Jonathan Miller 1960s: Beyond the Fringe What is Beyond the Fringe? Miller helped to write and produce the musical revue Beyond the Fringe, Who starred in the musical revue? This launched, in addition to his own, the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
Was the musical revue successful?
Was Jonathan Miller's musical revue Beyond The Fringe successful?
Miller helped to write and produce the musical revue Beyond the Fringe, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1960. This launched, in addition to his own, the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Miller quit the show shortly after its move from London to Broadway in 1962, and took over as editor and presenter of the BBC's flagship arts programme Monitor in 1965. All these appointments were unsolicited invitations, the Monitor appointment arose because Miller had approached Huw Wheldon about taking up a place on the BBC's director training course. Wheldon assured him that he would "pick it up as he went along". Miller's first experience of directing a stage-play was for John Osborne, whose Under Plain Cover he directed in 1962. In 1964, he directed the play The Old Glory by the American poet Robert Lowell in New York City. It was the first play produced at the American Place Theatre and starred Frank Langella, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Lester Rawlins. The play won five Obie Awards in 1965 including an award for "Best American Play" as well as awards for Langella, Brown and Rawlins. He wrote, produced, and directed an adaptation for television of Alice in Wonderland (1966) for the BBC. He followed this with Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968) starring Michael Hordern, a television adaptation of M. R. James's 1904 ghost story "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad". By 1970, his reputation in British theatre was such that he mounted a National Theatre Company production of The Merchant of Venice starring Sir Laurence Olivier. He later resigned as associate director. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1950s, he came to prominence in the early 1960s in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett.

Miller began directing operas in the 1970s. His 1982 production of a "Mafia"-styled Rigoletto was set in 1950s Little Italy, Manhattan. In its early days, he was an associate director at the National Theatre. He later ran the Old Vic Theatre. As a writer and presenter of more than a dozen BBC documentaries, Miller became a television personality and public intellectual in Britain and the United States.

Life and career

Early life 
Miller grew up in St John's Wood, London, in a well-connected Jewish family. His father Emanuel (1892–1970), who was of Lithuanian descent and suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis, was a military psychiatrist and subsequently a paediatric psychiatrist at Harley House. His mother, Betty Miller (née Spiro) (1910–1965), was a novelist and biographer who was originally from County Cork, Ireland. Miller had an elder sister, Sarah (died 2006) who worked in television for many years and retained an involvement with Judaism that Miller, as an atheist, always eschewed. The young Miller was brought for assessment to several child psychiatrists, including Donald Winnicott. As a teenager he had many sessions with the psychiatrist Leopold Stein, whose sessions he enjoyed and in which they "simply conversed about philosophy and Hughlings Jackson's early neurological theories."

Miller was educated at Taunton School and St Paul's School, London where he developed an early (and ultimately lifelong) interest in the biological sciences. While at St Paul's School at the age of 12, Miller met and became close friends with Oliver Sacks and Sacks's best friend Eric Korn, friendships which remained crucial throughout the rest of their lives. In 1953, before leaving secondary school, he performed comedy several times on the BBC radio programme  Under Twenty Parade. Miller studied natural sciences and medicine at St John's College, Cambridge (MB BChir, 1959), where he was a member of the Cambridge Apostles before going on to train at University College Hospital in London.

While studying medicine, Miller was involved in  the Cambridge Footlights, appearing in the revues Out of the Blue (1954) and Between the Lines (1955). Good reviews for these shows, and for Miller's performances in particular, led to his performing on a number of radio and television shows while continuing his studies; these included appearances on Saturday Night on the Light, Tonight and Sunday Night at the London Palladium. He qualified as a physician in 1959 and then worked as a hospital house officer for two years, including at the Central Middlesex Hospital as house physician for gastroenterologist Francis Avery Jones.

1960s: Beyond the Fringe

Miller helped to write and produce the satirical  revue Beyond the Fringe, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1960. This launched, in addition to his own, the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Miller quit the show shortly after its move from London to Broadway in 1962, and took over as editor and presenter of the BBC's arts programme Monitor in 1965. The Monitor appointment arose because Miller had approached Huw Wheldon about taking up a place on the BBC's director training course. Wheldon assured him that he would "pick it up as he went along".

