Who's Who in Musicals: We To Z
by John Kenrick
(Copyright 1997-2003)

Weber, Joseph
Actor, producer, director
b. Aug. 11, 1867 (New York City) - d. May 10, 1942 (Los Angeles)
Weber and Lew Fields met as schoolboys on Manhattan's impoverished Lower East Side. They formed a comedy act and developed a series of ethnic routines while touring the variety circuits. In time, they perfected the characters "Meyer" (the tall Fields) and "Mike" (the diminutive Weber), a pair of bewhiskered German immigrants with broad accents, bristling whiskers and garish clothes. The trim Weber padded himself to an enormous girth, and wore a loud checkered suit -- in contrast to the taller, plainer Fields. "Meyer" invariably tried to swindle "Mike," always ending in a knockabout battle. Weber and Fields became vaudeville's definitive "Dutch" act (a corruption of "deutsch," the German word for . . .well, "German"). Weber once said that "all the public wanted to see was Fields knock the hell out of me." They became one of the all-time top vaudeville acts, inspiring numerous imitators.

In 1896, Weber and Fields opened their own theater on Broadway, producing a popular series of musical burlesques that spoofed theatrical hits and current events. Their best full length send-ups included Cyranose de Bricabrac (1899), Quo Vass Iss, and a lavish parody of The Merry Widow (1908). They also produced a series of variety shows that mixed one-act spoofs with vaudeville acts. With nonsensical titles like Whirl-i-gig (1899), Hoity Toity (1901) and Higgeldy Piggledy (1904), these shows offered Weber and Fields in trademark slapstick routines while showcasing such top musical comedy talents as Fay Templeton, Lillian Russell and DeWolf Hopper. 

After dissolving their partnership in 1904, Weber stuck to producing and starring in knockabout burlesques, while Fields concentrated on developing musical comedies. They reunited in 1912 for Hokey Pokey, and made occasional appearances together. The duo recreated their old routines in several films and radio broadcasts until Fields died in 1941. Weber survived him by less than a year. Both men had enjoyed marriages that lasted over half a century. For more on this team, read the magnificent From the Bowery to Broadway: Lew Fields and the Roots of American Popular Theater (Fields, Armond & L. Marc Fields, New York, Oxford University Press, 1993).

Webb, Clifton
(b. Webb Parmalee Hollenbeck)
Actor, singer, dancer
b. Nov. 19, 1891 (Indianapolis, Ind.) - d. Oct. 13, 1966 (Beverly Hills)
Privately tutored, Webb made his stage debut at age 7, and appeared in some two dozen operas before reaching Broadway as "Bosco" in The Purple Road (1913). He appeared in eighteen Broadway musicals between 1913 and 1938, working his way from featured dancer to leading man. Six feet tall and lean, Webb cut an elegant figure on stage and sang with a clear, gentle tenor voice. After appearing with Marilyn Miller in Sunny (1925), he introduced George and Ira Gershwin's "I've Got a Crush on You" in Treasure Girl (1928), Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz's "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan" in The Little Show (1929), and Irving Berlin's "Not for All the Rice in China" in As Thousands Cheer (1933).

Despite his impressive musical credentials, Hollywood classified Webb as a character actor, playing waspish, elitist roles in such films as Laura, The Razor's Edge and Three Coins in the Fountain. He also played the title role in the Mr. Belvedere film series. Webb's effeminate mannerisms flaunted his homosexuality in the world's face, but a scrupulous private life kept him free of any scandal. But he was at least honest with himself. When a belligerent director asked if Webb was a homosexual, the actor unhesitatingly replied, "Devout!"

The formidable Mabelle Webb dismissed questions about her son's father by saying, "We never speak of him, he didn't care for the theatre." Webb showed extreme devotion to his mother, who lived with him until her death at age 92. When Webb's mourning for Maybelle dragged on for months, longtime friend Noel Coward remarked with exasperation, "It must be tough to be orphaned at seventy-one." Webb's elegant taste kept him on Hollywood's best-dressed lists for decades.

