Whose Life Was a Production
William Powell wth Myrna Loy left and Luise Rainer in a Oscar-winning MGM smash hit of 1936
Megan McKinney
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. emerged from a childhood on the west side of Chicago, to become—according to a prominently displayed web announcement—“the most important and influential producer in the history of the Broadway musical.” Flo was the son of German-born Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld, founder of the Chicago Musical College, and his Belgian wife. The family had become visible in Chicago at the time of the 1893 World’s Fair when Dr. Ziegfeld opened a nightclub, the Trocadero, to benefit from increased tourist traffic attracted by the fair.
The Pullman Building
Although he was raised in a house at 1448 West Adams Street, Flo as a young bachelor lived at the top of the Romanesque-style Pullman Building, built in 1883 on the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street. Designed by George Pullman’s favorite architect, Solon S. Beman, the building’s top three floors were devoted to 75 luxurious apartments, most with fireplaces and all with views of Lake Michigan. These flats were occupied by other such notable figures as the young Samuel Insull and the also still young newspaper publisher Robert R. McCormick—before he became The Colonel.
Flo Ziegfeld
By 1907, Flo was in New York, a Broadway impresario. He produced a Ziegfeld Follies that yearand every year through 1931. If you had met him, the man above is what you would have seen. However, the 1936 MGM semi-biographical film extravaganza, The Great Ziegfeld starring William Powell, made such an impact to a wide audience the handsome figure below became the idealized Flo.
William Powell as Flo Ziegfeld
William Powell was personally chosen for the role by Flo’s second wife, Billie Burke, who felt that while Mr. Powell did not physically resemble her husband, he possessed the exact same style.
The real Anna Held
However, it was Polish-French singer and actress Anna Held who became Flo’s first “wife,” which we have put in quotes, because she was already married to another when Flo brought her to New York as his live-in companion. The Ziegfeld Follies was Anna’s idea; she based it on the Paris Folies Bergère.
The web tells us that the Folies Bergère is “a historic cabaret music hall in Paris, France, known for its extravagant revues.”
Oscar winner Luise Rainer as Anna Held
Not only did Luise Rainer win the 1937 Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her acting in The Great Ziegfield, but the film itself also won the Best Picture Oscar.
A tiny image of the actors as Anna Held and Flo Ziegfeld in The Great Ziegfeld
credit:whosdatedwho.com
Flo’s wife number two, Billie Burke, was often photographed with the real Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.
The glamorous film version of the two together was William Powell and Myrna Loy as Flo and Billie.
Billie Burke and Myrna Loy
Flo was known for discovering many of those who became stars during his era, including Will Rogers, the Vernon Castles, Ed Wynn, Sophie Tucker, Bert Williams and Eddie Cantor and giving major boosts to the careers of others.
tulsaworld.com
Will Rogers
Ed Wynn
Irene and Vernon Castle
Author photo: By Robert F. Carl
