Edgar Selwyn

Biography

Born Edgar Simon in Cincinnati, OH, on October 20, 1875, Edgar Selwyn's early life was marked by transience and tragedy. After childhood years in Toronto, Canada, his family settled in Selma, AL, where he was orphaned. At 17, he ventured to Chicago, seeking his fortune, only to find himself destitute and despairing. One desperate night, he plunged from a bridge over the Chicago River, intending to end his life. Instead of drowning, he miraculously landed on a patch of ice, a twist of fate that was merely the first act in a night of bizarre encounters. Scrambling back to shore, Selwyn was promptly accosted by a stickup artist demanding, "Your money or your life!" With nothing left to lose, Selwyn calmly replied, "My life." This unexpected answer disarmed the thief, leading to a strange conversation that ended with the two men pawning the gun and splitting the proceeds. This incredible real-life drama later became the foundation for Selwyn's 1915 play, "Rolling Stones." Leaving Chicago's harsh embrace, Selwyn moved to New York in the 1890s, where he initially faced continued hardship. His first foray into the working world was as a haberdasher, earning a meager $9 a week selling neckties. He then became an usher at the Herald Square Theatre, taking home a paltry 50 cents a night, a role that ended abruptly when he was fired for mimicking the acclaimed actor Richard Mansfield, then starring at the venue. His fortunes began to turn in 1896 when actor-impresario William Gillette hired him for "Secret Service," paying $8 a week for his portrayal of a Confederate soldier. Selwyn soon advanced to assistant stage manager for Gillette's company, absorbing Gillette's pioneering philosophy of "realism of action"—a focus on physical storytelling over excessive dialogue—which would later profoundly influence the nascent silent film industry. After his tenure with Gillette, Selwyn honed his craft touring with a stock company, which produced his first play, the one-act "A Night in Havana." After an apprenticeship that included stints in Rochester, NY, and New York City's Third Avenue Theatre, Selwyn made a triumphant return to Broadway in 1899, appearing in "The King's Musketeers" at the very Herald Square Theatre where he had once ushered. The following year, he performed in Augustus Thomas's "Arizona," a production that transferred to London in 1902. Before achieving star status, he graced Broadway stages in Charles Frohman's 1902 production of "Sherlock Holmes," reuniting with his former employer Gillette in the title role, and opposite Ethel Barrymore in "Sunday" (1904) and a 1905 revival of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," with Barrymore as Nora Helmer. In 1906, Selwyn endured a critical flop, George M. Cohan's "Popularity." That same year, he pivoted to playwriting, finding success with "It's All Your Fault," which ran for 32 performances at the Majestic in September 1908. His adaptation of Gilbert Parker's novel, "Pierre and His People," about French-Canadians, premiered on Broadway that October as "Pierre of the Plains," also running for 32 performances. This play was later adapted into a 1914 film starring Selwyn himself and produced by his All Star Feature Film Corp., and remade by MGM in 1942 with John Carroll. "The Country Boy" opened at the Liberty on August 30, 1910, enjoying a respectable 143-performance run. However, it was his 1911 play, "The Arab," in which he starred as well as wrote, that the New York Times obituary hailed as the biggest success of his career as a dramatist. Cecil B. DeMille adapted "The Arab" into a 1915 film, with Selwyn reprising his stage role. Selwyn's first musical, "The Wall Street Girl," opened at George M. Cohan's Theatre on June 1, 1912, running for 56 performances, with a book penned by his first wife, Broadway playwright Margaret Mayo. That same year, he produced "Within the Law," a monumental hit that generated a net profit of $1 million (equivalent to approximately $19 million in 2003 dollars) just before the advent of federal income tax. He also produced his wife's play "Her First Divorce," which had a brief eight-performance run at the Comedy Theatre in 1913. Meanwhile, Edgar's younger brother, Archibald Selwyn, had followed him to New York. With a loan from theatrical literary agent Elisabeth Marbury, Arch initially dabbled in a Coney Island concession involving a penny-slot weighing machine. After considerable frustration, Arch and his partner finally struck gold, collecting 1,300 pennies from a weight-conscious crowd, only to lose and then miraculously recover their blanket-wrapped loot from a restaurant trash can. Clearly, a new career path beckoned for Arch. In 1914, Edgar, Arch, and future Broadway producer-director Crosby Gaige launched Selwyn & Company, Inc., a formidable theatrical production company and play brokerage with Edgar at its helm as president until 1924. Their influence deepened with the construction of the Selwyn Theater in 1918, located at 229 W. 42nd St., behind their six-floor office building. Inaugurated on October 2, 1918, with "Information Please," co-written by Jane Cowl (who had appeared in "Within the Law"), its second offering was Edgar's own "The Crowded Hour," opening a mere eleven days after the end of World War I. The theater's construction was notably financed by the infamous gambler Arnold Rothstein, who fixed the 1919 World Series and served as an inspiration for Meyer Wolfsheim in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." The Selwyn Theater, rechristened the American Airlines Theater in 2000, later hosted its most popular play, Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman's "The Royal Family," a satirical nod to the Barrymore family, which opened on December 28, 1927, and ran for 345 performances under the production of Broadway legend Jed Harris. The Selwyns further expanded their theatrical empire with the Times Square Theater, also on 42nd Street, which opened in 1920 with Edgar's own hit play "The Mirage," running for six months. Its successor, Avery Hopwood's "The Demi-Virgin," enjoyed an eight-month run. Eight of the subsequent twenty-three plays proved successful, drawing luminaries like Beatrice Lillie, Tallulah Bankhead, and Robert Cummings to its stage. In 1931, Gertrude Lawrence