Weill, Kurt
Composer
b. March 2, 1900 (Dessau, Germany) - d. April 3, 1950 (New York City)
A leading composer of modern opera, Weill created several extraordinary scores for the popular musical theatre. In his native Germany, he collaborated with Marxist playwright Bertold Brecht on Mahagonny and the acclaimed Threepenny Opera (1933) with its memorable ballad "Mack the Knife." The show enjoyed tremendous success in Europe, but flopped on Broadway. To avoid Nazi persecution, Weill emigrated to the US with wife Lotte Lenya in 1935. His gift for combining irresistible melody with the dramatic needs of serious theater soon drew him to Broadway. With playwright Maxwell Anderson as librettist & lyricist, Weill composed the score for Knickerbocker Holiday (1938), a scathing parody of dictatorships that included the bittersweet hit "September Song." Moss Hart provided the book and Ira Gershwin penned the lyrics for Weill's Lady In the Dark (1941), a landmark success that starred Gertrude Lawrence and included "Jenny" and "My Ship."

Weill worked with poet Ogden Nash on One Touch of Venus (1943), in which Mary Martin introduced "Speak Low." Weill then created the opera Street Scene (1947) with poet Langston Hughes, Love Life (1948) with Alan Jay Lerner and Lost in the Stars (1949) with Maxwell Anderson. At the time of Weill's death at age 50, he was working on a stage version of Huckleberry Finn. Lenya remained a tireless champion of her husband's work, starring in a long-running 1954 Off-Broadway production of Threepenny Opera that did much to reinforce Weill's reputation.

White, George
Producer, director, dancer
b. 1890 (New York City) - d. Oct. 11, 1968 (Hollywood, CA)
This handsome vaudeville hoofer danced in several Broadway revues, including Florenz Ziegfeld's Follies. When White suggested that Ziegfeld could improve the quality of the dances in his shows, an outraged Ziegfeld fired him. Undaunted, White soon began producing a series of lavish revues called "Scandals," giving Ziegfeld serious competition. White directed and produced more than a dozen editions between 1919 and 1939, putting the accent on music, comedy and top notch dancing. White's songwriters included George Gershwin, Harold Arlen and the team of DeSylva, Henderson and Brown. His stars included Ed Wynn, Rudy Vallee, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, comedians Willie and Eugene Howard, and Ethel Merman – who introduced "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" in the 1931 edition. Selecting his showgirls for talent as well as beauty, White introduced future screen stars Alice Faye and Eleanor Powell. He eventually produced several screen versions of the Scandals, but faded into obscurity after the 1940s.

White, Miles
Costume designer
b. July 27, 1914 (Oakland, CA) – d. Feb 17, 2000 (New York City)
This versatile artist made his mark creating atmospheric costumes for the original Broadway productions of Oklahoma (1943), Carousel (1945) and Bloomer Girl (1947). He received Tony Awards for Bless You All (1951) and Hazel Flagg (1953), and his costumes were seen in such musicals as Two's Company (1952), Take Me Along (1959) and Bye, Bye, Birdie (1960), among many others. White also worked on many Hollywood films, including the musicals Up In Arms (1944) and There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954). Some of his most fanciful designs appeared in producer Michael Todd's all-star epic Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). Many of White's original costume sketches are preserved in the Museum of the City of New York's theatre collection.

White, Onna
Dancer, choreographer
b. Mar. 24, 1922 (Nova Scotia, Canada) - April 8, 2005 (West Hollywood, CA)
A sickly child, White began to dance at the suggestion of her family doctor. She made her Broadway debut as a replacement ensemble dancer in Finian's Rainbow (1947), then appeared in Regina (1949), Arms and the Girl (1950) and both the New York and London casts of Guys and Dolls (1950). After working as assistant to Michael Kidd, White choreographed the London production of Fanny (1956), then stunned Broadway with her glorious dances in Meredith Willson's The Music Man (1957). She went on to choreograph a dozen more Broadway musicals, including Take Me Along (1959), the New York version of Half a Sixpence (1965), Mame (1966), 1776 (1969), Gigi (1973), Goodtime Charley (1975), I Love My Wife (1977) and Working (1978). Although nominated eight times, White never received the Tony Award.

