Ziegfeld Follies

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File:ZigfeldFollies1912.jpg
Promotional artwork for 1912 Ziegfeld Follies

The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with revivals in 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.

Inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies were conceived and mounted by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Many of the top comedians, singers and other entertainers in America appeared in the shows. They were also known for displaying beautiful chorus girls, commonly called Ziegfeld Girls, dressed in elaborate costumes.

The biopic The Great Ziegfeld won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1937. A 1941 film, Ziegfeld Girl, starring Judy Garland, and another in 1946, Ziegfeld Follies, recreated or reimagined numbers from the revues. The stage musical Funny Girl, which premiered on Broadway in 1964 depicts Fanny Brice's career with the Follies, starring Barbra Streisand, who then starred in the 1968 film adaptation; it was the year's top-grossing movie.

Founding and history

File:Ziegfeld1919 TulipTime sheetmusic.png
Sheet music for a song from the 1919 Ziegfeld Follies

Inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies were conceived and mounted by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., reportedly at the suggestion of his then-wife, the actress and singer Anna Held. The shows' producers were turn-of-the-twentieth-century producing titans Klaw and Erlanger.

The Follies were a series of lavish revues, something between later Broadway shows and the more elaborate high-class vaudeville and variety show. The first follies, The Follies of 1907, was produced that year at the Jardin de Paris roof theatre.<ref>"Follies of 1907" The New York Times, July 9, 1907.</ref>

During the Follies era, many of the top comedians, singers and other entertainers in America appeared in the shows, including W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice, Ann Pennington, Bert Williams, Eva Tanguay, Bob Hope, Will Rogers, Ruth Etting, Ray Bolger, Helen Morgan, Louise Brooks, Marilyn Miller, Ed Wynn, Gilda Gray, Nora Bayes and Sophie Tucker.<ref>"Flo Ziegfeld-Billie Burke Papers" nypl.org, accessed December 3, 2011.</ref>

The Ziegfeld Follies were known for displaying beautiful chorus girls, commonly called Ziegfeld Girls, who "paraded up and down flights of stairs as anything from birds to battleships."<ref>"Ziegfeld Biography" pbs.org, accessed December 3, 2011.</ref> They usually wore elaborate costumes by designers such as Erté, Lady Duff-Gordon and Ben Ali Haggin. The "tableaux vivants" used in the revues were designed by Ben Ali Haggin from 1917 to 1925. Joseph Urban was the scenic designer for the Follies shows, starting in 1915,<ref>Green, Stanley. "Ziegfeld" Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (1980), Da Capo Press, Template:ISBN, pp. 462–465.</ref> and Edward Royce directed the Follies in 1920 and 1921, in addition to several other Ziegfeld productions.<ref>Template:Cite web.</ref>

After Ziegfeld's death his widow, actress Billie Burke, authorized use of his name for Ziegfeld Follies in 1934 and 1936 to Jake Shubert, who then produced the Follies.<ref>Bloom, Ken. "Winter Garden Theatre" The Routledge Guide to Broadway (2007), CRC Press, Template:ISBN, p. 273.</ref> The name was later used by other promoters in New York City, Philadelphia, and again on Broadway, with less connection to the original Follies. These later efforts failed miserably. When the show toured, the 1934 edition was recorded in its entirety, from the overture to play-out music, on a series of 78 rpm discs, which were edited by the record producer David Cunard to form an album of the highlights of the production and which was released as a CD in 1997.

Productions based on the Ziegfeld Follies

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File:New Amsterdam Theatre Mary Poppins 2007 NYC.jpg
The New Amsterdam Theatre, New York

In 1937, at the 9th Academy Awards, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film, The Great Ziegfeld produced the previous year won the Best Picture (called "Outstanding Production"),<ref name=oscar37>"Ceremonies 1937" oscars.org, retrieved June 16, 2019.</ref><ref name=notes/> starring William Powell as Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. and co-starring Myrna Loy (as Ziegfeld's second wife Billie Burke), Luise Rainer (as Anna Held, which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress),<ref name=oscar37/> and Frank Morgan as Jack Billings.<ref>"The Great Ziegfeld Overview, Cast and Synopsis" tcm.com, retrieved June 16, 2019.</ref> Featuring numbers by Ray Bolger, Dennis Morgan, Virginia Bruce, and Harriet Hoctor, the film gave wider audiences a glimpse into the Follies; the show-stopper was the Irving Berlin-composed "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody", which, by itself, cost more to produce than one of Ziegfeld's entire stage shows.<ref name=notes>"Notes" tcm.com, retrieved June 16, 2019.</ref>

