Julius Hurtig (October 18, 1868 – March 9, 1928) was an American vaudeville and theatre producer.

Life and career

He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Metta and Daniel Hurtig, who were German immigrants. In his youth he joined the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and then became a producer of pyrotechnical shows.James Fisher, Felicia Hardison Londré, ''Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2017, p.337 He linked up with fellow producer Harry J. Seamon (1865–1938), and they became established as vaudeville promoters and producers. The partnership of Hurtig and Seamon worked in New York from at least 1899. Among their most successful acts was the pairing of Bert Williams and George Walker. Often with Seamon, Hurtig also produced, and occasionally directed,

Broadway shows Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

, including '' In Dahomey'' (1903, for which he was credited as McVon Hurtig, and which featured Williams and Walker), ''Me, Him and I'' (1904), and ''In New York Town'' (1905). Hurtig and Seamon pioneered the development of

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

entertainment, and leased theatres in Ohio as well as the Harlem Music Hall in New York. In 1913, they leased a newly constructed theatre building in Harlem, initially known as Hurtig & Seamon's New Theater, to accommodate the burlesque productions of the

Columbia Amusement Company The Columbia Amusement Company, also called the Columbia Wheel or the Eastern Burlesque Wheel, was a show business organization that produced burlesque shows in the United States between 1902 and 1927. Each year, about four dozen Columbia burlesque ...

, which they had joined. Opened only to white patrons in its first few years, it began admitting black patrons in the 1920s, and later became the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...

. Jules Hurtig died in 1928, at the age of 59, from a heart attack while on a sea voyage. "Jules Hurtig Dies While on a Sea Voyage", ''New York Times'', March 10, 1928
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurtig, Jules 1868 births 1928 deaths American musical theatre producers Vaudeville producers