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Gilman Kraft
Gilman Kraft (April 22, 1926 – June 27, 1999) was an American publisher and former owner of ''Playbill''. Biography Kraft was born in Union City, New Jersey on April 22, 1926. During World War II, he served as a Japanese linguist. After graduating from Columbia College in 1947, he founded the Reader's Subscription book club in 1951, and hired Lionel Trilling, Jacques Barzun, and W. H. Auden as editors. In 1957, Kraft took over the then-flagging Broadway program service ''Playbill'' and operated it for ten years. He was also publisher of ''Show'' magazine in 1965 and 1966. He then moved to Los Angeles to found Performing Arts in 1966, while also investing in commercial and residential real estate. The magazine he founded provides printed programs for the Los Angeles County Music Center, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, San Francisco Opera and Ballet, the Pasadena Playhouse and more than 40 other venues in California. Personal life Kraft was married to Ruth Kraft. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's program. ''Playbill'' was first printed in 1884 for a single theater on 21st Street in New York City. The magazine is now used at nearly every Broadway theatre, as well as many Off-Broadway productions. Outside New York City, ''Playbill'' is used at theaters throughout the United States. As of September 2012, its circulation was 4,073,680. History What is known today as ''Playbill'' started in 1884, when Frank Vance Strauss founded the New York Theatre Program Corporation specializing in printing theater programs. Strauss reimagined the concept of a theater program, making advertisements a standard feature and thus transforming what was then a leaflet into a fully designed magazine. The new format proved popular with theatergoers, who s ... [...More Info...] |