Miller's first experience of directing a stage-play was for John Osborne, whose Under Plain Cover he directed in 1962. In 1964, he directed the play The Old Glory by the American poet Robert Lowell in New York City. It was the first play produced at the American Place Theatre and starred Frank Langella, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Lester Rawlins. The play won five Obie Awards in 1965 including an award for "Best American Play" as well as awards for Langella, Brown and Rawlins.

He wrote, produced, and directed an adaptation for television of Alice in Wonderland (1966) for the BBC. He followed this with Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968) starring Michael Hordern, a television adaptation of M. R. James's 1904 ghost story "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad". He produced a National Theatre Company production of The Merchant of Venice starring Sir Laurence Olivier. He later resigned as associate director.

1970s: Medical history and opera
Miller held a research fellowship in the history of medicine at University College London from 1970 to 1973. In 1974, he also started directing and producing operas for Kent Opera and Glyndebourne, followed by a new production of The Marriage of Figaro for English National Opera in 1978. Miller's other turns as an opera director included productions of Rigoletto (in 1975 and 1982) and the operetta The Mikado (in 1987).

Miller drew upon his own experiences as a physician as writer and presenter of the BBC television series The Body in Question (1978), which caused some controversy for showing the dissection of a cadaver. For a time, he was a vice-president of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. In 1971, he defended multiracial immigration to the UK at length with Enoch Powell on the Dick Cavett Show.

1980s: Shakespeare and neuropsychology
In 1980, Miller was persuaded to join the troubled BBC Television Shakespeare project (1978–85). He became producer (1980–82) and directed six of the plays himself, beginning with a well received Taming of the Shrew starring John Cleese. In the early 1980s, Miller was a popular and frequent guest on PBS' Dick Cavett Show.

Miller wrote and presented the BBC television series, and accompanying book, States of Mind in 1983 and the same year directed Roger Daltrey as Macheath, the outlaw hero of the BBC's production of John Gay's 1728 ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera. He also became chair of Edinburgh Festival Fringe board of directors. In 1984, he studied neuropsychology with Dr. Sandra Witelson at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, before becoming a neuropsychology research fellow at the University of Sussex the following year.

1990s
In 1990, Miller wrote and presented a joint BBC/Canadian production titled, Born Talking: A Personal Inquiry into Language. The four-part series looked into the acquisition of language, and complexities surrounding language production, with special focus on sign language used by deaf people. This interest was contemporaneous with his friend Oliver Sacks' immersion in, and writing/publishing a book about Deaf Culture and deaf people entitled Seeing Voices.  Miller then wrote and presented the television series Madness (1991) and Jonathan Miller on Reflection (1998). The five-part Madness series ran on PBS in 1991. It featured a brief history of madness and interviews with psychiatric researchers, clinical psychiatrists, and patients in therapy sessions. In 1992, Opera Omaha staged the United States premiere of the Gioachino Rossini's 1819 opera Ermione, directed by Miller.

2000s: Atheism and return to directing
In 2004, Miller wrote and presented a television series on atheism entitled Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief (more commonly referred to as Jonathan Miller's Brief History of Disbelief) for BBC Four, exploring the roots of his own atheism and investigating the history of atheism in the world. Individual conversations, debates and discussions for the series that could not be included due to time constraints were aired in a six-part series entitled The Atheism Tapes. He also appeared on a BBC Two programme in February 2004, called What the World Thinks of God appearing from New York. The original three-part series aired on public television in the United States in 2007.

In 2007, Miller directed The Cherry Orchard at The Crucible, Sheffield, his first work on the British stage for 10 years. He also directed Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in Manchester and Bristol, and Der Rosenkavalier in Tokyo and gave talks throughout Britain during 2007 called An Audience with Jonathan Miller in which he spoke about his life for an hour and then fielded questions from the audience. He also curated an exhibition on camouflage at the Imperial War Museum. He appeared at the Royal Society of the Arts in London discussing humour (4 July 2007) and at the British Library on religion (3 September 2007).

In January 2009, after a break of 12 years, Miller returned to the English National Opera to direct his own production of La Bohème, notable for its 1930s setting. This same production ran at the Cincinnati Opera in July 2010, also directed by Miller.

2010s
On 15 September 2010 Miller, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK. In April and May 2011, Miller directed Verdi's La traviata in Vancouver, Canada, and in February and March 2012, Mozart's Così fan tutte in Washington, D.C.

On 25 November 2015 the University of London awarded Miller an honorary degree in Literature.

Personal life
Miller married Rachel Collet in 1956. They had two sons and a daughter. From 1961 to his death he lived on Gloucester Crescent in Camden Town, north London. On 27 November 2019, Miller died at the age of 85, following a long battle with Alzheimer's.

Parodies and representations
 Stevie Smith, a friend of his mother Betty Miller, "rather disloyally" included a thinly disguised and uncomplimentary version of the nine-year-old Miller, "precocious and brattish... constantly demanding attention", in her short story 'Beside the Seaside: A Holiday with Children' (1949).
Private Eye (which had a falling-out with Miller) occasionally lampooned him under the name "Dr Jonathan", depicting him as a Dr Johnson-like self-important man of learning.
 In the film for television Not Only But Always about the careers of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Jonathan Aris played Jonathan Miller as a young man; Aris reprised the role in the BBC Radio 4 play Good Evening (2008) by Roy Smiles.
 Along with the other members of Beyond the Fringe, he is portrayed in the play Pete and Dud: Come Again by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde.
In the BBC Radio Four series The Burkiss Way edition 35, broadcast on 2 April 1979, he was impersonated by Nigel Rees in a fairly lengthy parody "The Blood Gushing All over the Screen in Question", in which the history of nasty diseases was traced and the style of Miller's presentation was  sent up. It was written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick.
 In the 1980s a puppet of Miller appeared frequently in Spitting Image sketches, most notably "Bernard Levin and Jonathan Miller Talk Bollocks".
 In series 4, episode 6 of Peep Show, Jez is explaining that a "Melon-Off" involves a competition between men stood with melons on their erections, with the first man whose melon falls off declared the loser. Mark replies, "Right, and who won – Gore Vidal or Dr Jonathan Miller?"

Honours and awards
Special Tony Award (1963), with co-stars Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, "for their brilliance which has shattered all the old concepts of comedy" in the musical revue Beyond the Fringe.
Distinguished Supporter, Humanists UK.
Honorary Associate, National Secular Society.
Honorary Fellow, University College London.
Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Art.
Associate member, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Honorary Fellow, St John's College, Cambridge (1982).
Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Physicians (London and Edinburgh).
Honorary D.Phil., University of Cambridge.
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE; 1983).
Nomination: Best Director Tony Award (1986), for his revival of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.
Knight Bachelor (2002), for services to music and the arts.
Nominated artist of honour at Bornholm thanks to his instruction in Rønne Theater (Opera Island Bornholm; 2003).
Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
President, Rationalist Association (2006–2019)
Lifetime Achievement Award, Medical Journalists' Association (2012)

Bibliography

Books
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (1994 Jonathan Cape [pop-up book])
 
  (pop-up book intended for children)
 
 
  (The Applause Acting Series)
  (University Research Lecture Series No. 5)
 
 
  [collection of his photographs]

Editor

Contributor
 
 
 
  – Jonathan Miller: 'King Lear in Rehearsal: A Talk' and seven other essays
 
  Essays by Jonathan Miller Geoffrey O'Brien, Charles Rosen, Tom Stoppard and Garry Wills

Introductions and forewords
  (directors note)

Discography

Actor
Bridge on the River Wye (1962 Parlophone LP; as American Announcer, American G.I., American Lieutenant, British Sergeant)

Filmography

Actor
Beyond the Fringe (1964), TV version.
 One Way Pendulum (1964)
Sensitive Skin (as "Dr Cass", 2 episodes, 2005)

Director
Alice in Wonderland (1966; BBC television drama; Also writer and producer; Provides commentary track on DVD version)
Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968; BBC television drama).
Take a Girl Like You (1970, starring Hayley Mills).
BBC Television Shakespeare (1978–85):
The Taming of the Shrew (1980), starring John Cleese.
Timon of Athens (1981), starring Jonathan Pryce.
Antony and Cleopatra (1981), starring Colin Blakely.
Othello (1981), starring Anthony Hopkins and Bob Hoskins.
Troilus and Cressida (1981).
King Lear (1982), starring Michael Hordern.
The Beggar's Opera (1983; BBC television opera), starring Roger Daltrey and Bob Hoskins.

