On this day in 1867, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois. The son of Belgian and German immigrants, he survived the Chicago fire of 1871 to become one of the most influential theatrical impresarios in American history.
His father, Florenz Ziegfeld Sr., was his initial inspiration. The year Jr. was born, Sr. founded the Chicago Academy of Music, which endures to this day as the Chicago Musical College. One of the first five music conservatories in America, the program trained some of the most lauded classical musicians and vocalists of the era, immersing the Ziegfeld family in the performing arts scene of Chicago. In time, Sr. tired of the classical world, switching his focus to a nightclub, the Trocadero, which would prove to be Jr.'s fertile foundation.
Following the 1893 World's Fair, the then-26 year old Jr. took it upon himself to manage the talent acquisition for the club on his father's behalf. Jr. had a knack for spotting talent, and for identifying what the American public was willing to spend their hard-earned money on (the second industrial revolution gave greater wages and more leisure time to the working class).
Inspired by the Parisian Folies Bergère and his common law wife Anna Held, Jr. poured his talents into producing lavish revues after the turn of the century. These revues, known as the Ziegfeld Follies, were lush spectacles delivering supreme levels of opulence as entertainment for the masses. Beginning July 7, 1907, Jr. produced the Follies annually until 1931, with his so called "Ziegfeld Beauties" chorus girls chosen personally by Jr. in his effort to "glorify the American girl."
In addition to his chorines, who donned elaborate costumes encrusted with jewels and other eye-popping adornments, Jr. also employed some of the best vaudevillians of the age, introducing such talents as Fanny Brice, Bert Williams, Ed Wynn, W.C. Fields, Marion Davies, Eddie Cantor, and Will Rogers. His eye for talent was his calling card. His name soon grew to such prominence that there was no greater peak in a vaudevillian's career than being able to say they had been selected for the Follies.
In 1927, Jr. produced the original production of Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern's Show Boat, considered by many to be the first great musical theatre drama. Running for 572 performances, then considered a significantly long stage life, the musical was a financial risk for Ziegfeld. But in the end, it paid off, changing American theatrical history for all time as he ushered in the dramatic tradition that would soon eclipse his beloved revues.
Jr. lost much of his fortune in the 1929 Stock Market Crash, making it increasingly difficult for him to produce his trademark Follies, which relied on extreme demonstrations of wealth that had become increasingly gauche to audiences in the wake of the Great Depression. At just 65 years old, Jr. passed away on July 22, 1932, due to a sudden attack of pleurisy.
He was survived by his second wife, Billie Burke, who was driven to film acting to support herself and their daughter Patricia due to the debts Jr. had accrued following the stock market crash. This shift led to Burke starring as Glinda the Good in the 1939 MGM film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, one of the most influential films of all time.
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. may have been dead, but his Follies remained. Other producers named their own revues the Ziegfeld Follies, with the final revue playing in 1957—though those were not affiliated with the Ziegfeld family. Jr. was later a character in the 1964 Jule Styne musical Funny Girl, which dramatized Fanny Brice's life and the influence Jr. had on her career. Stephen Sondheim's 1971 musical Follies featured the character of Dimitri Weismann, who was based on Jr. Even in death, Jr. influenced the arc of American artistry.
