Charles Frohman
Encyclopedia
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre
by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre.
In 1896, Frohman co-founded the Theatrical Syndicate
, which grew to exert monopoly control over the U.S. theatre industry for nearly two decades. He also leased the Duke of York's Theatre
in London, promoting such playwrights as J. M. Barrie
, producing Barrie's Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which he debuted at the Duke of York's in December 1904 and later produced in the United States starring a Frohman favorite, Maude Adams
. He partnered with English producers, including Seymour Hicks
, with whom he produced a string of London hits prior to 1910, including Quality Street
, The Admirable Crichton
, The Catch of the Season
, The Beauty of Bath
, and A Waltz Dream. Many of his London successes also enjoyed runs in New York.
Frohman produced over 700 shows. At the height of his career, he died in the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania
.
, the youngest of three Frohman brothers
, including Daniel
and Gustave
. The year of his birth date is generally erroneously reported as 1860, and his birthday is shown as July 16 on his tombstone, but the correct date is July 15, 1856. In 1864, Frohman's family moved to New York City. At the age of twelve, Frohman started to work at night in the office of the New York Tribune
, attending school by day. In 1874, he began work for the Daily Graphic and at night sold tickets at Hooley's Theatre, Brooklyn
. In 1877, he took charge of the Chicago Comedy Co., with John Dillon as star in Our Boys. He next joined William Haverly and his Mastodon Minstrels as manager, touring the U.S. and Europe. Then for a time he was associated with his brother Daniel in managing the Madison Square Theatre, New York. He began to produce plays by 1886.
Frohman's first success as a producer was with Bronson Howard
's play Shenandoah (1889). Frohman founded the Empire Theatre Stock Company to acquire the Empire Theatre
in 1892. The following year, he produced his first Broadway
play, Clyde Fitch's
Masked Ball. In this piece, Maude Adams
first played opposite John Drew, which led to many future successes. Soon Frohman he acquired five other New York City theaters. In 1895, he produced the New York premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest
, by Oscar Wilde
. The same year, he produced The Shop Girl
.
Frohman was known for his ability to develop talent. His stars included William Gillette
, John Drew, Jr., Ethel Barrymore
, Billie Burke
, E. H. Sothern
, Julia Marlowe
, Maude Adams
, Paul Gilmore, Evelyn Millard
and Henry Miller
. In 1896, Frohman, Al Hayman
, Abe Erlanger, Mark Klaw
, Samuel F. Nixon, and Fred Zimmerman formed the Theatrical Syndicate
. Their organization established systemized booking networks throughout the United States and created a monopoly that controlled every aspect of contracts and bookings until the late 1910s, when the Shubert brothers broke their stranglehold on the industry.
In 1897, Frohman leased the Duke of York's Theatre
in London, introducing plays there as well as in the United States. Clyde Fitch
, J. M. Barrie
and Edmond Rostand
were among the playwrights he promoted. As a producer, among Frohman's most famous successes was Barrie's Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which he premiered at the Duke of York's in 1904 starring Nina Boucicault
, and produced the next year in the United States starring Maude Adams
. In the early years of the 20th century, Frohman also established a successful partnership with English actor-producer Seymour Hicks
to produce musicals and other comedies in London, including Quality Street
in 1902, The Admirable Crichton
in 1903, The Catch of the Season
in 1904, The Beauty of Bath
in 1906, The Gay Gordons in 1907, and A Waltz Dream in 1908, among others. He also partnered with other London theatre managers. The system of exchange of successful plays between London and New York was effected largely as a result of his efforts. In 1910, Frohman attempted a repertory scheme of producing plays at the Duke of York's. He advertised a bill of plays by J. M. Barrie
, John Galsworthy
, Harley Granville Barker, and others. The venture began tentatively, and while it may have proved successful, Frohman canceled the scheme when London theatres closed at the death of King Edward VII in May 1910.
Other Frohman hits included The Dollar Princess
(1909), The Arcadians (1910), The Sunshine Girl
(1913) and The Girl From Utah
(1914). By 1915, Frohman had produced more than 700 shows, employed an average of 10,000 people per season, 700 of them actors, and paid salaries totaling $35 million a year (the equivalent of more than $700 million in 2010 dollars). Frohman controlled five theaters in London, six in New York City, and over two hundred throughout the rest of the United States. His longtime live-in companion, theatre critic Charles Dillingham (1868–1934), also became a well-known producer.