White's hallmark was making dance routines seem like believable, spontaneous extensions of everyday movement -- whether for one or two dancers ("Take Me Along") or a massive ensemble ("Mame"). White adapted her stage dances for the screen versions of The Music Man (1962), 1776 (1972) and Mame (1974). She also choreographed the screen version of Bye, Bye Birdie (1963), and won raves (and a special Academy Award citation) for her magnificent dance sequences in Oliver (1968). Her last screen work was for Disney's Pete's Dragon (1977). After a prolonged retirement, she died of natural causes at age 83.

Williams, Bert
Singer, dancer, comedian
b. Nov. 12, 1874 (New Providence, Nassau) - d. Mar. 4, 1922 (New York City)
Walker, George W.
Singer, dancer, comedian
b. 18?? (Lawrence, KS) - d. Jan. 6, 1911 (Central Islip, NY)
In an age when racism was not questioned, Williams and Walker broke the longstanding color barrier in popular entertainment. Williams learned his craft in minstrel shows and always worked in black face, but broke the mold when he eventually refused to poke fun at his race. He teamed up with song-and-dance man George Walker in the 1890s, forming a ragtime musical comedy act that worked its way to vaudeville stardom. They expanded their act into several full length musicals, most notably In Dahomey (1903) -- which had a brief run in New York but enjoyed much greater success in London. Williams and Walker gave royal command performances at the same time that many American hotels and restaurants would not allow them as customers. When illness forced Walker to leave the stage in 1909, Williams had to re-define himself as a solo performer. 

Williams starred in Florenz Ziegfeld's Follies from 1910 through 1919, becoming the first African American to co-star with whites in a major Broadway production. His routines included an acclaimed pantomime of a poker game, his signature comic ballad, "Nobody," and songs like "You Got the Right Church But the Wrong Pew." A favorite in vaudeville, he became the first black headliner on the Keith-Albee circuit. One incident bears mentioning here – when Williams stepped up to the bar in New York's elegant Astor Hotel and ordered a drink, a white bartender tried to scare him off by telling Williams the charge was $50. Williams took a thick roll of hundred dollar bills out of his pocket, placed it on the bar and ordered a round for everyone in the room.

Williams appeared in several silent films that bear mute testimony to his comic genius. Never willing to rest, he ignored ominous symptoms while touring for the Shubert Brothers in 1922, and collapsed during a performance in Detroit. Taken back to his home in Manhattan, the much-loved Williams died a few days later at age 48.

Willson, Meredith
(b. Robert Meredith Reiniger)
Composer, lyricist, librettists
b. May 18, 1902 (Mason City, Iowa) - d. June 15, 1984 (Santa Monica, Ca)
At 17, Willson played flute and piccolo in John Phillip Sousa's legendary concert band, and at age 23 joined the NY Philharmonic. He eventually became one of the most sought after musical directors on network radio, and penned the hit song "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You." Willson composed the background scores for several feature films, including The Little Foxes (1941). He made his Broadway debut writing the book, music and lyrics for The Music Man (1957), which included the irresistible "Seventy-Six Trombones" and the moving "Till There Was You." This surprise hit swept the Tony's, (beating out West Side Story for Best Musical), made Robert Preston and Barbara Cook top musical stars, ran for several years, and became a popular film starring Preston and Shirley Jones.

Willson was never able to match this mega-hit, but had a solid success with The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960) starring Tammy Grimes. Willson's musical version of Miracle on 34th Street called Here's Love (1963) had a decent Broadway run, but has not proved a lasting success. After 1491 (1969) – a musical about Christopher Columbus – closed on the road, Willson retired.

Winninger, Charles
Actor, singer
b. May 26, 1884 (Athens, Wisconsin) - d. Jan. 19, 1969 (Palm Springs, CA)
This ebullient comic quit school at age 9 to join his family's vaudeville act, later working his way into stock and touring theatrical companies. Winninger made his Broadway musical debut in The Yankee Girl (1910), where his blustery persona and nimble footwork made him an immediate favorite. He appeared in several more musical and revues including The Cohan Revue (1916 & 1918), the Shubert's Passing Show (1919) and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920. As the original Jimmy Smith in No, No, Nanette (1925), he introduced "I Want to Be Happy," which he finished with a gleeful back flip. Winninger then took on the most memorable role of his career, Captain Andy Hawks in Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat (1927). Winninger repeated his heartwarming performance (and his merry cries of "HAPP-eee New Year!!") in the 1932 Broadway revival, the 1936 film version, and a radio variety series.

Winninger's warmth made him a popular character actor in Hollywood, where he appeared in such film musicals as Babes in Arms (1939), Little Nellie Kelly (1940) and Coney Island (1943). Perhaps his most memorable film role was Abel Frake, the farmer who takes his family to Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair (1945). His long (and often acrimonious) marriage to musical comedy star Blanche Ring ended after years of separation in 1951. After making his final Broadway appearance in a revival of Music in the Air (1951), Winninger made occasional film appearances into the early 1960s.

Wodehouse, Pelham Grenville (P.G.)
Lyricist, librettist
b. Oct. 15, 1881 (Guildford, UK) - d. Feb. 14, 1975 (Southampton, UK)
One of the most famous comic novelists of the early 20th Century, Wodehouse played an important role in the development of the Broadway musical. Frequently teamed with fellow librettist Guy Bolton, Wodehouse collaborated with such composers as Victor Herbert, Rudolph Friml, Ivan Caryll, Ivor Novello and Sigmund Romberg. Wodehouse and Bolton made history when they worked with composer Jerome Kern on a series of intimate musicals for Broadway's smallest house, The Princess Theatre. This series included several of the most distinctive American hits of that era, including Oh Boy! (1917), Leave It to Jane (1917) and Oh, Lady! Lady! (1918).

Wodehouse had a knack for writing naturalistic, believable dialogue, and for creating characters that were eccentric yet likeable. He and Bolton contributed the libretto for the George and Ira Gershwin hit Oh Kay! (1926) and wrote the first (and partially discarded) script for Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1934). Staying in England to avoid tax problems, Wodehouse devoted his later years to non-theatrical writing. His well-known Jeeves stories, which formed the basis for the ill-fated Andrew Lloyd Webber musical By Jeeves (2001). Few realize that Wodehouse wrote the lyric for Jerome Kern's "Bill," which was originally written for (but deleted from) Oh Lady! Lady! When Kern used the song in Show Boat (1927), lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II always made a point of crediting Wodehouse for the fine lyric.

Wood, Peggy (Margaret)
Actress, singer
b. Feb. 9, 1892 (Brooklyn, NY) - d. Mar. 18, 1978 (Stamford, CT)
This gifted actress was a descendant of American folk legend Daniel Boone. Wood's father encouraged her musical ambitions, and as a teenager she studied with the famed soprano Calve. She made her Broadway debut in the chorus of Victor Herbert's Naughty Marrietta (1910) at age 16, and appeared in several lesser operettas before winning raves starring as Ottilie in the hit Maytime (1917). With co-star Charles Purcell, she introduced Sigmund Romberg's "Will You Remember?" ("Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart!") Five foot six with a porcelain complexion and striking blue eyes, Wood's versatility and solid professionalism led to starring roles in many more musicals and straight plays in both London and New York.

Noel Coward selected Wood to create the role of Sarah Millick in the original London production of Bitter Sweet (1929), where she introduced "Zigeuner" and "The Bitter Sweet Waltz" ("I'll See You Again"). She later starred in the first Broadway cast of Coward's comedy Blithe Spirit, and won nationwide fame as the mother in the long-running American TV series I Remember Mama (1949-1957). Wood is probably best remembered as the indomitable Mother Abbess in the film version of The Sound of Music (1965), for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Ironically, her once-glorious voice was no longer up to the demands of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and her singing had to be dubbed.