Presenter-writer
Monitor (1962; also editor).
The Zoo in Winter (1969), BBC, directed by Patrick Garland.
The Body in Question (1978–79), 13 episodes.
Equinox - Prisoner of Consciousness (1986)
Born Talking: A Personal Inquiry into Language (1990), 4 episodes.
Madness (1991).
Equinox - Moving Pictures (1991)
Jonathan Miller's Opera Works (1997), 6 episodes.
Jonathan Miller on Reflection (1998).
Absolute Rubbish with Jonathan Miller (2004)
Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief (2004), 3 episodes.
The Atheism Tapes (2004).

Interviewee
 In 1988 Miller made an extended appearance on the discussion programme After Dark, described here.
 Miller appears on the Puccini and Bach DVDs of this BBC series. In the Bach episode, he discusses his affection for the famous "Erbarme Dich" aria of the St Matthew Passion.
 Miller appears in this one-hour program on the painter.

Selected stage productions

Musical revue
Beyond the Fringe (performer, writer, producer; Edinburgh Festival; 1960).
Beyond the Fringe (performer, writer; Fortune Theatre, London; 1961–62).
Beyond the Fringe (performer, writer; John Golden Theatre. NYC; 27 October 1962 to 30 May 1964; 667 performances).

Oratorio
St. Matthew Passion (Director; St. George's Theatre, London, February 1994) with Paul Goodwin. A dramatised production of J.S. Bach's masterpiece, recorded for BBC Television. This production was also revived at London's National Theatre in September/October 2011 with Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Paul Goodwin.

Drama
The Old Glory (Director; American Place Theatre, 1964) starring Frank Langella, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Lester Rawlins.
The Merchant of Venice (Director; Cambridge Theatre, 1970) starring Laurence Olivier.
Danton's Death (Director; 1972) starring Christopher Plummer.
Long Day's Journey into Night (Director; Broadhurst Theatre, 28 April to 29 June 1986; 54 performances), starring Jack Lemmon.
Camera Obscura (Director; Almeida Theatre, 13 May to 8 June 2002; Theatre Royal, Bath, 11 to 15 June 2002; Theatre Royal, Winchester, 18 to 22 June 2002; The Oxford Playhouse 25 to 29 June 2002, starring Peter Eyre, and Diana Hardcastle.
King Lear (Director; Vivian Beaumont Theater 4 March to 18 April 2004; 33 performances).
The Cherry Orchard (Director; Crucible Theatre, 2007).

Opera
Over four decades, Miller has directed more than 50 operas in cities including London, New York, Florence, Milan, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Valencia and Tokyo.

Così fan tutte (Stage director; Kent Opera, 1974). The first of seven operas Miller directed for Kent Opera.
Rigoletto (Stage director; 1975). Set in the 19th century.
The Cunning Little Vixen (Producer; Glyndebourne, 1975).
Le nozze di Figaro (Stage director; English National Opera, 1978). A televised version was made in 1991.
Rigoletto (Stage and video director; English National Opera, 1982). Set in 1950s Little Italy, Manhattan.
The Mikado (Stage and video director; English National Opera, 1987) starring Eric Idle.
La traviata (Stage director; Glimmerglass Opera, 1989).
Kát'a Kabanová (Stage director and producer; Metropolitan Opera, 1991).
La fanciulla del West (Stage and video director; 1991).
Pelléas et Mélisande (Stage director and producer; Metropolitan Opera, 1995).
Rodelinda (Stage director; Salomons Science Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, 1996).
The Rake's Progress (Stage director and producer; Metropolitan Opera, 1997).
Le nozze di Figaro (Stage director and producer; Metropolitan Opera, 1998).
Die Zauberflöte (Stage and video director; 2000).
Tamerlano (Stage and video director; 2001).
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Stage and video director; 2003).
Falstaff (Stage director; New National Theatre Tokyo, 2004).
Jenůfa (Stage director; Glimmerglass Opera with New York City Opera in Cooperstown, New York, 29 July to 29 August 2006).
L'Orfeo (Stage director; Manchester and Bristol productions, 2007).
Der Rosenkavalier (Stage director; New National Theatre Tokyo, 2007).
La traviata (Stage director; Glimmerglass Opera, 2009).
La bohème (Stage director; Cincinnati Opera, 2010).
Pelléas et Mélisande (Stage director; Metropolitan Opera, 2005 and 2010).
La traviata (Director; Vancouver Opera, 2011)).
Miller's most recent opera productions in England were Cosi fan Tutte and Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House (both revived in 2012) and La Boheme and L'Elisir d'Amore at the English National Opera. His production of Rigoletto at the ENO is still being revived after 28 years and his production of The Mikado is about to return in its 25th year. His 1987 ENO production of The Barber of Seville has often been revived, most recently in 2017.