Frohman made his annual trip to Europe in May 1915 to oversee his London and Paris “play markets”, sailing on the Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania
. Songwriter Jerome Kern
was meant to accompany him on the voyage, but overslept after being kept up late playing requests at a party. William Gillette
was also to have accompanied him, but was forced to fulfill a contracted appearance in Philadelphia.
Frohman's rheumatic knee, from a fall three years earlier, had been ailing for most of the voyage, but he was feeling better on the morning of May 7, a bright, sunny day. He entertained guests in his suite and later at his table. He was regaling them with tales of his life in the theater when, at 2:10 in the afternoon, within fourteen miles of the Old Head of Kinsale
, with the coast of Ireland in sight, a torpedo from the German U-boat
U-20 struck the Lusitania
on the starboard side. Within a minute, there was a second explosion, followed by several smaller ones.
As passengers began to panic, Frohman stood on the promenade deck, chatting with friends and smoking a cigar. He calmly remarked, “This is going to be a close call." Frohman, with a disabled leg and walking with a cane, could not have jumped from the deck into a lifeboat, so he was trapped. Instead, he and millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt tied lifejackets to “Moses baskets” containing infants who had been asleep in the nursery when the torpedo struck. Frohman then went out onto the deck, where he was joined by actress Rita Jolivet
, her brother-in-law George Vernon and Captain Alick Scott. In the final moments, they clasped hands and Frohman paraphrased his greatest hit, Peter Pan
: “Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure that life gives us." Jolivet, the only survivor of Frohman's party, was standing with Frohman as the ship sank. She later said, “with a tremendous roar a great wave swept along the deck. We were all divided in a moment, and I have not seen any of those brave men alive since."
Frohman died a month and a week short of his fifty-ninth birthday. His body was later washed ashore below the Old Head of Kinsale, and it was later determined that he was killed by a heavy object falling on him, rather than by drowning. His body lay among 147 others awaiting identification, where a rescued American identified it from newspaper photographs. His body, alone among all the others, was not disfigured. His funeral service was held on May 25 at the Temple Emanu-El
in New York City, and he was buried in the Union Field Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens
, New York. Services were also arranged by some of his stars in other American cities: by Maude Adams
in Los Angeles, by John Drew
in San Francisco, by Billie Burke
in Tacoma, and by Donald Brian
, Joseph Cawthorn
and Julia Sanderson
in Providence, as well as memorial services at both St. Paul's
and the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields
in London. Frohman was also eulogized by the French Academy of Authors in Paris.
A memorial to Frohman is located on the causeway at Marlow
on Thames. The site features a fountain with a sculptured nymph and inscription.
in 1946. He was played by William Hootkins
in the BBC mini-series The Lost Boys
in 1978. He was portrayed by Nehemiah Persoff
in Ziegfeld: The Man & His Women also in 1978 on television. In 2004, Dustin Hoffman
portrayed him in the film Finding Neverland
.
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...
by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre.
In 1896, Frohman co-founded the Theatrical Syndicate
Theatrical Syndicate
-Beginnings:One day, early in the year 1896, six men gathered for lunch at the Holland House in New York City. These men were Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, A.L. Erlanger, Marc Klaw, Samuel F. Nirdlinger, and Frederick Zimmerman...
, which grew to exert monopoly control over the U.S. theatre industry for nearly two decades. He also leased the Duke of York's Theatre
Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End Theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre, until her death in 1935. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with Wedding...
in London, promoting such playwrights as J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
, producing Barrie's Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which he debuted at the Duke of York's in December 1904 and later produced in the United States starring a Frohman favorite, Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
. He partnered with English producers, including Seymour Hicks
Seymour Hicks
Sir Arthur Seymour Hicks , better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, theatre manager and producer. He married the actress Ellaline Terriss in 1893...
, with whom he produced a string of London hits prior to 1910, including Quality Street
Quality Street (play)
Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J. M. Barrie, written before his more famous work Peter Pan. The story is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children"....
