Billy Rose Totally Explained

Everything about Billy Rose totally explained

Billy Rose (September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966)
   Rose was diminutive in stature. When he attended a show, his practice was to book four seats: one for himself, one for his date, and the two in front of those so he'd have an unobstructed view.
   In 1938, he opened Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe, a nightclub in New York City's Times Squarein the basement of the Paramount Hotel. It initially opened with a version of his Fort Worth show. The Diamond Horseshoe operated under that name until 1951.
   At the 1939 New York World's Fair, Billy Rose's Aquacade starred Olympian Eleanor Holm in what the fair program called "a brilliant girl show of spectacular size and content". He married Holm shortly after divorcing his first wife, comedian Fanny Brice. Future MGM star Esther Williams and Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller were both Aquacade headliners.
   Following the 1939 World's Fair, Rose asked John Murray Anderson, who had staged the Aquacade, to recommend a choreographer for a new show at the Horseshoe. Anderson recommended Gene Kelly, then performing in William Saroyan's One for the Money. Rose objected that he wanted someone who could choreograph "tits and asses", not "soft-soap from a crazy Armenian" (Yudkoff, 2001). However, after seeing Kelly's performance, he gave Kelly the job, an important step in Kelly's career. In 1943, he produced Carmen Jones with an all-black cast. An adaptation of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, the story was transplanted to World War II America by lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. It was an instant hit. The New York Telegraph called it "far and away the best show in New York"; the New York Times said it was "beautifully done ... just call it wonderful." The New York Herald Tribune said that Oscar Hammerstein II "must be considered one of the greatest librettists of our day" and that Carmen Jones was "a masterly tour de force". It was made into a motion picture in 1954, for which Dorothy Dandridge received an Academy Award nomination.
   Billy Rose founded the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden in Jerusalem.
   Rose died in 1966 in New York City, aged 66. At the time of his death, his fortune was estimated at about $42 million, which he left entirely to a foundation named after him, disowning both of his sisters. He is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Work on Broadway

Charlot Revue (1925) - revue - featured co-lyricist for "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich and You" with Al Dubin, music by Joseph Meyer
Padlocks of 1927 (1927) - revue - lyricist
Harry Delmar's Revels (1927) - revue - co-lyricist
Sweet and Low (1930) - revue - composer, lyricist, and producer
Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt (1931) - revue - producer, librettist, and director
The Great Magoo (1932) - play - producer
Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 (1934) - revue - featured lyricist for "Soul Saving Sadie", "Suddenly", "Countess Dubinsky", and "Sarah, the Sunshine Girl"
Jumbo (1935) - musical - producer
Clash by Night (1941) - play - producer
Carmen Jones (1943) - musical - producer
Seven Lively Arts (1944) - revue - producer
Concert Varieties (1945) - vaudeville - producer
Interplay (1945) - ballet - producer
The Immoralist (1954) - play - producer
The Wall (1960) - play - co-producer

Posthumous Credits

Ain't Misbehavin' (1978) - revue - featured lyricist for "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling" from Applause

Big Deal (1986) - musical - featured lyricist for "Me and My Shadow"

Fosse (1999) - revue - featured lyricist for "Dancin' Dan (Me and My Shadow)" From 1949 until 1955, Rose was the owner/operator of the Ziegfeld Theatre. During that time, the theater housed four musicals and five plays. From 1959 until his death in 1966, he was also the owner/operator of the Billy Rose Theater. During that time the theater housed four plays, one musical, one revue, three ballets, and twenty-nine concert performances. After his death, the theater retained its name, and remained in the ownership if his estate until 1978, when it was renamed. Today it's the Nederlander Theater, currently housing Rent.

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