co-starred with a young Laurence Olivier and Noël Coward in Coward's hit comedy "Private Lives" at the theater. Other celebrated productions included "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1926-1927 season), "The Front Page" (1928), and "Strike Up the Band" (1930). Connecting to the Times Square Theater's open-colonnaded limestone facade was an entrance shared with the Selwyns' Apollo Theater. Originally built in 1919 as "The Bryant," a movie-cum-vaudeville house, it was acquired and rebuilt by the Selwyns in 1920, transforming into a legitimate theater for plays and musicals, sharing a single marquee with the Times Square Theater. The Apollo didn't find its stride until 1923 with "Poppy," starring W.C. Fields. It then became the exclusive home for George White's "Scandals," a Ziegfeld Follies-esque revue renowned for its gorgeous, scantily clad showgirls, running annually from 1924 to 1931. The Apollo's run as a legitimate theater ended after the musical "Blackbirds of 1933" flopped with only 25 performances. It then transitioned to showing movies, eventually acquired by the Minskys, who operated it as a burlesque theater from 1934 to 1937. By 1938, the Apollo specialized in foreign films before devolving into a Times Square grindhouse for many years. The theatrical era for the Times Square Theater concluded in 1933 after the closing of "Forsaking All Others," starring Tallulah Bankhead and produced by Arch Selwyn, which ran for 110 performances. Both the Times Square and the Selwyn theaters were refitted as movie houses in 1934, with the Selwyn further converted into a retail store in 1940. Before its reclamation in the 1990s, when the Wooster Group staged "The Hairy Ape" in 1997, the Selwyn had degenerated into one of Times Square's many double-feature grindhouses. Beyond his company's ventures, Edgar Selwyn personally produced the Anita Loos comedy "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in 1926, which enjoyed 199 performances at the family's Times Square Theater. He also produced the 1930 musical "Strike Up the Band," featuring music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and a book by Morrie Ryskind (based on George S. Kaufman's libretto), which ran for 191 performances at the Times Square. Edgar's final Broadway productions were the short-lived "Fast Service" in 1931, lasting only seven performances at the Selwyn, and "The Wookey" ten years later, which achieved 134 performances at the Plymouth. His brother Arch, meanwhile, continued to produce on Broadway throughout the 1930s. While Selwyn was a prolific playwright and producer, the burgeoning motion picture industry beckoned as his next frontier. Edgar and Arch Selwyn ventured into film production in 1912 with their All Star Feature Films Corp. In December 1916, they merged their company with that of producer Samuel Goldfish, giving birth to Goldwyn Pictures Corp. The new company's iconic symbol—a reclining lion framed by a celluloid banner emblazoned with the Latin motto "Ars Gratia Artis" ("Art for Art's Sake")—was designed by advertising guru Howard Dietz. This emblem, likely inspired by the stone lions fronting the New York Public Library (across from All Star Feature Corp.'s offices), adorned the entrance to their state-of-the-art Culver City, CA, production facilities. Margaret Mayo, Edgar's wife and a successful playwright in her own right, and Broadway impresario Arthur Hopkins were also partners in the Goldwyn deal, but Samuel Goldfish emerged as the dominant figure. Goldfish, a founding partner of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Film Co. in 1914, had been ousted in early 1916 when Lasky integrated his company more closely with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Co., forming the basis of Paramount Pictures. Schmuel Gelbfisz, who had immigrated to Canada, was so enamored with his new company's name that he adopted it as his own surname, thus introducing the world to Samuel Goldwyn. Despite his influence, Goldwyn's contentious relationships with his partners led to his losing an ownership struggle in September 1920, prompting his resignation. Tired of collaborators, he embarked on a career as an independent producer, a status he maintained for the remainder of his life. The Goldwyn-less Goldwyn Pictures subsequently acquired the old Triangle Studios in Los Angeles, leased additional New York studios, and ceased operations in New Jersey. In 1924, the company merged with Loew's Inc.'s Metro Pictures via a stock swap, forming Metro-Goldwyn, which then merged with Louis B. Mayer Productions, with Louis B. Mayer assuming control as studio chief. The "Leo the Lion" trademark was adopted by MGM, and with modifications, evolved into one of the most famous and enduring trademarks in cinematic history. Selwyn joined MGM as a writer-director in 1929, where he famously directed Broadway star Helen Hayes to an Academy Award for her performance in the melodrama "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931). After divorcing Margaret Mayo, Selwyn married Ruth Wilcox, who was thirty years his junior. This marriage made him the brother-in-law of Loew's Inc. President Nicholas M. Schenck, who was married to Ruth's sister, Pansy. Embracing Marcus Loew's philosophy of nepotism, Selwyn cast his wife Ruth in several films he directed and produced. He also mentored Ruth's brother, Fred M. Wilcox, who went on to become an acclaimed MGM director, helming classics like "Lassie Come Home" (1943) and the sci-fi landmark "Forbidden Planet" (1956). Selwyn adopted Ruth's son Russell from an earlier marriage (Edgar and Ruth later divorced). Following Irving Thalberg's heart attack in 1932, Louis B. Mayer restructured MGM's production, replacing the central producer model with a "college of cardinals" concept of independent production units. Selwyn transitioned into a producer role, eventually serving as Mayer's editorial assistant while simultaneously overseeing his own production unit. Edgar Selwyn's remarkable life concluded at the age of 68 at Los Angeles' Cedars of Lebanon Hospital on February 14, 1944, succumbing to a cerebral hemorrhage suffered the previous night. He was survived by his brother Arch, two sisters, Mrs. Michael Isaacs and Mrs. S. M. Goldsmith, and his stepson, Russell "Rusty" Selwyn.