Kalman, Emmerich (1882–1953), composer. The Hungarian‐born creator of Viennese operettas found Americans cool to his first imported work, The Gay Hussars (1909). However, his lovely collection of waltzes for Sari (1914) turned the tide. His up‐and‐down career in America included Miss Springtime (1916), Her Soldier Boy (1916), The Riviera Girl (1917), The Yankee Princess (1922), Countess Maritza (1926), The Circus Princess (1927), Golden Dawn (1927), and Marinka (1945). Yet despite his failures (and while Lehar's The Merry Widow was a far bigger hit than any of his works) on the whole Kalman was probably the most successful of all 20th‐century Viennese composers on American stages.

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.