Brock Pemberton was an American theatrical producer

Theatrical producer

A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...

, director and founder of the Tony Awards.

Pemberton was born in Leavenworth, Kansas

Leavenworth, Kansas

Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

 and attended the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

. Before becoming a producer he was a press agent

Press agent

A press agent, or flack, is a professional publicist who acts on behalf of his or her client on all matters involving public relations. Press agents are typically employed by public personalities and organizations such as performers and businesses...

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He was a partner of Antoinette Perry

Antoinette Perry

Antoinette Perry was an actress, director and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing. The Tony Awards are her namesake....

, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, both professionally and romantically. Among his notable productions was Miss Lulu Bett

Miss Lulu Bett

Miss Lulu Bett is a 1920 novel by American writer Zona Gale, and later adapted for the stage. Gale received the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her work...

, whose writer Zona Gale

Zona Gale

Zona Gale was an American author and playwright. She became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, in 1921.-Biography:Gale was born in Portage, Wisconsin, which she often used as a setting in her writing...

 became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 in Drama, and Personal Appearance

Personal Appearance

Personal Appearance is a stage comedy by the American playwright and screenwriter Lawrence Riley , which was a Broadway smash and the basis for the classic Mae West film Go West, Young Man ....

by Lawrence Riley

Lawrence Riley

Lawrence Riley was a successful American playwright and screenwriter. He gained fame in 1934 as the author of the Broadway hit Personal Appearance, which was turned by Mae West into the classic film Go West, Young Man , starring herself.-Biography:Riley was a Princeton University alumnus and a...

, which was a Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 hit and was later turned into the classic film Go West, Young Man

Go West, Young Man

Go West, Young Man is a 1936 Paramount Pictures comedy film directed by Henry Hathaway starring Mae West. The supporting cast includes Warren William, Alice Brady, Elizabeth Patterson, and Lyle Talbot...

.

Pemberton hosted the first Tony Award ceremony, then known as the "Antoinette Perry awards". The awards got their nickname, "Tonys", during that ceremony when Pemberton himself handed out an award and called it a "Toni", referring to the nickname of Antoinette Perry.

Months after his death in 1950 a Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 was given to him posthumously which indicated his role as the founder and the original chairman of the Tony Awards. He was a member of the Algonquin Round Table

Algonquin Round Table

The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929...

.

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