David Merrick

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David Merrick (born November 27, 1911 in St. Louis , † April 25, 2000 in London ) was an American theater producer . He worked on New York's Broadway , achieved fame through his productions and unusual PR campaigns, and has won several Tony Awards. Merrick is considered a key figure in the development of Broadway theater.

Live and act

David Merrick was born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and then studied law at the Saint Louis University School of Law.

In 1940 he left his career as a lawyer behind and became a theater producer. To this end, he offered prominent Broadway theater producer Herman Shumlin an amount of $ 5,000 as an investment in his upcoming production of the comedy The Male Animal . The production was a success and David Lee Margulois adopted his new name: David Merrick, inspired by 18th century England actor David Garrick .

Merrick's early productions met with little success; he experienced his first major success in 1949 with the comedy Clutterbuck . However, five years later - in 1954 - his production of Fanny was decisive , which gave him his professional breakthrough and made him rise to the top of Broadway producers. David Merrick's list of subsequently produced musicals and plays, as well as his awards and nominations, testify to a decades-long success story as a theater producer. Merrick produced almost 90 pieces on Broadway, most of them successful. In 1966 Time Magazine published David Merrick's image on the cover, describing him as a leading and ambivalent personality in Broadway commercial theater, who at the time had 20% of the workforce on Broadway in their service.

Musical 42nd Street theater advertising

Merrick's combination of productivity and profitability is unmatched to this day - in a typical 1960s season he produced half a dozen musicals and plays, with up to four of his productions premiering in a month. Merrick's successes as a producer included some of the most popular musicals of his era, such as Gypsy , Hello Dolly! , Promises, Promises and 42nd Street . 42nd Street, in particular, became one of the greatest musical hits in Broadway history, and Merrick's longest-running production with 3,486 performances. Merrick introduced Woody Allen as a writer ( Don't Drink the Water ) and actor ( Play it again, Sam ) on Broadway and produced a musical called I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962 , in which Barbra Streisand made her first Broadway appearance .

However, David Merrick not only produced pure entertainment programs, but also promoted the development of the drama sustainably. He presented one of Laurence Olivier's most important appearances as Archie Rice in The Entertainer . And while the declining success of Tennessee Williams in the 1960s and 70s was barely popular on the stage, Merrick produced some of his failed plays, such as: B. The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore , despite financial failures.

Merrick was also particularly known for his marketing skills and extraordinary PR campaigns. When his comedy "Clutterbuck" waned in its success in 1949, he contacted the hotel bars and restaurants in Manhattan during the general cocktail hour to have a "fictional Mr. Clutterbuck" called out there, which helped the name of the production to become more popular let her prosper for more months. Another famous PR coup followed Merrick's bad reviews for the 1961 musical "Subways Are For Sleeping" which he produced. Merrick found seven New Yorkers whose names were identical to those of New York's leading theater critics at the time: Howard Taubmann, Walter Kerr, John Chapman, John McClain, Richard Watts Jr., Norman Nadel, and Robert Coleman. These namesakes Merrick invited to a performance of the musical, obtained their consent to the use of their names, images and quotations and recorded their sayings after the performance, for example “A faboulous musical. I love it. "Or" One of the few great musical comedies of the last 30 years ". Merrick then prepared a large newspaper advertisement with the names and positive comments of these people under the heading "7 Out of 7 Are Ecstatically Unanimous About Subways Are For Sleeping." Only one newspaper, the New York Herald Tribune , published this ad, and it did so in just one issue; Nevertheless, the public attention generated by this action was so great that the musical could be played for another 205 performances. When 42nd Street premiered on August 25, 1980, director Gower Champion had died of cancer a few hours earlier. Producer Merrick kept Champion's death a secret from almost everyone, including the cast of the play. He expressly instructed all journalists to stay until after the applause, and without further ado he invited TV stations that were previously undesirable. To the applause of the audience, he dramatically announced the death of Champion on the night of the premiere, which earned the new musical a big headline on the front page the next day.

Herman Shumlin, who enabled Merrick to enter the Broadway business in 1940, commented on Merrick's extraordinary career in 1979, saying that it was "a milestone in our modern theater in which the exploitation of stage plays has become a lost art" ( English : A milestone in our modern theater, where the exploitation of plays has become a lost art ).

Merrick suffered a stroke in 1983, which left him mostly in a wheelchair, but did not dissuade him from his work as a theater producer, although he was severely restricted due to language problems. In 1998 he founded the David Merrick Arts Foundation, which is responsible for promoting American musicals.

Merrick was married six times and had two daughters when he died in 2000. His private life, which was kept relatively secret during his lifetime, is considered complex and contradicting: "I was born on November 4, 1954, the night my first big show 'Fanny' premiered on Broadway," he says in his obituary from the New York Times quoted. At the time of the premiere of Fanny , Merrick was 44 years old - he was supposed to run this production for 888 performances.

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

Today successful theater producers like the Briton Cameron Mackintosh sometimes name David Merrick as their role model with regard to the marketing of their productions.

Howard Kissel published an unauthorized biography of David Merrick under the title David Merrick - The Abominable Showman (1993).

Awards

  • 1981 Tony Award for Best Musical ( 42nd Street , Winner)
  • 1976 Tony Award for the best stage work ( travesties , winner)
  • 1968 Tony Award for Best Stage Work ( Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , Winner)
  • 1968 Tony Award for best stage work producer ( Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , winner)
  • 1968 Tony Award, special award (winner)
  • 1966 Tony Award for the best stage work ( Marat / Sade , winner)
  • 1964 Tony Award for the best musical ( Hello, Dolly ! , winner)
  • 1964 Tony Award for the best stage work ( Luther , winner)
  • 1964 Tony Award as best producer (musical) ( Hello, Dolly ! , winner)
  • 1961 Tony Award for the best stage work ( Becket by Jean Anouilh , winner)
  • 1961 Tony Award, special award (winner)

Further productions (selection)

literature

  • Howard Kissel: David Merrick - The Abominable Showman - The Unauthorized Biography . Applause Theater Books, 1993. ISBN 978-1-55783-172-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Merrick, 88, Showman Who Ruled Broadway, Dies. April 27, 2000 (page 2 of 6), New York Times
  2. ↑ Figure from March 25, 1966 at time.com
  3. ↑ a b c David Merrick, 88, Showman Who Ruled Broadway, Dies. April 27, 2000 (page 1 of 6), New York Times
  4. ↑ David Merrick. at pbs.org
  5. ↑ David Merrick, 88, Showman Who Ruled Broadway, Dies. April 27, 2000 (page 3 of 6), New York Times
  6. ^ Subways Are For Sleeping, 1962. museumofhoaxes.com
  7. ↑ LIFE AND DEATH ON 42ND STREET . In: New York Post . November 16, 2001 ( nypost.com [accessed January 9, 2018]).
  8. ↑ David Merrick, 88, Showman Who Ruled Broadway, Dies. April 27, 2000 (page 6 of 6), New York Times
  9. ↑ David Merrick. at pbs.org
  10. ↑ cf. List ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at stlouiswalkoffame.org @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stlouiswalkoffame.org
  11. ^ Mervyn Rothenstein: The Musical is Money to His Ears in: New York Times, December 9, 1990 (p. 2 of 9)
personal data
SURNAME Merrick, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American theater producer
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis , Missouri, United States
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2000
Place of death London , England, UK