12 Facts About Florenz Ziegfeld

1.

Florenz Ziegfeld is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.

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2.

Florenz Ziegfeld's mother, Rosalie, who was born in Belgium, was the grandniece of General Count Etienne Maurice Gerard.

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3.

Florenz Ziegfeld's father ran the Chicago Musical College and later opened a nightclub, the Trocadero, to profit from the 1893 World's Fair.

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4.

Florenz Ziegfeld Theatre opened in February 1927 with Florenz Ziegfeld's production of Rio Rita, which ran for nearly 500 performances.

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5.

The unnamed party in this romantic triangle was showgirl Lillian Lorraine, an entertainer of limited talent but charismatic stage presence and beauty whom Florenz Ziegfeld discovered in 1907 when she was a 15-year-old performer in a Shubert production.

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6.

Florenz Ziegfeld spent years promoting her career, transforming her into one of the most popular attractions in his Follies and establishing her in an apartment two floors above the residence he shared with Held.

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7.

Florenz Ziegfeld remained in love with Lorraine for the rest of his life.

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8.

Florenz Ziegfeld had been in Los Angeles only a few days after moving from a New Mexico sanitarium.

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9.

Florenz Ziegfeld's death left Burke with substantial debts, driving her toward film acting to settle them.

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10.

Florenz Ziegfeld appears in a sound prologue to the 1929 film, Show Boat—a part-talkie based on Edna Ferber's 1926 novel, not the popular stage adaptation that was still playing on Broadway when the film was released.

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11.

Florenz Ziegfeld was personally chosen for the role by Billie Burke, who felt that while Powell did not physically resemble her late husband, he possessed the right manner.

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12.

Florenz Ziegfeld was financially impractical but aesthetically impeccable—a genius in his chosen field.

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