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Leonard Sillman

b. 9 Might 1908, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 23 January 1982, NEW YORK, NY, USA. From age 14 Sillman examined dance in NY and in 1925, despite his youngsters and inexperience, took the best role inside a touring organization version of Woman, Be Great!, which on Broadway had starred Fred Astaire. He made an appearance on Broadway in little functions in Merry-Go-Round (1927) prior to going to Hollywood where he trained dance and in addition made some small appearances in movies, including Bombshell (1933), which starred Jean Harlow. Sillman’s actual like, though, was for the stage and in 1933 he created a revue, Lo And Behold, in Pasadena, California. In the display had been several mentioned Hollywood performers, including Tyrone Power, Eve Arden and Kay Thompson, aswell as Sillman’s sister, June Carroll. The display’s achievement was in a way that the following 12 months Sillman re-staged it on Broadway. Renamed New Encounters (1934), it starred beginners such as for example Henry Fonda and Imogene Coca. From after that until 1968, Sillman staged 13 editions of New Encounters and also offered a radio edition in 1948 and a film edition in 1952. The second option was photographed through the 1952 stage creation, which starred Eartha Kitt, Alice Ghostley and Paul Lynde. Following this release of the brand new Faces, Sillman discovered it hard to attain the same regular. The 1962 and 1968 editions specifically, had been flops. Among additional Broadway productions of Sillman’s, not absolutely all of which had been musicals, had been Trip’s End plus they Knew What They Desired (both 1939), All In Fun (1941, that was an expensive flop), If The Footwear Suits (1946, another failing), Mrs. Patterson (1954), Face mask And Gown and Miss Isobel (both 1957), ANOTHER String (1960), The Family members Method (1965) and a revival of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever (1970). In the 70s Sillman started work on a fresh release of New Encounters. Although this didn’t reach Broadway, he do stage it in the Ballroom on Western Broadway in 1977. Although stressed by it becoming overlong, and with Sillman himself unwell, he offered a show where songs from many of his early displays had been performed by performers such as for example Ann Anello, June Carroll, Virginia DeLuce, Brandon Maggart and Jeremy Blowing wind. (A film entitled New Encounters Of 1937 isn’t linked to Sillman’s productions.)

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