Museum and gallery exhibitions
Miller curated an exhibition on "Reflexion" (1998) at the National Gallery and one on "Motion in Art and Photography" at the Estorick Gallery in Islington.
Miller had three exhibitions of his own art work at Flowers East, the Boundary Gallery and at the Katz Gallery in Bond Street, London.

See also
 Las Meninas – considered by Miller in his On Reflection

Notes and references

Further reading

 [A memoir by Miller's son.]

External links 

 Production details, Theatre Archive, University of Bristol
 
 
 
 
 Jonathan Miller bio. – Miller's agents
 Audio: Jonathan Miller in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show The Forum
 What the World Thinks of God
 Jonathan Miller radio series on the origin of life – "Self Made Things"
 A six-part history of Public Health in England (includes a spill-over interview series)
 Jonathan Miller's choices on "Desert Island Discs"
 Jonathan Miller's Brief History of Disbelief
 Jonathan Miller on Language and the Mind

English theatre directors
1934 births
2019 deaths
20th-century atheists
21st-century atheists
Academics of University College London
Academics of the University of Sussex
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Alumni of University College London
British atheism activists
British opera directors
British secularists
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Edinburgh Festival Fringe staff
English atheists
English humanists
English Jews
English male writers
English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
English people of Irish-Jewish descent
English satirists
English television presenters
English writers
Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians
Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge
Jewish atheists
Knights Bachelor
Laurence Olivier Award winners
Materialists
People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society
Special Tony Award recipients
Writers from London
Neurological disease deaths in England
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Jesse C. Huffman (1869–1935) was an American theatrical director. 
Between 1906 and 1932 he directed or staged over 200 shows, mostly for the Shubert Brothers. 
Many of them were musical revues, musicals or operettas. 
He is known for The Passing Show series of revues that he staged from 1914 to 1924 at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, daring alternatives to the Ziegfeld Follies.

Early years
Jesse C. Huffman was born in Bowling Green, Ohio, in 1869. His father had been a general in the American Civil War.
Huffman became a boy actor at the age of twelve. 
Later he became stage director for the Harry Davis Stock Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He was introduced to the New York theater scene by the actor Richard Mansfield.
Huffman soon showed he had a talent as a director of book musicals with loose plots, and of musical revues.

In 1911 Huffman was made general director for the shows staged by the Shubert brothers in New York and on the touring circuit.
The Shuberts had the largest chain of theaters in the USA. Shows would first be played on Broadway, sometimes for just one day at the Ambassador Theatre so they could be advertised as "direct from Broadway", then sent on the road. 
The Shuberts arranged shows on a production line system. Sigmund Romberg composed or arranged the music; Harold R. Atteridge wrote the lyrics and librettos; Huffman directed the shows; Watson Barr designed the sets; and Allan K. Foster choreographed the dance numbers.

Passing Show

Huffman was responsible for The Passing Show series of revues from 1914 to 1924.
The Shuberts first staged The Passing Show in 1912 in competition with the Ziegfeld Follies.
Extravagant musical numbers and comedy sketches were roughly linked to an overall narrative. 
The Shubert staff writer Harold Atteridge prepared the book for the Passing Show of 1914 and continued with several subsequent shows.
Huffman was credited with staging the revue, which presumably meant he handled overall direction, including blocking, and also was involved in set design and lighting.

