David Merrick Broadway Producer Stationary 42nd Street

Description

David Merrick Broadway Producer Stationary 42nd Street includes two 8 1/2" x 11" letterhead sheets and one 9 1/2" x 4 1/2" envelope.
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Merrick
(November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000) was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.
Born
David Lee Margulois
to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law. In 1940 he left his legal career to become a successful theatrical producer. He often was his own competition for the Tony Award, and he frequently won multiple nominations and/or wins in the same season.
Merrick was known for his love of publicity stunts. In 1949, his comedy
Clutterbuck
was running out of steam, but along with discount tickets, he paged hotel bars and restaurants around Manhattan during cocktail hour for a "fictive Mr. Clutterbuck" as a way of generating name recognition for his production, and it helped his show keep alive for another few months.
Another famous stunt promoted the poorly reviewed 1961 musical
Subways Are For Sleeping
. Merrick found seven New Yorkers who had the same names as the city's seven leading theater critics: Howard Taubman, Walter Kerr, John Chapman, John McClain, Richard Watts, Jr., Norman Nadel, and Robert Coleman. Merrick invited the seven namesakes to the musical and secured their permission to use their names and pictures in an advertisement alongside quotes such as "One of the few great musical comedies of the last thirty years" and "A fabulous musical. I love it." Merrick then prepared a newspaper ad featuring the namesakes' rave reviews under the heading
7 Out of 7 Are Ecstatically Unanimous About Subways Are For Sleeping
. Only one newspaper, the
New York Herald Tribune
, published the ad, and only in one edition; however, the publicity that the ad garnered helped the musical remain open for 205 performances (almost six months). Merrick later revealed that he had conceived the ad several years previously, but had not been able to execute it until Brooks Atkinson retired as
The New York Times
theater critic in 1960 since he could not find anyone with the same name.
Merrick joined The Lambs in 1950.
42nd Street
In June 1980, the musical premiered in out-of-town tryouts at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
The musical opened on Broadway on August 25, 1980, at the Winter Garden Theatre,
and then moved to the Majestic and finally to the St. James, closing on January 8, 1989, after 3,486 performances and 6 previews. The production was directed by Gower Champion. It was produced by David Merrick and featured orchestrations by Phillip J. Lang.
The original cast included Jerry Orbach as Julian Marsh, Tammy Grimes as Dorothy Brock, Wanda Richert as Peggy Sawyer, and Lee Roy Reams as Billy Lawlor.
Replacements later in the run included Barry Nelson and Don Chastain and Jamie Ross who played Julian for the last three years of its Broadway run,
Elizabeth Allen, Dolores Gray and Millicent Martin as Dorothy,
and Lisa Brown and Karen Ziemba as Peggy. (Karen Prunzik, who originated the role of Anytime Annie, briefly played the role of Peggy when Wanda Richert became ill and her understudy abruptly quit the show.)
The show's designers, Robin Wagner (sets), Theoni V. Aldredge (costumes), and Tharon Musser (lights) were the same team who had designed the original Broadway production of
A Chorus Line
.
The original Broadway production is the 15th longest running show in Broadway history, as of July 28, 2019.
However, the opening night triumph was overshadowed by tragedy. Following a lengthy standing ovation, Merrick went onstage and stated, "This is tragic...Gower Champion died this afternoon." He went on to explain that Champion died hours before the performance, "when he said that Mr. Champion had died, there were gasps and screams."
The producer had told only Bramble of Champion's death and managed to keep the news a secret from the cast (including Richert, the director's girlfriend), crew, and the public prior to his announcement.
42nd Street
proved to be not only Champion's last show but Merrick's final success. Merrick lived until 2000, but, as described by Anthony Bianco,
42nd Street
"was his last big hit, his swan song."
This Tony–nominated wardrobe, designed by Theoni V. Aldredge, is on rotating display at the Wick Theatre and Costume Museum in Boca Raton, Florida.