Broadwayimpresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. was negotiating with RKO Pictures at the timeof his death in 1932. He never became a movie mogul, yet the brash Ziegfeldbecame the template for Hollywood’s image of fast-talking, cigar-smokingmaestros of the Great White Way. Several of his protégés became movie stars,among them his wife, Billie Burke, better known as the Good Witch from theWizard of Oz.
Thelatest biography of the impresario, Ziegfeld and his Follies (published byUniversity Press of Kentucky), meticulously chronicles his life from childhoodin Chicago through triumph and decline. Authors Cynthia and Sara Brideson’stitle references Ziegfeld’s chief claim on memory, the series of “Follies” thatamused early 20th century audiences with costumes, chorus girls, TinPan Alley tunes and a rotating cast of entertainers including W.C. Fields,Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice and Sophie Tucker. Ziegfeld and his Folliesexpends many pages on his personal proclivities, especially his infidelities,yet his professional accomplishments are not ignored. Along with nurturingtalent that found its way to Hollywood, Ziegfeld changed the direction ofAmerican theater by producing Show Boat (1927), a Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammersteinmusical that addressed racism in America.
Ziegfeldwanted to cross over into pictures and cut a deal with Sam Goldwyn, but theirpartnership was rocky. Ziegfeld hated Goldwyn’s adaptation of his musical, Whoopee,criticizing his casting and chafing at the omission of most of the songs toavoid royalty payments. “One reason for the men’s frequent clashes may havebeen that Ziegfeld saw in Goldwyn many of the most unlikable professionaltraits he saw in himself,” the authors suggest. Although Whoopee! (1930) was abox office success, the Ziegfeld-Goldwyn partnership soon ended.
Backon Broadway, the hits stopped coming as Ziegfeld’s debts mounted and healthsank. “If Ziegfeld had lived,” the authors speculate, “he likely would havemoved to California and conquered Hollywood, just as he had Broadway.” Maybeso, given that the Hollywood musicals of the 1930s were just the sort of cinemaZiegfeld would have understood. As it was, the impresario became the subject ofa popular picture, The Great Ziegfeld (1936), with debonair William Powell inthe title role. The movie “contained grains of authenticity,” yet the authorsare disappointed that Ziegfeld’s racy life was only suggested. Of course, in1936, with the Hollywood Production Code firmly in place, MGM had no choice butclean up Ziegfeld’s act.