The Passing Show continued to compete with the Follies into the 1920s, offering a more risqué alternative where the girls came ever closer to being completely nude.
The last Passing Show opened on 3 September 1924 and ran for 106 performances. 
Huffman was director, and other Shubert staff including Romberg, Atteridge and Barret supplied music, lyrics and sets. 
The show featured the song Nothing Naughty in a Nightie.

Other musicals and revues

In February 1914 Huffman drew praise for the very modern stage settings used for Percy MacKaye's fantastic romance A Thousand Years Ago.
Huffman also directed Al Jolson vehicles such as Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (1916), Sinbad (1918), Bombo (1921) and Big Boy (1925).
Huffman was involved in many other Shubert musicals, particularly revues.
In 1922 he staged Make It Snappy, a revue that starred Eddie Cantor.
This was one of the "miscellaneously titled collations of froth" used to fill the Winter Garden Theatre while The Passing Show was away.

As the Roaring Twenties progressed, shows became more daring. 
Huffman acquiesced in J.J. Shubert's demand that the girls in the 1923 revue Artists and Models show their bare breasts. 
There were two fully nude scenes in this show, drawing comments from the local papers.
One critic wrote, "Never before in an American revue has a similar degree of nudity been obtained."
Out of town papers were scandalized, but described the show in considerable detail.
The show reopened the Winter Garden on 15 November 1927, staged by Huffman, with arrangements of one hundred nude chorus girls as a bracelet and as a cathedral. 
It ran for nineteen weeks.

Operettas

In the 1920s Huffman staged or directed many operettas for the Shuberts. These included The Rose of Stamboul (1922), My Maryland (1927), The Circus Princess (1927) and Countess Maritza (1928).
Other original Broadway productions of operettas included Blossom Time and The Student Prince. 
The operetta Blossom Time, with music by Franz Schubert arranged by Sigmund Romberg and lyrics and book by Dorothy Donnelly, opened at the Ambassador Theatre in New York on 29 September 1921 and ran for 592 performances. Huffman was the director. This was the second longest running musical of the 1920s.
At one point Blossom Time was running simultaneously (with different casts but essentially the same crew) at the Shubert Theatre and at the 44th Street Theatre.

The Student Prince in Heidelberg had music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly, based on the play Old Heidelberg by Rudolf Bleichman.
The show, directed by Huffman, opened at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre in New York on 2 December 1924, and ran for 608 performances. 
The Student Prince opened at His Majesty's Theatre in London on 3 February 1926, again directed by Huffman, and ran for 96 performances. 
It was the longest-running musical of the 1920s.

Last years

Huffman directed shows throughout the 1920s and into the start of the 1930s.
Nina Rosa, a musical play, ran for 137 performances at the Majestic Theatre in New York from 20 September 1930 to 17 January 1931. 
Lee and J.J. Shubert produced the show, and Huffman was credited with staging the entire production. 
Busby Berkeley said he had worked on the show, but was not credited, perhaps due to a disagreement with the Shuberts.

Jesse C. Huffman died in 1935.
It has been estimated that he directed or staged over 200 shows during his career.

List of Broadway shows

Broadway shows directed or staged by Huffman included:

[[File:Make It Snappy 1922 sheet music cover.JPG|thumb|Cover of sheet music for Make It Snappy (1922)]]

