Award for Best Play (Vivat! Vivat Regina!, nominee)
  • 1971 Tony Award for Best Play (The Philanthropist, nominee)
  • 1970 Tony Award for Best Play (Child's Play, nominee)
  • 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical (Promises, Promises, nominee)
  • 1968 Tony Award for Best Musical (How Now, Dow Jones, nominee)
  • 1968 Tony Award for Best Musical (The Happy Time, nominee)
  • 1968 Tony Award for Best Play (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, winner)
  • 1968 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Play (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, winner)
  • 1968 Special Tony Award (winner)
  • 1967 Tony Award for Best Musical (I Do! I Do!, nominee)
  • 1966 Tony Award for Best Play (Marat/Sade, winner)
  • 1966 Tony Award for Best Play (Philadelphia, Here I Come!, nominee)
  • 1966 Tony Award for Best Play (Inadmissible Evidence, nominee)
  • 1965 Tony Award for Best Musical (Oh, What a Lovely War!, nominee)
  • 1965 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, nominee)
  • 1964 Tony Award for Best Musical (Hello, Dolly!, winner)
  • 1964 Tony Award for Best Play (Luther, winner)
  • 1964 Tony Award for Best Producer (Musical) (Hello, Dolly!, winner)
  • 1963 Tony Award for Best Musical (Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, nominee)
  • 1963 Tony Award for Best Musical (Oliver!, nominee)
  • 1963 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (Oliver!, nominee)
  • 1962 Tony Award for Best Musical (Carnival, nominee)
  • 1962 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (Carnival, nominee)
  • 1962 Tony Award for Best Producer of a Play (Ross, nominee)
  • 1961 Tony Award for Best Musical (Irma La Douce, nominee)
  • 1961 Tony Award for Best Musical (Do Re Mi, nominee)
  • 1961 Tony Award for Best Play (Becket, winner)
  • 1961 Special Tony Award (winner)
  • 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical (Take Me Along, nominee)
  • 1959 Tony Award for Best Musical (La Plume de Ma Tante, nominee)
  • 1959 Tony Award for Best Play (Epitaph for George Dillon, nominee)
  • 1958 Tony Award for Best Musical (Jamaica, nominee)
  • 1958 Tony Award for Best Play (Look Back in Anger, nominee)
  • 1958 Tony Award for Best Play (Romanoff and Juliet, nominee)

Additional notable productions

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "David Merrick".  Read more

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