Legendary showman Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., creator of the Ziegfeld Follies, was born on March 21, 1869, in Chicago, Illinois. Anna Held, a charismatic actress Ziegfeld met in London in 1896, inspired him to create the follies, a musical revue featuring scantily clad chorus girls, pageantry, and comedy. "Your American girls are so beautiful," the French-born Held reportedly said, "the most beautiful girls in the world. If you could dress them up chic, you'd have a better show than the Folies-Bergére." The first of these shows mimicking the famous Paris revue opened at the New York Theatre in July 1907. Featuring a chorus line of fifty beauties, starring Anna Held, the show was titled the Follies of 1907. Soon known as the "Ziegfeld Follies," the revue was updated yearly until the Depression.
Married in 1897, Ziegfeld and Held worked together to produce a string of shows. Productions such as Miss Innocence and The French Maid showcased Held's good looks and magnetic personality. Used in advertisements for cigars, her lovely face was a common sight in barbershops around the country. Drawing on Ziegfeld's gift for publicity, Anna Held became one of the first stars of the modern entertainment industry.
Will Rogers and Fanny Brice were among the entertainers promoted by Florenz Ziegfeld. Now considered a theater legend, Ziegfeld also produced a variety of successful stage musicals including Showboat in 1927. He died in Hollywood in 1932.
- American Variety Stage, 1870-1920 features playbills from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1912, 1914, and 1919, as well as many other musical revues, along with playbills and playscripts from other forms of variety theater popular in the era. For a historical overview of the collection, see The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870 - 1920.
- Visit the collection Inventing Entertainment to access over 400 motion pictures and sound recordings intended for turn-of-the-century audiences. Browse the collection by title or search by keyword for something of interest.
- Read Today in History features on early twentieth-century entertainers Jelly Roll Morton, George Gershwin, Dorothy Gish, and W. C. Handy.
