Gustave Frohman (c. 1854 – August 16, 1930) was a theatre producer and

advance man A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...

. He was one of three

Frohman brothers The Frohman brothers were American theatre owners, including on Broadway, and theatrical producers who also owned and operated motion picture production companies. The brothers were: *Daniel Frohman (1851–1940) *Gustave Frohman (1854–1930) *C ...

who entered show business and he worked for most of his career alongside his brother,

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

. These two financed a number of theatre productions, often featuring African American actors. For instance, in 1878, they starred

Sam Lucas Sam Lucas (August 7, 1840 – January 10, 1916) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and songwriter. Sam Lucas's exact date of birth is disputed. Lucas's year of birth, to freed former slaves, has also been cited as 1839, 1841, 1848 and 1850 ...

in the first serious stage production of ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...

'' with a black man in the lead role.

Biography

Frohman was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

. He saw his greatest success in

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

minstrelsy. In 1881, he and his brother bought Callender's Consolidated Colored Minstrels, a small African-American troupe, from

Charles Callender Charles Callender was the owner of blackface minstrel troupes that featured African American performers. Although a tavern owner by trade, he entered show business in 1872 when he purchased Sam Hague's Slave Troupe of Georgia Minstrels. Renaming ...

. They kept the valuable Callender's name but focused on ornamenting their sets and costumes; the troupe eventually became the most lavishly produced black troupe in the world. Their success was so great that by 1882 the Frohmans were able to buy

J. H. Haverly Christopher Haverly (1837–1901), better known as J. H. Haverly or John H. "Jack" Haverly, was an American theatre manager and promoter of blackface minstrel shows. During the 1870s and 1880s, he created an entertainment empire centered on his m ...

's Genuine Colored Minstrels and merge it with theirs. The new troupe's size was so big and the Frohmans' grasp on the market so tight that Gustave and Charles Frohman split the troupe into three so as to allow them to tour more widely. In 1915, the three Frohman brothers created The Frohman Amusement Corp. as a motion picture production company but Charles died a few months later in the sinking of the

RMS Lusitania RMS ''Lusitania'' (named after the Roman province in Western Europe corresponding to modern Portugal) was a British ocean liner that was launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 and that held the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlanti ...

. Gustave and Daniel assumed control of the theatre operations plus ran the film production company until 1920.

Personal life

Frohman was married to a former actress, Marie Hubert (1858-1939) a daughter of architect Philip Gengembre Hubert and Cornelia Doisy. Gustave and Marie had at least three children, Gustave Jr. who died at three;

Philip Hubert Frohman Philip Hubert Frohman (November 16, 1887 – October 30, 1972) was an architect who is most widely known for his work on the Washington National Cathedral, named, the "Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul" in Washington, D.C. He worked on ...

, an architect who designed the

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...

; and Louis Henry Frohman. He died in New York City in 1930.

References

* Toll, Robert C. (1974). ''Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-century America''. New York: Oxford University Press. * Watkins, Mel (1994). ''On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying, and Signifying—The Underground Tradition of African-American Humor that Transformed American Culture, from Slavery to Richard Pryor. New York: Simon & Schuster.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frohman, Gustave 1854 births 1930 deaths American Jews American film producers American theatre managers and producers Blackface minstrel managers and producers Frohman family