Milton Eric Blau (June 1, 1921 – February 17, 2009) was an author and is best known as the creator of the

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

show ''

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris ''Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' is a musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel. Brel's songs were translated into English by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman, who also provided the story. The original 1968 Off-Broadway product ...

''.

Biography

Blau was born in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, on June 1, 1921, to Hungarian Jewish immigrants who were residents of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. He attended the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, which he left before graduating following an argument with a professor about

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. Blau served in Europe during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in the

United States Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army responsible for creating and managing Military communications, communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was ...

, where he wrote poems for French journals that he had translated into French. After completing his military service, he founded the journal '' Masses and Mainstream'' and worked as a writer and in public relations. He was a

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

for sports instruction booklets on behalf of basketball player

Bob Cousy Robert Joseph Cousy ( , born August 9, 1928) is an American former professional basketball player. He played point guard for the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963, and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals during the 1969–70 season. A 13-time NBA ...

and baseball's

Roger Maris Roger Eugene Maris (born Maras; September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for setting a new List of Major League Baseball p ...

. Together with cartoonist Roy Doty, he created '' The Adventures of Danny Dee'', an early show for children with animation that broadcast starting in 1953 on the New York City affiliate of the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...

. Although the similarity was lost as he grew older, Blau had an uncanny resemblance to

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comed ...

, and would often be approached by fans of the comedian. Among the books he authored was ''The hero of the Slocum disaster'', an historical novel exploring the infamous 1904 sinking of the '' General Slocum''. He received the

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

for the mystery novel ''The Keys to Billy Tillio''.

''Jacques Brel''

Blau was introduced to the music of Belgian singer-songwriter

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...

by his wife, Elly Stone, who had first heard Brel's music through an acquaintance at a record company. Blau became infatuated with Brel's work and started translating his songs. Some of Blau's initial work appeared in ''O, Oysters!'', a musical revue. Together with composer

Mort Shuman Mortimer Shuman (12 November 1938 – 2 November 1991) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including " Viva Las Vegas". He also wrote and sang many songs in French, such as ...

, Blau came up with the concept of a play that would feature a night of Brel's songs, and the two worked together to translate the songs into English and add material to wrap around the music. ''

'' featured Shuman and Stone as part of a cast of four. The play debuted at The Village Gate in early 1968 and ran for more than four years. Thereafter, it was performed by what may be thousands of theaters around the world.

Personal

Blau wrote a number of works of poetry, novels and plays, but never again achieved the success of ''Jacques Brel''. He was never affected by the disappointments, with his son Matthew noting that he had many ideas and "was a man who moved on." A resident of

, Blau died there at age 87 on February 17, 2009, due to

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, which he contracted following a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

. He was survived by his wife, three sons, four grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. His first marriage had ended in divorce.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blau, Eric United States Army personnel of World War II City College of New York alumni Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Writers from Bridgeport, Connecticut United States Army soldiers 1921 births 2009 deaths American male dramatists and playwrights American male novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers American people of Hungarian descent Novelists from Connecticut