, The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie. It was produced by Charles Frohman and opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 4 November 1902, running for an extremely successful 828 performances. It starred H. B. Irving and Irene Vanbrugh...
, The Catch of the Season
The Catch of the Season
The Catch of the Season is an Edwardian musical comedy by Seymour Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton, with music by Herbert Haines and Evelyn Baker and lyrics by Charles H. Taylor, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
, The Beauty of Bath
The Beauty of Bath
The Beauty of Bath is a musical comedy with a book by Seymour Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton, lyrics by C. H. Taylor and music by Herbert Haines; additional songs were provided by Jerome Kern , F. Clifford Harris and P. G. Wodehouse . The story concerns a young woman from a noble family, who falls in...
, and A Waltz Dream. Many of his London successes also enjoyed runs in New York.
Frohman produced over 700 shows. At the height of his career, he died in the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
.
Life and career
Charles Frohman was born in Sandusky, OhioSandusky, Ohio
Sandusky is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Erie County. It is located in northern Ohio and is situated on the shores of Lake Erie, almost exactly half-way between Toledo to the west and Cleveland to the east....
, the youngest of three Frohman brothers
Frohman brothers
The Frohman brothers were important American Broadway theatre owners and theatrical producers who also owned and operated motion picture production companies.The brothers were:*Daniel Frohman *Gustave Frohman...
, including Daniel
Daniel Frohman
Daniel Frohman was a Jewish American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer.Frohman was born in Sandusky, Ohio...
and Gustave
Gustave Frohman
Gustave Frohman was a theatre producer and advance man. He was one of three Frohman brothers who entered show business and he worked for most of his career alongside his brother, Charles Frohman. These two financed a number of theatre productions, often featuring African American actors...
. The year of his birth date is generally erroneously reported as 1860, and his birthday is shown as July 16 on his tombstone, but the correct date is July 15, 1856. In 1864, Frohman's family moved to New York City. At the age of twelve, Frohman started to work at night in the office of the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, attending school by day. In 1874, he began work for the Daily Graphic and at night sold tickets at Hooley's Theatre, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. In 1877, he took charge of the Chicago Comedy Co., with John Dillon as star in Our Boys. He next joined William Haverly and his Mastodon Minstrels as manager, touring the U.S. and Europe. Then for a time he was associated with his brother Daniel in managing the Madison Square Theatre, New York. He began to produce plays by 1886.
Bronson Howard
Bronson Howard was a well-known American dramatist and son of Detroit mayor Charles Howard. He prepared for college at New Haven, Conn., but instead of entering Yale he turned to Journalism in New York. From 1867 to 1872 he worked on several newspapers, among them the Evening Mail and the Tribune...
's play Shenandoah (1889). Frohman founded the Empire Theatre Stock Company to acquire the Empire Theatre
Empire Theatre (New York City)
The Empire Theatre in New York City was a prominent Broadway theatre in the first half of the twentieth century. It opened in 1893 with a performance of The Girl I Left Behind Me by David Belasco. The Empire continued to present both original plays and revivals until 1953. Its final show, in May...
in 1892. The following year, he produced his first 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...
play, Clyde Fitch's
Clyde Fitch
Clyde Fitch was an American dramatist.-Biography:Born William Clyde Fitch at Elmira, New York, he wrote over 60 plays, 36 of them original, which varied from social comedies and farces to melodrama and historical dramas.As the only child to live to adulthood, his father, Captain William G...
Masked Ball. In this piece, Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
first played opposite John Drew, which led to many future successes. Soon Frohman he acquired five other New York City theaters. In 1895, he produced the New York premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
, by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
. The same year, he produced The Shop Girl
The Shop Girl
The Shop Girl was a musical comedy in two acts written by H. J. W. Dam, with Lyrics by Dam and Adrian Ross and music by Ivan Caryll, and additional numbers by Lionel Monckton and Ross. It was first produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre in London, opening on 24 November 1894...
.
Frohman was known for his ability to develop talent. His stars included William Gillette
William Gillette
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....
, John Drew, Jr., Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
, Billie Burke
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...
, E. H. Sothern
E. H. Sothern
Edward Hugh Sothern was an American actor who specialized in dashing, romantic leading roles and particularly in Shakespeare roles.-Biography:...
