Charles Frohman | |
|---|---|
 Frohman in 1914 | |
| Born | (1856-07-15)July 15, 1856 Sandusky, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | May 7, 1915(1915-05-07) (aged 58) |
| Occupation(s) | Theatre manager and producer |
| Relatives | Daniel Frohman (brother) Gustave Frohman (brother) Philip H. Frohman (nephew) |
Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Frohman produced over 700 shows, and among his biggest hits wasPeter Pan, both in London and the US.
In 1896, Frohman co-founded theTheatrical Syndicate, a nationwide chain of theaters that dominated the American touring company business for more than two decades until theShubert brothers grew strong enough to end its virtual monopoly. He partnered with English producers, includingSeymour Hicks, with whom he produced a string of London hits prior to 1910, such asQuality Street,The Admirable Crichton,The Catch of the Season,The Beauty of Bath, andA Waltz Dream.
At the height of his fame, Frohman died in the 1915sinking of the RMSLusitania by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland.
Charles Frohman was born to aJewish family[1] inSandusky, Ohio, the youngest of threeFrohman brothers, includingDaniel andGustave. The year of his birth date is generally erroneously reported as 1860, and his birthday is shown as July 16 on his tombstone, but the correct date is July 15, 1856.[2] In 1864, Frohman's family moved to New York City. At the age of twelve, Frohman started to work at night in the office of theNew York Tribune, attending school by day. In 1874, he began work for theDaily Graphic and at night sold tickets atHooley's Theatre,Brooklyn. In 1877, he took charge of the Chicago Comedy Co., withJohn Dillon as star inOur Boys. He next joinedHaverly's United Mastodon Minstrels as manager, touring the U.S. and Europe. Then for a time he was associated with his brothers Daniel and Gustave in managing theMadison Square Theatre, New York.[3] He began to produce plays by 1886.[4]
Frohman's first success as a producer was withBronson Howard's playShenandoah (1889). Frohman founded the Empire Theatre Stock Company to acquire his first Broadway theatre, theEmpire, in 1892. The following year, he produced his firstBroadway play,Clyde Fitch'sMasked Ball. In this piece,Maude Adams first played oppositeJohn Drew, which led to many future successes. Soon Frohman acquired five other New York City theaters, including theGarrick and Criterion Theatres. Working withWilliam Harris and Isaac B. Rich, he became part owner of their theatres in Boston (theColumbia Theatre,Park,Hollis Street,Colonial,Boston andTremont).[5] In 1895, he produced the New York premiere ofThe Importance of Being Earnest, byOscar Wilde. The same year, he producedThe Shop Girl.[4]
Frohman was known for his ability to develop talent. His stars includedWilliam Gillette,John Drew, Jr.,Ethel Barrymore,Billie Burke,E. H. Sothern,Julia Marlowe,Maude Adams,Paul Gilmore,Evelyn Millard,Henry Miller andWalter E. Perkins. In 1896, Frohman,Al Hayman,Abe Erlanger,Mark Klaw,Samuel F. Nixon, andFred Zimmerman formed theTheatrical Syndicate. Their organization established systemized booking networks throughout the United States and created a monopoly that controlled every aspect of contracts and bookings until the late 1910s, when theShubert brothers broke their stranglehold on the industry.
In 1897, Frohman leased theDuke of York's Theatre in London, introducing plays there as well as in the United States.Clyde Fitch,J. M. Barrie andEdmond Rostand were among the playwrights he promoted. As a producer, among Frohman's most famous successes was Barrie'sPeter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which he premiered at the Duke of York's in December 1904 starringNina Boucicault, and produced in January 1905 in the U.S. starringMaude Adams. In the early years of the 20th century, Frohman also established a successful partnership with English actor-producerSeymour Hicks to produce musicals and other comedies in London, includingQuality Street in 1902,The Admirable Crichton in 1903,The Catch of the Season in 1904,The Beauty of Bath in 1906,The Gay Gordons in 1907, andA Waltz Dream in 1908, among others. He also partnered with other London theatre managers. The system of exchange of successful plays between London and New York was effected largely as a result of his efforts. In 1910, Frohman attempted a repertory scheme of producing plays at the Duke of York's. He advertised a bill of plays byJ. M. Barrie,John Galsworthy,Harley Granville Barker, and others. The venture began tentatively, and while it might have proved successful, Frohman canceled the scheme when London theatres closed at the death ofKing Edward VII in May 1910.
