Joseph Ponsford Bickerton Jr. (July 15, 1878 – August 20, 1936) was an attorney and theatrical producer.

Early years and education

Joseph P. Bickerton Jr. was the son of Joseph Ponsford Bickerton, a salesman, and Emma P. Jaques. Joseph Junior studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, but had to leave for financial reasons during his freshman year. He became a lawyer after working in law offices without having attended law school. Bickerton managed the career of actor

Charley Grapewin Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville and circus performer, writer, and stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably portrayin ...

, on tour with a play called ''Above the Limit''. The play closed, leaving Bickerton with a full set of scenery on his hands. He thereupon sat down and wrote a play to fit the scenery, entitled ''The House on the Bluff'', which was profitable. With the proceeds, he organized the Jungle Film Corporation in 1910 and bought the African hunt motion pictures which Paul J. Rainey, a wealthy explorer, had made during a pleasure expedition. These films were the first motion pictures to be produced at regular theater prices and were successful in the U.S. and abroad.

Attorney and producer

Bickerton-Rice-Laemmle Counsellor at Law

Among Bickerton's clients were

Florenz Ziegfeld Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the '' Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He al ...

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of ...

Elmer Rice Elmer Rice (born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein, September 28, 1892 – May 8, 1967) was an American playwright. He is best known for his plays '' The Adding Machine'' (1923) and his Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of New York tenement life, '' Street Sce ...

George Abbott George Francis Abbott (June 25, 1887January 31, 1995) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director and producer whose career spanned eight decades. He received numerous honors including six Tony Awards, the ...

Philip Dunning Philip Hart Dunning (December 11, 1889 – July 20, 1968) was a playwright and theatrical producer. Theater and films Dunning began his career at age 12 as an extra and a carnival magician, and enlisted in the Navy during World War I. Presid ...

Sidney Kingsley Sidney Kingsley (October 22, 1906 – March 20, 1995) was an American dramatist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' Men in White'' in 1934. Life and career Kingsley was born Sidney Kirschner in New York. He studied a ...

and

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was known for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show ...

. Bickerton was the producer of the musical ''

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

'' and Rice's play ''

Counsellor at Law ''Counsellor at Law'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Elmer Rice is based on his 1931 Broadway play of the same title. Plot The story focuses on several days in a critical juncture in the lif ...

''. Bickerton also produced ''

The Vortex ''The Vortex'' is a play in three acts by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the ...

'',

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

's debut on Broadway. As a producer, Bickerton seldom allowed his name to appear.

Arbitrator

Bickerton enjoyed the confidence of producers, actors and playwrights to such a degree that they brought him their disputes to arbitrate. Bickerton devised the minimum basic agreement in 1926, which ended the struggle over the screen sale of stage plays at a time when the playwrights were talking of a strike against the producers. Thereafter Bickerton was elected and re-elected during the last ten years of his life to be the arbiter of any further disputes between members of the Dramatists Guild of America and the producing managers. The sales of all their stage shows to Hollywood from 1926 until Bickerton's death passed through his hands.

Death

Bickerton died in

Mount Kisco, New York Mount Kisco is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village and Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous municipality, coterminous with the ...

on August 20, 1936.

Family

Bickerton's wife, Lois Tabor, had been an actress for

and a model for artist

Howard Chandler Christy Howard Chandler Christy (January 10, 1872 – March 3, 1952) was an American artist and illustrator. Famous for the "Christy Girl" – a colorful and illustrious successor to the "Gibson Girl" – Christy is also widely known for his ico ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bickerton, Joseph P. Jr. 1878 births 1936 deaths American theatre managers and producers American entertainment industry businesspeople Princeton University alumni New York (state) lawyers American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law