, Julia Marlowe
Julia Marlowe
Julia Marlowe was an English-born American actress known for her interpretations of William Shakespeare.-Life and career:...
, Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
, Paul Gilmore, Evelyn Millard
Evelyn Millard
Evelyn Mary Millard was an English Shakespearean actress, actor-manager and "stage beauty" of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries perhaps best known for creating the role of Cecily Cardew in the 1895 premiere of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.-Early life and...
and Henry Miller
Henry Miller (actor)
Henry Miller was an English-born American actor, director, theatrical producer and manager.Born as John Pegge in London, Miller's parents immigrated to Canada where he started acting as a juvenile. He became the leading man in Charles Frohman's stock company in New York City's Empire Theatre in 1893...
. In 1896, Frohman, Al Hayman
Al Hayman
Al Hayman, also known as Raphael Hayman, was the business partner of the better-known Charles Frohman who together with others established the Theatrical Syndicate in 1896 and as theater impresarios and booking agents helped develop the theater district in New York at the turn of the 20th...
, Abe Erlanger, Mark Klaw
Marcus Klaw
Marc Alonzo Klaw was an American lawyer, theatrical producer, theatre owner, and a leading figure of the Theatrical Syndicate....
, Samuel F. Nixon, and Fred Zimmerman formed the Theatrical Syndicate
Theatrical Syndicate
-Beginnings:One day, early in the year 1896, six men gathered for lunch at the Holland House in New York City. These men were Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, A.L. Erlanger, Marc Klaw, Samuel F. Nirdlinger, and Frederick Zimmerman...
. Their organization established systemized booking networks throughout the United States and created a monopoly that controlled every aspect of contracts and bookings until the late 1910s, when the Shubert brothers broke their stranglehold on the industry.
In 1897, Frohman leased the Duke of York's Theatre
Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End Theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre, until her death in 1935. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with Wedding...
in London, introducing plays there as well as in the United States. Clyde Fitch
Clyde Fitch
Clyde Fitch was an American dramatist.-Biography:Born William Clyde Fitch at Elmira, New York, he wrote over 60 plays, 36 of them original, which varied from social comedies and farces to melodrama and historical dramas.As the only child to live to adulthood, his father, Captain William G...
, J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
and Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
were among the playwrights he promoted. As a producer, among Frohman's most famous successes was Barrie's Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which he premiered at the Duke of York's in 1904 starring Nina Boucicault
Nina Boucicault
Nina Boucicault was an English actress born to playwright Dion Boucicault and his wife, actress Agnes Kelly Robertson. She had three brothers, Dion William , Dion Boucicault Jr. and Aubrey Boucicault...
, and produced the next year in the United States starring Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
. In the early years of the 20th century, Frohman also established a successful partnership with English actor-producer Seymour Hicks
Seymour Hicks
Sir Arthur Seymour Hicks , better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, theatre manager and producer. He married the actress Ellaline Terriss in 1893...
to produce musicals and other comedies in London, including Quality Street
Quality Street (play)
Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J. M. Barrie, written before his more famous work Peter Pan. The story is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children"....
in 1902, The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton
The Admirable Crichton is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie. It was produced by Charles Frohman and opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 4 November 1902, running for an extremely successful 828 performances. It starred H. B. Irving and Irene Vanbrugh...
in 1903, The Catch of the Season
The Catch of the Season
The Catch of the Season is an Edwardian musical comedy by Seymour Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton, with music by Herbert Haines and Evelyn Baker and lyrics by Charles H. Taylor, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
in 1904, The Beauty of Bath
The Beauty of Bath
The Beauty of Bath is a musical comedy with a book by Seymour Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton, lyrics by C. H. Taylor and music by Herbert Haines; additional songs were provided by Jerome Kern , F. Clifford Harris and P. G. Wodehouse . The story concerns a young woman from a noble family, who falls in...
in 1906, The Gay Gordons in 1907, and A Waltz Dream in 1908, among others. He also partnered with other London theatre managers. The system of exchange of successful plays between London and New York was effected largely as a result of his efforts. In 1910, Frohman attempted a repertory scheme of producing plays at the Duke of York's. He advertised a bill of plays by J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
, John Galsworthy
John Galsworthy
John Galsworthy OM was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter...
