Word: merricks
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Producer David Merrick waited until the cast of 42nd Street had grinned, waved and danced through almost a dozen curtain calls on opening night at the Winter Garden Theater before coming onstage and making an announcement to them and to the audience: "This is tragic. Gower Champion died this afternoon...
...cast, who knew that their director was ailing and hospitalized, had little idea of the severity of his sickness. The news that Champion was dead poleaxed them. Wanda Richert wept in Merrick's arms, and, after a moment of stunned silence. Jerry Orbach called backstage to the house manager, "Bring it in, bring...
Orbach was talking about the curtain. For anyone unfamiliar with theater idiom, however, other nightmarish alternatives presented themselves. The moment was that terrible, that ghoulish and-it must be said-that calculated. Merrick's decision to reveal the director's death as a grotesque curtain speech resulted in the kind of attention and publicity that a more private notice-say, after the final curtain to cast, crew and friends, or at the scheduled opening-night party-would never have attracted...
Like most Merrick productions, 42nd Street dragged a long train of rumor and gossip. There were postponements of the opening, which the producer characteristically explained to the press in a manner that only deepened the mystery: "The Great Man way up there has said that this show is very important for people all around the world to see. He will give the word when he feels the show is ready. I am waiting for the courier to arrive." There was also much talk about friction between Merrick and Champion. Yet one first-nighter said, "People around the show wanted Merrick...
...Merrick Shor Chicago