Sydney Rosenfeld

Rosenfeld, Sydney (1855–1931), playwright. A curious figure in Broadway theatrical history, he was born in Richmond, Virginia, and later claimed he was smuggled through enemy lines during the Civil War so that he might attend school in New York. He apparently began his theatrical career by adapting foreign plays but soon turned his hand to any sort of writing that might turn a profit. Alone or with collaborators he wrote such diverse fare as the burlesque Well‐Fed Dora (1884); W. H. Crane's vehicle The Senator (1890); the libretto for the first major revue, The Passing Show (1894); the book and lyrics for the operetta The Mocking Bird (1902); and the book for the popular Elsie Janis musical, The Vanderbilt Cup (1906). Rosenfeld was often accused of plagiarism and in one celebrated case was stopped from mounting a pirated production of The Mikado in 1885. He continued to produce and write actively until the end of World War I. In all, about fifty of his works reached Broadway. He was also editor of the popular humor periodical Puck.