Cy Feuer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Seymour Arnold Feuerman January 15, 1911 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | May 17, 2006(2006-05-17) (aged 95) Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Juilliard School |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Cyrus "Cy"Feuer[1] (bornSeymour Arnold Feuerman; January 15, 1911 – May 17, 2006) was an Americantheatre producer, director, composer, musician, and half of the celebrated producing duo Feuer and Martin. He won three competitiveAntoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, and aLifetime Achievement Tony Award. He was also nominated forAcademy Awards as the producer ofStorm Over Bengal andCabaret.
BornSeymour Arnold Feuerman inBrooklyn, New York,[2] he became a professional trumpeter at the age of fifteen, working at clubs on weekends to help support his family while attendingNew Utrecht High School. It was there he first metAbe Burrows, who in later years he would hire to write the book forGuys and Dolls.[citation needed]
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Having no interest in mathematics, science, or sports, he dropped out of school and found work as a trumpeter on a political campaign truck.[3] He later studied at theJuilliard School before joining the orchestras at theRoxy Theater and laterRadio City Music Hall.[citation needed]
In 1938, he toured the country with Leon Belasco and His Society Orchestra, eventually ending up inBurbank, California. Following a ten-week stint there, the orchestra departed forMinneapolis, but he opted to remain in California.[citation needed]
Feuer found employment atRepublic Pictures, serving as musical director, arranger, and/or composer of more than 125 mostlyB-movies, many of themserials andwesterns, for the next decade, save for a three-year interruption to serve in the military duringWorld War II.[1]
During his Hollywood sojourn, he enjoyed a tumultuous one-year affair with actressSusan Hayward (also from Brooklyn),[4] worked withJule Styne,Frank Loesser, andVictor Young, among others, received fiveAcademy Award nominations for his film scores, and married a divorcée, Posy Greenberg, a mother of a three-year-old son. The couple later had a son of their own named Jed.[citation needed]
In 1947, having decided he had no real talent for film scoring,[5] Feuer returned to New York City, where he teamed up withErnest H. Martin, who had been the head of comedy programming atCBS Radio. After an aborted attempt to stage a production based onGeorge Gershwin'sAn American in Paris,[6] they producedWhere's Charley?, the 1949Frank Loesser adaption ofCharley's Aunt. Although it was panned by six of the seven major New York critics, positive word-of-mouth about the show, particularlyRay Bolger's star turn in it, kept it running for three years.[7]
Over the next several decades, Feuer & Martin mounted some of the most notable titles in theBroadway musical canon, includingGuys and Dolls andHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, both of which won theTony Award for Best Musical. As of 2007,How to Succeed... is one of only seven musicals to have won thePulitzer Prize for Drama. Feuer and Martin owned theLunt-Fontanne Theatre from 1960 to 1965.[8]
Feuer was also a stage director. Among his Broadway directing credits wereLittle Me and the ill-fatedI Remember Mama.[9]
As a film producer, Feuer's most successful venture was his1972 adaptation of Kander & Ebb's 1966 musicalCabaret. The movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and went to win eightAcademy Awards, but Feuer lostBest Picture toThe Godfather, givingCabaret the distinction of the most Oscar-honored film to lose the top prize. As the movie's producer, Feuer won aGolden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy. With Martin, he was responsible for the1985 screen adaptation ofA Chorus Line, which proved to be one of their biggest flops.[10]
Feuer served as president, and later chairman, of the League of American Theatres and Producers (now calledThe Broadway League) from 1989 to 2003.
In 1946, Feuer married Posy Greenberg.[1] The couple had a son together, and he became a stepfather to her son from a prior marriage.[1]
Feuer changed his forename from Seymour to Cyrus, but continued to use the nickname "Cy".[1]
Feuer's memoir,I Got The Show Right Here: The Amazing, True Story of How an Obscure Brooklyn Horn Player Became the Last Great Broadway Showman, written with Ken Gross, was published bySimon & Schuster in 2003.[citation needed]
He died frombladder cancer at his home inManhattan, New York, on May 17, 2006, at the age of 95.[1]
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Academy Award | Best Music, Scoring | Storm Over Bengal | Nominated |
| 1940 | She Married a Cop | Nominated | ||
| 1941 | Best Music, Score | Hit Parade of 1941 | Nominated | |
| 1942 | Best Music, Scoring of a Motion Picture | Ice-Capades | Nominated | |
| Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture | Mercy Island(shared withWalter Scharf) | Nominated | ||
| 1951 | Tony Award | Best Producer of a Musical | Guys and Dolls | Won |
| 1962 | How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Won | ||
| 1963 | Little Me | Nominated | ||
| Best Direction of Musical | Nominated | |||
| 1966 | Skyscraper | Nominated | ||
| 1973 | Academy Award | Best Picture | Cabaret | Nominated |
| 2003 | Tony Award | Lifetime Achievement Award | — | Won |
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