Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (March 21, 1867 - July 22, 1932), called Flo Ziegfeld, was an American Broadway impresario. He is best known for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931), inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris.
Ziegfeld's first foray into the world of entertainment was at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, where he managed the famous strongman, Eugen Sandow.
His stage spectaculars, beginning with Follies of 1907, were produced annually until 1931. These extravaganzas, with elaborate costumes and sets, featured a bevy of beauties chosen personally by Ziegfeld in production numbers choregraphed to the works of such prominent composers as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Jerome Kern.
His promotion of the Polish-French Anna Held, including press releases about her milk baths, brought her fame and set a pattern of star-making through publicity. Ziegfeld helped oversee her meteoric rise to national fame. It was Held who first suggested an American imitation of the Parisian Follies to Ziegfeld. . Ziegfeld never married Held, but they maintained a common-law relationship, outrageously scandalous in that day and age, which ended in 1913, allegedly solely because he moved his mistress into an apartment one floor up from theirs. Ziegfeld married Billie Burke in 1914, and they had a daughter, Patricia.
American theatrical producer who brought the revue to spectacular heights under the slogan "Glorifying the American Girl." During the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Ziegfeld managed bodybuilder Eugen Sandow (billed as the Great Sandow). In 1896 he turned to theatrical management. His promotion of French beauty Anna Held, with press releases about her milk baths, brought her fame and set a pattern of star-making through publicity. In 1907 he produced in New York City his first revue, The Follies of 1907, modeled on the Folies-Bergère of Paris but less risqué. The revue's combination of semi-nudity, pageantry and comedy was repeated successfully for 23 more years, until the Great Depression ended these annual spectaculars. Four other editions appeared after his death, the last in 1957. In addition to the Follies, Ziegfeld also produced the stage successes "Sally" (1920), "Show Boat" (1927), "Rio Rita" (1927), and "Bitter Sweet (1929). Among the stars who rose to fame as a result of appearing in a Ziegfeld show were Marilyn Miller (I), Will Rogers (I), Leon Errol, Bert Williams (I), Fanny Brice and Eddie Cantor. Ziegfeld had a long-lasting relationship with Anna Held but they never married due to her already being married to Maximo Carrera. In 1913, he married actress Billie Burke with whom he had daughter Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson .
Florenz Ziegfeld was one of the greatest Broadway impresarios of all time. His greatest productions were the annual Ziegfeld Follies, running from 1907 up to the early 30s. A few of his other successful stage productions like "Sally" with Marilyn Miller (I) were made into musicals in the early talkie-era.
