Word: showman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Fire-Eater. The man responsible for this Orpheus, as well as for the circus itself, is St. John Terrell, 36, a Chicago-born showman who pronounces his given name "Sinjun," in the English fashion-not because he is English but, as he explains, because he started off his entertainment career as a fire-eater. After kicking around show business from the age of 16 (carnivals, U.S.O., Broadway and summer theater), he decided five years ago to set up a musical tent show. He picked Lambertville (pop. 4,477) because it was far enough from Broadway to avoid competition and near...
...sight & sound of movies and TV, and an interest in three other music circuses around the country. His plans for Orpheus are ambitious: he hopes to open it on Broadway this winter. One of the hazards: another version of the same operetta planned for this season by Showman Billy Rose (see THEATER), who was never a fire-eater but can be counted on to produce a pretty hot Hades...
Black-haired Eddie Fisher got his chance at Grossinger's at 17, thanks to a recommendation to Manager Jennie Grossinger by Broadway Showman Monte Proser. As a Grossinger's staff member, Eddie sang every night for a whole summer, learned how to gauge the reactions of the hotel's Broadway-wise customers, how to flash his bright smile at the right moment, how to pitch his voice for the best effect. Eddie landed wintertime jobs after that, e.g., singing during the chorus-girl numbers at Manhattan's Copacabana. But his real break came when Eddie Cantor...
...anniversary made 67-year-old John Totten reminiscent. He could say one thing of all the musical greats he had known: "Every one of them was a showman." Polish Soprano Marcella Sembrich always meticulously arranged her own bouquets of flowers before concert time, then, when they were presented to her at intermission, gathered them to her ample bosom with expressions of pleased surprise. No performer likes listeners to walk out early, but Pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski once set something of a Carnegie Hall record for displeasure. Spotting a woman leaving while he was playing, he left the piano in midphrase...
Naturally, the reason for it all is the life of an impresario, director and producer, Sol Hurok. A penniless Russian immigrant, he came to America in 1910, and in ten years became the greatest showman of the age. Albeit the story is the well worn, Horatio Alger type, sensitive acting, and the interludes of line music make it a completely new experience. Even the inevitable matrimonial difficulties are touching...