Hollywood & the Ziegfeld Follies
I think early Hollywood owes a lot to the Ziegfeld Follies, a luxe and racy Broadway revue show modeled on Paris’s “Follies-Bergere.” If you don’t know much about the Ziegfeld Follies, this short read will be fun and enlightening!
Ziegfeld Follies promotion
The years 1907 - 1931 were formative years for the motion picture industry and also happen to be the years that over in New York City, a man named Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. was scandalizing Broadway with his “Ziegfeld Follies” shows. The Ziegfeld Follies created a new type of revue show, featuring beautiful showgirls, comedians, and singers in scenarios that were titillating to the public but never too showy or daring to be considered in bad taste. It’s the same line that films were trying to walk until the Hays Code came crashing down on them.
Here’s some fun trivia about the connections between the Ziegfeld Follies and early Hollywood.
Many film stars got their start in the Ziegfeld Follies, to the point that Ziegfeld was frustrated with the constant “raiding” of his roster by Hollywood talent scouts. There are some really fascinating connections between Ziegfeld and the early movies - here are a few of them:
Former Ziegfeld star Olive Thomas’s tragic death in Paris started the domino effect of Hollywood scandals that eventually brought about the Hays Code and censorship in films.
The Ziegfeld style inspired the choreography and over-the-top staging of many films, and three major ones were made about the Ziegfeld follies specifically.
Many Hollywood stars like Marion Davies, Mae Murray, Louis Brooks, and Barbara Stanwyck started out in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. was married to Billie Burke, a stage actress who went on to Hollywood roles in early comedies like DINNER AT EIGHT and also found lasting fame as Glinda the Good Witch in the WIZARD OF OZ.
Follies Star Marilyn Miller was married to Hollywood Royalty Jack Pickford (he had also been married to Ziegfeld Girl Olivie Thomas) and Marilyn Monroe is rumored to be named after Marilyn Miller.
If this has piqued your interest, I’d love for you to join us this Saturday, July 29th as we talk about some of the famous Ziegfeld Girls and what happened to them after Follies Fame. Details here! Presentation is via Zoom and a link will be provided for those who can’t watch live.