20 Facts About Archibald Selwyn

Archibald Selwyn was an American play broker, theater owner and stage producer who had many Broadway successes.

Archibald Selwyn was born in Canada on 3 November 1877.

Archibald Selwyn's brother found a job for Archibald in the box office of the Herald Square Theatre.

Sinclair had lunch with Arch Archibald Selwyn and described The Metropolis, a novel that he was writing.

Archibald Selwyn was enthusiastic about the project, and jokingly suggested that Sinclair find work with a rich family so he could learn about how these people lived.

Where Edgar had a grounding in acting and writing plays, and understood what would appeal to the public, Archibald Selwyn was a businessman.

Archibald Selwyn made The Arab, The Country Boy and Pierre of the Plains by Edgar Selwyn.

In 1914 Archibald Selwyn was one of the producers of the film The Jungle, based on the Upton Sinclair novel.

Archibald Selwyn name was formed by combining the first part of "Goldfish" with the last part of "Selwyn".

Archibald Selwyn was merged in 1923 with Metro Pictures to become Metro-Goldwyn Pictures, then renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after Louis B Mayer took control.

Arch Selwyn partnered with the Shubert Brothers and William A Brady in building the Princess Theatre, a small 299-seat auditorium on 39th street that opened in 1913.

The first was the 1,051-seat Archibald Selwyn Theatre built for them in 1918 in the Italian Renaissance style.

In 1920 the Archibald Selwyn brothers bought the Bryant Theater, between 42nd and 43rd streets, a vaudeville theater with an elegant auditorium.

Archibald Selwyn wanted to set up a forum so the producers could share ideas, and wanted stop the rival organizations poaching each other's stars.

In 1922 Arch Selwyn offered Mrs Leslie Carter the role of Lady Kitty in W Somerset Maugham's The Circle.

Arch Archibald Selwyn produced Andre Charlot's Review in 1924 at the Times Square Theater, a musical review from Britain directed by Andre Charlot.

Arch Archibald Selwyn continued to produce plays such as Noel Coward's Easy Virtue and This Year of Grace.

Archibald Selwyn produced Coward's Bitter Sweet, an operetta, in partnership with Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.

The musical comedy Wake Up and Dream, co-produced by Arch Archibald Selwyn, opened at The Archibald Selwyn on 30 December 1929, and ran to 136 performances.

Archibald Selwyn died in Los Angeles, California, on 21 June 1959 at the age of 82, after a year of illness.