Marc Klaw, (born Marcus Alonzo Klaw, May 29, 1858 – June 14, 1936) was an American lawyer,

theatrical producer A theatrical producer is a person who oversees all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The producer is responsible for the overall financial and managerial functions of a production or venue, raises or provides financial backing, and hire ...

, theater owner, and a leading figure of the

Theatrical Syndicate Starting in 1896, the Theatrical Syndicate was an organisation that in the United States that controlled the majority of bookings in the country's leading theatrical attractions. The six-man group was in charge of theatres and bookings. Beginnin ...

Life and work

Referred to as both Mark and Marc, he was born in

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Miss ...

, the child of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants from Germany. He studied law at

Louisville Law School The University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, commonly referred to as The University of Louisville School of Law, U of L Brandeis School of Law, or the Brandeis School of Law, is the law school of the University of Louisville. ...

, graduating in 1879. He established a law practice in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, and worked as a part-time drama critic. In 1881 he moved to New York City to work on legal issues regarding the theater for theater executive

Gustave Frohman Gustave Frohman (c. 1854 – August 16, 1930) was a theatre producer and advance man. He was one of three Frohman brothers who entered show business and he worked for most of his career alongside his brother, Charles Frohman. These two financ ...

. Klaw was drawn to the theater business, and for several years was a manager of tours. He formed a partnership with A. L. "Abe" Erlanger that started as a theatrical booking agency in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1888. Operating as "

Klaw & Erlanger Klaw and Erlanger was an entertainment management and production partnership of Marc Klaw and Abraham Lincoln Erlanger based in New York City from 1888 through 1919. While running their own considerable and multi-faceted theatrical businesses on ...

" they expanded their business through the acquisition and construction of theaters, to the point where they controlled most of the theaters in the

U.S. South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

and several major locations in New York. Among their holdings were they owned "Klaw and Erlanger's Costume Company" and the "Klaw & Erlanger Opera Company." By 1895 Klaw & Erlanger were the second largest booking company in the US."Marcus Klaw"
'Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders'', 1983, Greenwood Press, , pp.724-726 In 1896, Klaw & Erlanger joined with

Al Hayman Al Hayman, also known as Raphael Hayman, (1847 – February 10, 1917) was the business partner of the better-known Charles Frohman who together with others established the Theatrical Syndicate. In addition to the financial backing, ownership an ...

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

, Samuel F. Nixon, and J. Fred Zimmerman to form the "Theatrical Syndicate". Their organization established systemized booking networks throughout the US and created a monopoly that controlled every aspect of contracts and bookings until the late 1910s when the

Shubert brothers The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th cen ...

broke their hold on the industry."The Theatrical Syndicate"
wayneturney.20m.com, accessed December 3, 2011 Marc Klaw grave Clayton 2014

Despite being nearly universally despised in the industry for their ruthless tactics, Klaw and Erlanger produced dozens of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

plays and financed many others including the early editions of the

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Ai ...

."Marc Klaw Broadway Listing"
Internet Broadway database Listing, accessed December 3, 2011. The partnership of Klaw & Erlanger was hurt as a result of the

Actors' Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

strike of 1919. The partnership ended in 1919,"Marc Klaw Dies in England At 78" ''The New York Times'', June 15, 1936, p.21 and the last Broadway production by "Klaw and Erlanger" was in 1919 (''The Velvet Lady''). After that, Klaw built the

Klaw Theatre The Klaw Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 251–257 West 45th Street (now a part of George Abbott Way) in Midtown Manhattan. Built in 1921 for producer Marcus Klaw, the theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa. Rachel Crothers' '' Nice ...

and produced plays until his retirement in 1927.

Later years

After his retirement, in 1929 Klaw moved to England, where he died in 1936 at Bracken Fell,

Hassocks Hassocks is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. Its name is believed to derive from the tufts of grass found in the surrounding fields. Located approximately north of Brighton, with a populatio ...

, West Sussex. He is buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist's Church, Clayton.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klaw, Marc American theatre managers and producers American people of German-Jewish descent Kentucky lawyers People from Paducah, Kentucky American expatriates in England 1858 births 1936 deaths People from Hassocks

Life and work

Later years

References

Further reading

External links