Yeston, Maury
Composer, lyricist
b. Oct. 23, 1945 (Jersey City, NJ)
Yeston was a noted musicologist and an associate professor at Yale University when his musical adaptation of Fellini's film 8 1/2 (with libretto by playwright Arthur Kopit) was picked up by Broadway director Tommy Tune. Nine (1982) was an unexpected hit, winning five Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score. Yeston's haunting "In a Very Unusual Way" became a favorite with cabaret singers, and the show enjoyed a profitable two year run. Yeston and Kopit also collaborated on a musical version of Phantom of the Opera. Although Andrew Lloyd Webber's version beat theirs to Broadway, the Yeston-Kopit Phantom has enjoyed numerous regional productions.

When Tune's production of Grand Hotel (1989) was in trouble, he called in Yeston to provide additional songs, including the show-stopping "Love Can't Happen." With librettist Peter Stone, Yeston took on the daunting task of creating a musical inspired by the sinking of the Titanic (1997). This show became a surprise hit, winning Yeston his second set of Tonys for Best Score and Best Musical. Yeston molds his songs to fit the dramatic needs of shows. His classical compositions include Goya - A Life in Song and An American Cantata.

Youmans, Vincent
Composer
b. Sept. 27, 1898 (New York City) - d. April 5, 1946 (Denver, CO)
Youmans was a runner for a Wall Street brokerage house when he was drafted to fight in World War I. While producing troop shows for the Navy, he fell in love with the theatre. After postwar stints as a Tin Pan Alley song plugger and rehearsal pianist, he collaborated with lyricist Ira Gershwin on the score for the now-forgotten Broadway musical Two Little Girls in Blue (1921). Youmans' next show was Wildflower (1923), a 477 performance hit with lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. No, No, Nanette (1925) was Youmans' most lasting success, written with lyricist Irving Caesar. The score included the hit songs "Tea For Two" and "I Want to Be Happy." The fresh and often ambitious melodies in Hit the Deck (1927), Rainbow (1928) and Take a Chance (1932) gave Youmans a reputation second only to George Gershwin's, but tuberculosis and heavy drinking abbreviated his career. He attempted a comeback with a ballet revue in 1943, but its failure helped to bring on his final decline.

Ziegfeld, Florenz, Jr.
Producer
b. March 15 or 21, 1867 (Chicago) - d. July 22, 1932 (New York City)
The most famous producer in theatrical history began his career as manager for the strongman Sandow, transforming a sideshow performer into a major vaudeville star. Ziegfeld made his first splash on Broadway producing a series of musicals starring French music hall star Anna Held – who became his common law wife. In 1907, Ziegfeld introduced his Follies, a popular series of revues that eventually had more than twenty editions. (After his death, The Shuberts staged several more editions, but none were in the same class as those supervised by Ziegfeld.)

The Follies had one stated goal – "Glorifying the American Girl," and for many years Ziegfeld's chorus girls set the standard for beauty and glamour. Ziegfeld spared no expense on the Follies, bringing together many of the finest composers and comic talents in the business. Victor Herbert and George Gershwin contributed songs to various editions, and Irving Berlin wrote the series anthem – "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody." Performers Fanny Brice, W.C. Fields, Nora Bayes, Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers and Bert Williams did some of their finest work in the Follies. Ziegfeld also produced several outstanding book musicals, including Rio Rita (1927), Show Boat (1927), Smiles (1928), and the Broadway staging of Noel Coward's Bittersweet (1929).

Ziegfeld's personal life was as colorful as any of his shows. He dumped Anna Held to marry comedienne Billie Burke, and his infamous affairs with various Follies beauties made frequent headlines, most notably his torrid romance with Lillian Lorraine. Like Held before her, Burke learned to look the other way. But it should be noted that most of Ziegfeld's chorines insisted that their boss was a perfect gentleman who was always ready to assist them and their families with no expectation of sexual favors. When the Great Depression struck in 1930, ill-advised investments and a lifetime of profligate spending left Ziegfeld bankrupt. Seven decades after Ziegfeld's death, his name remains a synonym for Broadway at its most glamorous. For more on this extraordinary man, see Ziegfeld 101.

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