1. Billy Rose attended Public School 44, where he was the 50-yard dash champion.
17 Facts About Billy Rose
1. 2.
Billy Rose won a dictation contest using Gregg notation, taking over 150 words per minute, and writing forward or backward with either hand.
3.
Billy Rose began his career as a stenographic clerk to Bernard Baruch of the War Industries Board during World War I, and became head of the clerical staff.
4.
Billy Rose produced Jumbo, starring Jimmy Durante, at the New York Hippodrome Theatre.
5.
Billy Rose produced the Aquacade at the Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland, Ohio in 1937.
6.
Billy Rose began an affair with the then-married Holm, who left her husband for Billy Rose.
7.
Billy Rose objected that he wanted someone who could choreograph "tits and asses," not "soft-soap from a crazy Armenian".
8.
The book was illustrated, including the cover of the numbered and signed first edition of 1,500 copies, by Salvador Dali whom Billy Rose met while producing events at the 1939 World's Fair.
9.
From 1949 until 1955, Billy Rose was the owner-operator of the Ziegfeld Theatre.
10.
Billy Rose was a board member of American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
11.
In 1965, Billy Rose was offered, but declined, the role to oversee the 1964 New York World's Fair towards its conclusion.
12.
Billy Rose was a wealthy man when he died of lobar pneumonia at his vacation home in Montego Bay, Jamaica, at the age of 66.
13.
At the time of his death, his fortune was estimated at $42 million, which he left entirely to the Billy Rose Foundation, disowning both of his sisters.
14.
Billy Rose is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
15.
In 1970, Billy Rose was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
16.
Billy Rose was a leading character in the 1975 musical film Funny Lady, a sequel to Funny Girl, which continues the story of Fanny Brice, again played by Barbra Streisand.
17.
The 1962 film Billy Rose's Jumbo, starring Doris Day, depicted the original Broadway show staged by Rose.