Pre-warThe Shulamite (melodrama) Director:  October 29, 1906 – November 1906The Love Route (melodrama) Staging:  October 30, 1906 – December 1906The Road to Yesterday (comedy) Director:  December 31, 1906 – August 1907The White Hen (musical comedy) Staging:  February 16, 1907 – May 18, 1907The Girl Behind the Counter (musical comedy) Director:  October 1, 1907 – June 6, 1908Nearly a Hero (musical comedy) Staging:  February 24, 1908 – June 6, 1908The Mimic World (1908) (revue) Staging:  July 9, 1908 – October 3, 1908Mlle. Mischief (operetta) Staging:  September 28, 1908 – December 19, 1908Going Some (farce) Director:  April 12, 1909 – July 1909The Ringmaster (drama) Staging:  August 9, 1909 – September 1909Bow-Sing (opera) Director:  March 20, 1911 – June 10, 1911La Belle Paree (revue) Staging:  March 20, 1911 – June 10, 1911, September 11, 1911 – September 16, 1911The Kiss Waltz (operetta) Staging:  September 18, 1911 – December 2, 1911The Never Homes (musical comedy) Staging:  October 5, 1911 – December 23, 1911The Duchess (comic opera) Staging:  October 16, 1911 – November 4, 1911A Night with the Pierrots / Sesostra / The Whirl of Society (musical comedy) Staging:  March 5, 1912 – June 29, 1912Two Little Brides (musical comedy) Staging:  April 23, 1912 – June 15, 1912The Man with Three Wives (operetta) Staging:  January 23, 1913 – March 8, 1913Lieber Augustin (operetta) Staging:  September 3, 1913 – October 4, 1913Oh, I Say! (musical comedy) Staging:  October 30, 1913 – December 27, 1913

War yearsThe Passing Show of 1914 (revue) Staging:  June 1, 1914 – September 3, 1914Miss Daisy (musical comedy) Staging:  September 9, 1914 – October 3, 1914Dancing Around (revue) Staging:  October 10, 1914 – February 13, 1915Experience (play with music) Director:  October 27, 1914 – June 5, 1915Maid in America (revue) Staging:  February 18, 1915 – May 22, 1915The Peasant Girl (musical comedy) Staging:  March 2, 1915 – June 5, 1915The Passing Show of 1915 (revue) Staging:  May 29, 1915 – October 2, 1915A World of Pleasure (revue) Staging:  October 14, 1915 – January 22, 1916Robinson Crusoe, Jr. (musical burlesque) Director:  February 17, 1916 – June 10, 1916The Passing Show of 1916 (revue) Staging:  June 22, 1916 – October 21, 1916The Show of Wonders (revue) Staging:  October 26, 1916 – April 21, 1917The Passing Show of 1917 (revue) Staging:  April 26, 1917 – October 13, 1917My Lady's Glove (operetta) Staging:  June 18, 1917 – June 30, 1917Doing Our Bit (revue) Director:  October 18, 1917 – February 9, 1918Over the Top (revue) Director:  November 28, 1917 – February 2, 1918Experience (play with music) Staging:  January 22, 1918 – Closing date unknownSinbad (revue) Director:  February 14, 1918 – March 29, 1919Follow the Girl (musical comedy) Staging:  March 2, 1918 – March 23, 1918Fancy Free (musical comedy) Staging:  April 11, 1918 – July 20, 1918The Passing Show of 1918 (revue) Staging:  July 25, 1918 – November 9, 1918Monte Cristo Jr. (musical burlesque) Staging:  February 12, 1919 – October 4, 1919Shubert Gaieties of 1919 (revue) Staging:  July 17, 1919 – October 18, 1919The Passing Show of 1919 (revue) Staging:  October 23, 1919 – June 5, 1920