Other Frohman hits includedThe Dollar Princess (1909),The Arcadians (1910),The Sunshine Girl (1913) andThe Girl From Utah (1914).[4] By 1915, Frohman had produced more than 700 shows, employed an average of 10,000 people per season, 700 of them actors, and paid salaries totaling $35 million a year (the equivalent of more than $700 million in 2010 dollars).[6] Frohman controlled five theaters in London, six in New York City, and over two hundred throughout the rest of the United States. His longtime live-in companion, theatre criticCharles Dillingham, also became a well-known producer.[4]
Frohman made his annual trip to Europe in May 1915 to oversee his London and Paris "play markets", sailing on the Cunard Line'sRMSLusitania. SongwriterJerome Kern was meant to accompany him on the voyage but overslept after being kept up late playing requests at a party.[7]William Gillette was also to have accompanied him, but was forced to fulfill a contracted appearance in Philadelphia.[8]
Frohman's rheumatic knee, from a fall three years earlier, had been ailing for most of the voyage, but he was feeling better on the morning of May 7, a bright, sunny day. He entertained guests in his suite and later at his table. He was regaling them with tales of his life in the theater when, at 2:10 in the afternoon, within fourteen miles of theOld Head of Kinsale, with the coast of Ireland in sight, a torpedo from the GermanU-boatU-20 struck theLusitania on the starboard side. Within a minute, there was a second explosion, followed by several smaller ones.[9]
As passengers began to panic, Frohman stood on the promenade deck, chatting with friends and smoking a cigar. He calmly remarked, "This is going to be a close call."[10] Frohman, with a disabled leg and walking with a cane, could not have jumped from the deck into a lifeboat, so he was trapped. Instead, he and millionaireAlfred Vanderbilt tied lifejackets to "Moses baskets" containing infants who had been asleep in the nursery when the torpedo struck. Frohman then went out onto the deck, where he was joined by actressRita Jolivet, her brother-in-law George Vernon and Captain Alick Scott. In the final moments, they clasped hands, and Frohman paraphrased his greatest hit,Peter Pan: "Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure that life gives us." Jolivet, the only survivor of Frohman's party, was standing with Frohmanas the ship sank. She later said, "with a tremendous roar a great wave swept along the deck. We were all divided in a moment, and I have not seen any of those brave men alive since."[11]
At his death, Frohman was 58. His body later washed ashore below the Old Head of Kinsale, and lay among 147 others awaiting identification, where a rescued American identified him from newspaper photographs. His body, alone among all the others, was not disfigured. It was determined that he was killed by a heavy object falling on him, rather than by drowning.[12] His funeral service was held on May 25 atTemple Emanu-El in New York City, and he was buried in the Union Field Cemetery inRidgewood, Queens, New York.[13] Services were also arranged by some of his stars in other American cities: byMaude Adams in Los Angeles, byJohn Drew in San Francisco, byBillie Burke in Tacoma, and byDonald Brian,Joseph Cawthorn andJulia Sanderson in Providence, as well as memorial services at bothSt Paul's Cathedral and the Church ofSt Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Frohman was also eulogized by the French Academy of Authors in Paris.[14]
A memorial to Frohman is located on The Causeway atMarlow on Thames. The memorial, by the artistLeonard Stanford Merrifield, features a drinking fountain with a sculpturednymph and inscription.[15][16]
Frohman was portrayed byEdwin Maxwell inThe Great Ziegfeld (1936) and byHarry Hayden in the filmTill the Clouds Roll By (1946). He was played byWilliam Hootkins in the BBC mini-seriesThe Lost Boys in 1978. He was portrayed byNehemiah Persoff inZiegfeld: The Man and His Women also in 1978 on television. In the 1980 filmSomewhere in Time, the character William Fawcett Robinson, played byChristopher Plummer, was based on Frohman.[17] In 2004,Dustin Hoffman portrayed him in the filmFinding Neverland, whileKelsey Grammer played him in themusical of the same name on Broadway in 2015.
