Deathwatch: David Merrick, Broadway Producer, 88

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Arts/04/26/merrick.obit.ap/index.html

Broadway showman David Merrick dead at 88

April 26, 2000

NEW YORK (AP) -- David Merrick, Broadway's most successful producer whose
flair for showmanship and publicity helped create such hits as "Gypsy,"
"Hello, Dolly!" and "42nd Street," has died. He was 88.

Merrick, who suffered a stroke in the early '80s that severely affected his
speech and forced him to use a wheelchair, died early Tuesday in London,
according to a statement released in New York Wednesday by the David Merrick
Arts Foundation.

Merrick produced over 80 plays or musicals on Broadway including "Oliver!"
(1962), "Carnival" (1961), "Fanny" (1954), "Look Back in Anger" (1957),
"Becket" (1960), "Irma La Douce" (1960), "A Taste of Honey" (1960), "Stop
the World -- I Want to Get Off" (1962), "Cactus Flower" (1965),
"Philadelphia, Here I Come" (1966), "Forty Carats" (1968), "I Do! I Do!"
(1966) and "Promises, Promises" (1968).

During Merrick's heyday in the late 1950s and 1960s, the producer reportedly
grossed $20 million annually, earning some $2 million a year in salary from
his hits. His productions have won countless Tony Awards -- "Hello, Dolly!"
alone picked up 10 Tonys in 1964 -- as well as other theater prizes
including the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and London's Olivier
Award.

Publicity stunts
"I'll do anything to sell my plays," Merrick once said -- and he did.

The producer knew how to sell tickets to his shows, subscribing to the
theory that any publicity was good for the box office.

He once placed a monkey at the wheel of English taxicab with a sign on the
side of the vehicle proclaiming, "I am driving my master to see 'The
Matchmaker' (1955)." The cab was controlled by a driver hidden in the back
seat by a curtain.

In 1954, "Fanny," a musical which starred Ezio Pinza and Walter Slezak, was
Merrick's first big success. The reviews were largely negative, but the
producer got a two-year run out of the show through heavy advertising -- in
such faraway places as the French Riviera -- and a series of stunts that
kept it in the news. Among his gimmicks: He placed a life-size nude statue
of the musical's belly dancer in Central Park.

One of Merrick's most famous stunts involved the musical "Subways Are for
Sleeping," which received tepid notices from the critics. Undeterred,
Merrick took a newspaper ad with rave quotes from seven men who just
happened to have the same names as the critics for New York's seven daily
newspapers.

Even Merrick's feuds with actors in his shows helped sell tickets.

The producer battled regularly with Jackie Gleason, who starred in the
musical "Take Me Along" (1959). He also fought with Anna Maria Alberghetti,
star of "Carnival" (1961), who reportedly hung his photograph in the
bathroom of her dressing room.

One of Merrick's most famous stunts involved the musical "Subways Are for
Sleeping," which received tepid notices from the critics. Undeterred,
Merrick took a newspaper ad with rave quotes from seven men who just
happened to have the same names as the critics for New York's seven daily
newspapers. The advertisement ran in one edition of the New York
Herald-Tribune before it was noticed -- and then yanked.

Triumphs and failures
"I never wanted to be an actor," he once said. "I would prefer to be a
playwright, but I don't have the talent. So, being stage-struck, I put on
the other fellow's plays."

One of the producer's biggest triumphs was "Hello, Dolly!" The musical was
based on Thorton Wilder's "The Matchmaker," which Merrick had produced
successfully on Broadway nearly 10 years earlier.

Merrick also brought the British to Broadway. He imported successful English
musicals including "Oliver!" and "Stop the World -- I Want to Get Off" as
well as offering American audiences the work of playwrights John Osborne,
Tom Stoppard, Shelagh Delaney, Joe Orton and Irish author Brian Friel.

Merrick was not immune to failure. His flop musicals were legendary,
particularly "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which never officially opened in New
York despite the potent box-office draw of two television stars, Mary Tyler
Moore and Richard Chamberlain. Among his other unsuccessful musicals were
"Mata Hari," about the World War I spy, which starred Marisa Mell and
Pernell Roberts, and "The Baker's Wife," which also never opened in New York
despite a lengthy road tour before Broadway.

More recently, despite his infirmities, Merrick invested heavily in the 1996
musical "State Fair," based on the 1945 and 1962 films of that name, and his
name was listed above the title.

Born in St. Louis with the name David Margulois, Merrick attended Washington
University and later St. Louis University where he majored in law. In 1946,
he became general manager for director and producer Herman Shumlin. Three
years later, Merrick produced his first play, "Clutterbuck." It was not a
success.

Behind the curtain
Merrick's private life was as stormy as his public one. He had five wives
and six marriages. He was married to wife No. 3, Etan, twice, and the couple
frequently battled in court over their various divorce proceedings. His
fourth wife was Karen Prunczik, who played Anytime Annie in the original
company of "42nd Street." In 1989, Natalie Lloyd, his lawyer's receptionist,
became his live-in companion. They were married last November.

One of Merrick's biggest and most dramatic successes, "42nd Street,"
occurred late in his producing career. Adapted from the 1933 Ruby Keeler
movie, the musical had a run of more than eight years, closing in January
1989 after 3,486 performances, the longest run of any Merrick show.

It was directed by Gower Champion, who died of a rare blood cancer hours
before the New York opening in August 1980. Merrick announced Champion's
death to a stunned opening-night audience immediately after the curtain came
down.

Merrick's body will be flown to the United States for a private burial. A
memorial service is to be announced at a later date.

In addition to his wife, Merrick is survived by two daughters from previous
marriages, Cecilia Anne of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, and Marguerite of New
York.

Copyright 2000  The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This mailing list is brought to you by Slick.ORG at http://www.slick.org
to remove yourself from the list, send e-mail to majordomo@slick.org
and include the words "unsubscribe deathwatch" in the message (not in the
subject).  For web-based help, go to:

http://www.slick.org/cgi-bin/majordomo

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *