William Aloysius Brady

Brady, William A[loysius] (1863–1950), producer. After getting his theatrical start by bluffing his way into a small part in The White Slave in his native San Francisco in 1882, Brady turned to producing in 1888. Although he got into trouble for presenting pirated works early in his career, he eventually found favor presenting a series of vehicles for James J. Corbett and securing the Western rights to Trilby, even taking it to Australia. In 1896 he leased the Manhattan Theatre in New York and began to mount plays there, the most successful being Way Down East (1898). A year later he married his second wife, actress Grace George, whose career thereafter was often intermixed with his. In 1911 Brady built the Playhouse, managed such performers as Wilton Lackaye, Robert Mantell, and Henry E. Dixey, and presented notable productions, including Baby Mine (1910), The Boss (1911), Bought and Paid For (1911), Bunty Pulls the Strings (1911), Sinners (1915), The Man Who Came Back (1916), Forever After (1918), The Skin Game (1920), The Enchanted Cottage (1923), and Street Scene (1929). His daughter was actress Alice Brady and his son William A. BRADY Jr. (1900–35) was also a producer, entering into partnership with Dwight Deere Wiman and presenting, among others, Lucky Sam McCarver (1925), Little Eyolf (1926), The Two Orphans (1926), The Road to Rome (1927), Women Go on Forever (1927), The Little Show (1929), and The Second Little Show (1930). After the partnership was dissolved, he produced Little Women (1931) and several failed plays. Autobiography: (William Brady Sr.): Showman, 1937.