, Harley Granville Barker, and others. The venture began tentatively, and while it may have proved successful, Frohman canceled the scheme when London theatres closed at the death of King Edward VII in May 1910.
Other Frohman hits included The Dollar Princess
The Dollar Princess
The Dollar Princess is a musical in three acts by A.M. Willner and Fritz Grünbaum , adapted into English by Basil Hood , with music by Leo Fall and lyrics by Adrian Ross. It opened in London at Daly's Theatre on 25 September 1909, running for 428 performances...
(1909), The Arcadians (1910), The Sunshine Girl
The Sunshine Girl
The Sunshine Girl is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with a book by Paul A. Rubens and Cecil Raleigh, lyrics and music by Rubens and additional lyrics by Arthur Wimperis. The story involves a working girl who falls in love with the heir to the factor...
(1913) and The Girl From Utah
The Girl from Utah
The Girl from Utah is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with music by Paul Rubens, and Sidney Jones, a book by James T. Tanner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank and Rubens. The story concerns an American girl who runs away to London to avoid becoming a wealthy Mormon's newest wife...
(1914). By 1915, Frohman had produced more than 700 shows, employed an average of 10,000 people per season, 700 of them actors, and paid salaries totaling $35 million a year (the equivalent of more than $700 million in 2010 dollars). Frohman controlled five theaters in London, six in New York City, and over two hundred throughout the rest of the United States. His longtime live-in companion, theatre critic Charles Dillingham (1868–1934), also became a well-known producer.
Death on the RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
. Songwriter Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
was meant to accompany him on the voyage, but overslept after being kept up late playing requests at a party. William Gillette
William Gillette
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....
was also to have accompanied him, but was forced to fulfill a contracted appearance in Philadelphia.
Frohman's rheumatic knee, from a fall three years earlier, had been ailing for most of the voyage, but he was feeling better on the morning of May 7, a bright, sunny day. He entertained guests in his suite and later at his table. He was regaling them with tales of his life in the theater when, at 2:10 in the afternoon, within fourteen miles of the Old Head of Kinsale
Old Head of Kinsale
The Old Head of Kinsale, is a headland near Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. An early lighthouse was established here in the 17th century by Robert Reading...
, with the coast of Ireland in sight, a torpedo from the German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
U-20 struck the Lusitania
RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
on the starboard side. Within a minute, there was a second explosion, followed by several smaller ones.
As passengers began to panic, Frohman stood on the promenade deck, chatting with friends and smoking a cigar. He calmly remarked, “This is going to be a close call." Frohman, with a disabled leg and walking with a cane, could not have jumped from the deck into a lifeboat, so he was trapped. Instead, he and millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt tied lifejackets to “Moses baskets” containing infants who had been asleep in the nursery when the torpedo struck. Frohman then went out onto the deck, where he was joined by actress Rita Jolivet
Rita Jolivet
Rita Jolivet was an English actress of French descent in theater and silent movies in the early twentieth century...
, her brother-in-law George Vernon and Captain Alick Scott. In the final moments, they clasped hands and Frohman paraphrased his greatest hit, Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
: “Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure that life gives us." Jolivet, the only survivor of Frohman's party, was standing with Frohman as the ship sank. She later said, “with a tremendous roar a great wave swept along the deck. We were all divided in a moment, and I have not seen any of those brave men alive since."
Frohman died a month and a week short of his fifty-ninth birthday. His body was later washed ashore below the Old Head of Kinsale, and it was later determined that he was killed by a heavy object falling on him, rather than by drowning. His body lay among 147 others awaiting identification, where a rescued American identified it from newspaper photographs. His body, alone among all the others, was not disfigured. His funeral service was held on May 25 at the Temple Emanu-El
Temple Emanu-El
Temple Emanu-El of New York was the first Reform Jewish congregation in New York City and, because of its size and prominence, has served as a flagship congregation in the Reform branch of Judaism since its founding in 1845. Its landmark Romanesque Revival building on Fifth Avenue is widely...
