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 7th 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 7th
July 1954 when Elvis Presley made his
radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records,
"That's All Right."
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