Jazz ageThe Magic Melody (musical comedy) Staging:  November 11, 1919 – March 17, 1920Frivolities of 1920 (revue) Production Supervision: January 8, 1920 – February 28, 1920Cinderella on Broadway (revue) Staging:  June 24, 1920 – September 25, 1920Broadway Brevities of 1920 (revue) Director:  September 29, 1920 – December 18, 1920The Passing Show of 1921 (revue) Staging:  December 29, 1920 – May 28, 1921Just Married (comedy) Director:  April 26, 1921 – Closing date unknownThe Last Waltz (operetta) Director:  May 10, 1921 – October 29, 1921Blossom Time (operetta) Staging:  September 29, 1921 – January 27, 1923Bombo (musical comedy) Staging:  October 6, 1921 – April 8, 1922The Rose of Stamboul (operetta) Staging:  March 7, 1922 – June 10, 1922Make It Snappy (revue) Staging:  April 13, 1922 – July 1, 1922Whispering Wires (drama) Director:  August 7, 1922 – June 1923The Passing Show of 1922 (revue) Staging:  September 20, 1922 – December 2, 1922Springtime of Youth (musical comedy) Staging:  October 26, 1922 – December 23, 1922The Dancing Girl (musical comedy) Director:  January 24, 1923 – May 12, 1923The Passing Show of 1923 (revue) Director:  June 14, 1923 – September 15, 1923Topics of 1923 (revue) Director:  November 20, 1923 – March 22, 1924The Dream Girl (musical comedy) Staging:  August 20, 1924 – November 29, 1924The Passing Show of 1924 (revue) Staging:  September 3, 1924 – November 22, 1924The Student Prince (operetta) Staging:  December 2, 1924 – May 18, 1926Big Boy (musical comedy) Staging:  January 7, 1925 – March 14, 1925June Days (musical comedy) Staging:  August 6, 1925 – October 17, 1925Princess Flavia (operetta) Staging:  November 2, 1925 – March 13, 1926A Night in Paris (revue) Staging:  January 5, 1926 – July 10, 1926Blossom Time (operetta) Staging:  March 8, 1926 – March 20, 1926The Great Temptations (revue) Staging:  May 18, 1926 – November 6, 1926The Merry World (revue) Staging:  June 8, 1926 – August 21, 1926A Night in Paris (revue) Staging:  July 26, 1926 – October 30, 1926Katja (operetta) Staging:  October 18, 1926 – January 22, 1927The Pearl of Great Price (drama) Staging:  November 1, 1926 – November 1926Gay Paree (1926) (revue) Staging:  November 9, 1926 – April 9, 1927The Circus Princess (operetta) Staging:  April 25, 1927 – October 8, 1927My Maryland (musical comedy) Staging:  September 12, 1927 – June 9, 1928The Love Call (musical comedy) Staging:  October 24, 1927 – January 7, 1928Artists and Models (1927) (revue) Staging:  November 15, 1927 – March 24, 1928Lovely Lady (musical comedy) Staging:  December 29, 1927 – May 19, 1928Countess Maritza (operetta) Staging:  April 9, 1928 – April 1928The Greenwich Village Follies (1928) (revue) Director:  April 9, 1928 – July 28, 1928Nina Rosa (musical comedy) Director:  September 20, 1930 – January 17, 1931Marching By'' (musical comedy) Staging:  March 3, 1932 – March 12, 1932

References

Sources

 

1869 births
1935 deaths
American musical theatre directors
People from Bowling Green, Ohio Central Theatre was a Broadway theatre in New York City built in 1918.  It was located at 1567 Broadway, at the southwest corner with 47th Street, and seated approximately 1,100 patrons.  The architect was Herbert J. Krapp.  The theatre was built by the Shubert family on a site previously occupied by the Mathushek & Son piano factory.

The first production at the theatre was the play Forever After, by Owen Davis, which opened in 1918.  This moved to Playhouse Theatre for a long run.  A musical, Somebody's Sweetheart (music by Antonio Bafunno; book and lyrics by Alonzo Price), was a success at the theatre in 1919–20. Oscar Hammerstein II made his debut as librettist in January 1920 with Always You, which was followed by a successful revue by Arthur Wimperis, As You Were. In July 1920, Poor Little Ritz Girl opened, with some songs by Rodgers and Hart and others by Sigmund Romberg and Alex Gerber. Afgar was another successful musical in 1920–21. The Gingham Girl was a hit musical in 1923 with music by Albert Von Tilzer.

The theatre introduced movies in 1921 and alternated the new medium with live theatre and American burlesque until 1957, although legitimate theatre was absent from 1934 to 1951.  It changed its name to the Columbia Theatre in 1934, Gotham Theatre in 1944 and the Holiday Theatre in 1951.  A successful revue, Bagels and Yox played in 1951.  A revival of Abie's Irish Rose played in 1954.  Legitimate theatre ended at the house in 1956.  Under the names Odeon, then the Forum, and finally Movieland, the theatre played movies until 1988, when the Shuberts sold it. The building was converted into other uses.  Its lobby became the Roxy Deli, and the auditorium became first a disco, Club USA, and, in 2005, a W Hotel.

References

External links

Cinema Treasures
Museum of the City of New York

Former Broadway theatres
Shubert Organization
Broadway (Manhattan)
Demolished theatres in New York City