In 1941, MGM released Ziegfeld Girl, starring Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, James Stewart and Tony Martin. The film was set in the 1920s.<ref name=girl>"Ziegfeld Girl Overview and Cast" tcm.com, retrieved June 16, 2019.</ref> Celebrated numbers from Ziegfeld Revues were recreated, including the famed "Wedding Cake" set which had been used for Metro's earlier film, The Great Ziegfeld. Judy Garland was filmed on the top of the cake.<ref>"Ziegfeld Girl Notes" tcm.com, retrieved June 16, 2019.</ref> Charles Winninger, who had performed in the Follies of 1920, appeared as "Ed Gallagher" <ref name=girl/> with Gallagher's real-life partner, Al Shean to recreate the duo's famous song "Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean".<ref>"Ziegfeld Girl" Library of Congress, retrieved June 17, 2019.</ref> According to modern sources, Turner's character was modeled after Ziegfeld Girl Lillian Lorraine, who suffered a drunken fall into the orchestra pit during an extravagant number.<ref>The Ziegfeld Girl entry Template:Webarchive, AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1941–1950; accessed October 2, 2016.</ref>

In 1946, MGM released a third feature film based on Ziegfeld's shows titled Ziegfeld Follies with Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, William Powell (as Ziegfeld), Gene Kelly, Fanny Brice, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Cyd Charisse, Lucille Ball, Kathryn Grayson, and others performing songs and sketches similar to those from the original Follies. In 1947, Ziegfeld Follies was awarded the "Grand Prix de la Comedie Musicale" at the Cannes Film Festival and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (black and white).<ref>"Ziegfeld Follies Overview and Cast" tcm.com, retrieved June 16, 2019.</ref>

The stage musical Funny Girl, which premiered on Broadway in 1964,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> depicts Fanny Brice's success with the Follies. In 1964, the musical debuted on Broadway, with Barbra Streisand playing Brice, Roger DeKoven as Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. and Brice's son-in-law Ray Stark producing. The 1968 Columbia Pictures film adaptation featuring Streisand reprising her role as Brice and Walter Pidgeon as Ziegfeld was the year's top-grossing movie.<ref>"Funny Girl Credits" tcm.com, retrieved June 16, 2019.</ref> A subsequent Broadway revival in 2022 and 2023 featured Beanie Feldstein and later Lea Michele as Brice and Peter Francis James as Ziegfeld.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Follies

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List of notable performers by year

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1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916

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1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924–25

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1927
1931
1934
1936
1943
1956 (Boston)
1957

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Ziegfeld girls and other Ziegfeld performers

Legacy

The 1971 Stephen Sondheim musical Follies takes place at a reunion of showgirls from the Weissman Follies, a fictional revue inspired by the Ziegfeld Follies. In addition to featuring "ghosts" of statuesque showgirls from the heyday of the revues, the musical includes many songs and production numbers that are intended to evoke the types of entertainment typically featured in the Ziegfeld Follies and other revues of the period. Examples include parade of showgirls ("Beautiful Girls"); a torch song ("Losing My Mind"); a baggy pants comic song ("The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues"); and a novelty song ("Rain on the Roof").Template:Citation needed In The Drowsy Chaperone, the character Victor Feldzieg is the producer of Feldzieg's Follies, a parody of Ziegfeld Follies.Template:Citation needed

The TV show Boardwalk Empire, about crime and corruption in 1920s Atlantic City, New Jersey, features a character that is a former Follies dancer, Lucy Danzige, portrayed by Paz de la Huerta.Template:Citation needed

The 1912 version of the Ziegfeld Follies included a song titled "Row, Row, Row", the tune of which has been adapted by football clubs in Brazil<ref name="ge.globo/hino-do-america-da-ufrj">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web; Template:Cite web; and Template:Cite news</ref> and Australia,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where Melbourne's Herald Sun ranked the latter adaptation, "We're from Tigerland", as the best Australian Football League club song.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

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References

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