in New York City, and he was buried in the Union Field Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
, New York. Services were also arranged by some of his stars in other American cities: by Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
in Los Angeles, by John Drew
John Drew
John Drew was an Irish-American stage actor and theatre manager.-Early life:Born Jonathan Henry Drewland in Dublin, Ireland, to Thomas L. Drew and Louise Kanten, he was the fifth of six children. He lived in Templeogue, a poor Irish village in County Dublin during the 19th century...
in San Francisco, by Billie Burke
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live...
in Tacoma, and by Donald Brian
Donald Brian
Donald Brian was an actor, dancer and singer born St. John's, Newfoundland , at the age of eighteen was crowned "King of Broadway" by the New York Times in 1907. Brian is noted for helping President Theodore Roosevelt act more relaxed in public and teaching Frank Sinatra to dance and entertain U.S...
, Joseph Cawthorn
Joseph Cawthorn
Joseph Cawthorn was an American stage and film comic actor....
and Julia Sanderson
Julia Sanderson
Julia Sanderson was an actress and singer. Her father, Albert Sackett, was also a Broadway star. She was born August 20, 1888, in Springfield, Massachusetts. She appeared in the Forepaugh Circus as a child and in her early teen years with her father. She then moved to Broadway, where she appeared...
in Providence, as well as memorial services at both St. Paul's
St. Paul's
St. Paul's is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1935. It is also the name of the two municipal wards and the local Toronto District School Board ward St. Paul's is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that...
and the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...
in London. Frohman was also eulogized by the French Academy of Authors in Paris.
A memorial to Frohman is located on the causeway at Marlow
Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Marlow is a town and civil parish within Wycombe district in south Buckinghamshire, England...
on Thames. The site features a fountain with a sculptured nymph and inscription.
Portrayals in films and television
Frohman was portrayed by Harry Hayden in the film Till the Clouds Roll ByTill the Clouds Roll By
Till The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American musical film made by MGM. The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed...
in 1946. He was played by William Hootkins
William Hootkins
William Michael Hootkins was an American character actor, most famous for supporting roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars, Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark.-Early life:...
in the BBC mini-series The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys (docudrama)
The Lost Boys is an award-winning 1978 docudrama mini-series produced by the BBC, written by Andrew Birkin, and directed by Rodney Bennett. It is about the relationship between Peter Pan creator J. M...
in 1978. He was portrayed by Nehemiah Persoff
Nehemiah Persoff
Nehemiah Persoff is an American film and television character actor. He was born in Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate.Born in what is now part of Israel, Persoff emigrated with his family to the United States in 1929...
in Ziegfeld: The Man & His Women also in 1978 on television. In 2004, Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
portrayed him in the film Finding Neverland
Finding Neverland
Finding Neverland is a 2004 semi-biographical film about playwright J. M. Barrie and his relationship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan, directed by Marc Forster. The screenplay by David Magee is based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee...
.
Further reading
- Anderson, John. The American Theatre (The Dial Press, 1938).
- Atkinson, Brooks. Broadway (The MacMillan Company, 1970).
- Bailey, Thomas A. & Paul B. Ryan. The Lusitania Disaster (The Free Press, 1975).
- Binns, Archie. Mrs. Fiske and the American Theatre (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1955).
- Bordman, Gerald. The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre (Oxford University Press, 1984).
- Burke, Billie. With a Feather on My Nose (Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1949).
- Churchill, Allen. The Great White Way (E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1962).
- Frohman, Daniel. Daniel Frohman Presents, An Autobiography (Claude Kendall & Willoughby Sharp, 1935).
- Frohman, Daniel. Encore (Lee Furman, Inc., 1937).
- Hughes, Glenn. A History of the American Theatre 1700-1950 (Samuel French, 1951).
- Marker, Lise-Lone. David Belasco: Naturalism in the American Theatre (Princeton University Press, 1974).
- Morehouse, Ward. Matinee Tomorrow, Fifty Years of Our Theater (Whittlesey House, 1949).
- Robbins, Phyllis. The Young Maude Adams (Marshall Johns Company, 1959).
- Stagg, Jerry. The Brothers Shubert (Random House, 1968).
- Timberlake, Craig. The Bishop of Broadway (Library Publishers, 1954).