1. Elisabeth Marbury was a pioneering American theatrical and literary agent and producer who helped shape business methods of the modern commercial theater, and encouraged women to enter that industry.
21 Facts About Elisabeth Marbury
1. 2.
Since 1892, Marbury had been living openly in a lesbian relationship with Elsie de Wolfe, a prominent socialite and famous interior decorator.
3.
Elisabeth Marbury was born and raised in the affluent and cultured home of one of 19th-century New York's oldest and most prominent "society" families.
4.
Elisabeth Marbury was reputedly a descendant of Calvinist Anne Hutchinson, who co-founded Rhode Island after her banishment from Massachusetts Bay Colony.
5.
Elisabeth Marbury both used and defied these connections during the Victorian era to establish herself as an important literary and theatrical talent agent and theatrical producer, helping to define and create these very professions as they emerged in the new world of mass production, advertising and popular culture in post-Civil War American society.
6.
Elisabeth Marbury was a convert to Roman Catholicism and was an active member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization.
7.
Elisabeth Marbury never married, but lived openly for more than 20 years with Elsie de Wolfe in what many observers accepted as a lesbian relationship, first at Irving House and then at 13 Sutton Place.
8.
Elisabeth Marbury had a long lasting friendship with Elizabeth Arden, a Canadian-born American businesswoman who founded what is Elizabeth Arden, Inc They spent many weekends at Elisabeth Marbury's Maine home, Lakeside Farm.
9.
Bessie Elisabeth Marbury is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.
10.
Elisabeth Marbury's clients ranged from the French Academy of Letters to playwrights Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw; to the dance team of Vernon and Irene Castle.
11.
Elisabeth Marbury was an early promoter of African American writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
12.
Elisabeth Marbury played an instrumental role in developing the modern "Book Musical" that audiences came to know as defining "Broadway" in the 20th century, notably of Cole Porter's first musical, See America First, and Jerome Kern through her American Play company.
13.
In 1891, Elisabeth Marbury traveled to France, and for 15 years she was the representative in the English-speaking market for playwright Victorien Sardou and the other members of the Societe des Gens de Lettres, including Georges Feydeau, Edmond Rostand, Ludovic Halevy, and Jean Richepin.
14.
Elisabeth Marbury represented George Bernard Shaw, James M Barrie, Hall Caine, and Jerome K Jerome, among British authors, and Rachel Crothers and Clyde Fitch among Americans.
15.
Elisabeth Marbury later worked with the rival Shubert Brothers' organization.
16.
In 1914, Elisabeth Marbury joined several other agents in forming the American Play Company, and she then turned to producing and helped stage Nobody Home, Very Good, Eddie, and Love O' Mike, all with music by Jerome Kern, and See America First with music by Cole Porter.
17.
Elisabeth Marbury put her life story into a book My Crystal Ball, published in 1923.
18.
In 1903, along with Morgan and Anne Harriman Vanderbilt, Elisabeth Marbury helped organize the Colony Club, the first women's social club in New York.
19.
Elisabeth Marbury translated Maurice Barres's The Faith of France and was decorated by the French and Belgian governments, although she was notably disappointed to not be awarded by the French Legion of Honor, an honor given to de Wolfe for her work in the pioneering Ambrine Mission for Burn Victims.
20.
Elisabeth Marbury was an active Democrat and served as Democratic National Committeewomen from New York during the 1924 presidential election.
21.
Elisabeth Marbury was mentioned as a potential candidate for vice president on the 1924 Democratic ticket.