ZIEGFELD AND PRESELEY

On a cultural performing note, the 7^th July bring up two momentous show business events in American history.

Ziegfeld Jr.

The first involved Florenz Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld was born in Chicago in 1867. (Some sources, including his obituary, give the year of birth as 1869.) His mother, Rosalie (née de Hez), who was born in Belgium, was the grand niece of General Count Étienne Maurice Gérard. His father, Florenz Ziegfeld, Sr., was a German immigrant whose father was the mayor of Jever in Friesland.  Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. (sometimes also called "Flo" Ziegfeld), was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907–1931), inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat. He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl"

His stage spectaculars, known as the Ziegfeld Follies, began with Follies of 1907, which opened on 7^th July 1907 on the roof of the New York Theatre in New York City, and were produced annually until 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.

These extravaganzas, with elaborate costumes and sets, featured beauties chosen personally by Ziegfeld in production numbers choreographed to the works of prominent composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Jerome Kern. The Follies featured many performers who, though well-known from previous work in other theatrical genres, achieved unique financial success and publicity with Ziegfeld. Included among these are Nora Bayes, Fanny Brice, Ruth Etting, W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Marilyn Miller, Will Rogers, Bert Williams and Ann Pennington.

His promotion of the Polish-French Anna Held, including press releases about her milk baths, brought about her meteoric rise to national fame. It was Held who first suggested an American imitation of the Parisian Follies to Ziegfeld. Her success in a series of his Broadway shows, especially The Parisian Model, was a major reason for his starting the "series of lavish revues in 1907", the Ziegfeld Follies.

The second event was on the 7^th July 1954 when Elvis Presley made his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, "That's All Right."