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The Figurehead 272 Harry Rigby, the Broadway producer, loved the films of Busby Berkeley . In the 1930s, his well-to-do Philadelphia family routinely gave him movie money that he spent eagerly every Saturday. Harry particularly enjoyed Ruby, Joan, Ginger, and other musical stars of the day, but the films of Berkeley remained at the top of his list: “I was mad for them.” Harry was not what you would call a successful producer. In 1951, his first production, Make a Wish, closed in fewer than three months. It was especially painful to Harry as his family and friends had provided a good portion of the backing. Two years later, a revue Harry produced with two others called John Murray Anderson’s Almanac fared no better . The show ended after 229 performances. In 1959, after a six-year absence, he produced two short plays to be run “in limited engagement.” Nineteen performances later they confirmed their booking pronouncement . A demoted “gopher,” Harry now found himself on the low rung of the production ladder, working as a production associate on Edward Albee’s Ballad of the Sad Café. He regained producer status with the moderately successful Half a Sixpence in 1965. Jane Nusbaum, an associate producer of the show, worked well with Harry, and together they produced a new musical for the spring of 1967 with the catchy title Hallelujah, Baby. It wasn’t a big financial success despite its winning the Tony Award for best musical of the season. Harry didn’t have a project in mind, but he had Buzz Berkeley on the brain. He asked a show business friend of his to contact Mr. Berkeley in California to see if he would be interested in working on a Broadway show. The word back to Harry was that the great man was “ready, willing , and able.” Harry called Buzz directly upon hearing the news, and together they mapped out a promising future. Harry told Buzz that he and Jane wanted to revive a number of musicals from the 1920s and 1930s, among them Good News and No, No, Nanette. The first produc17 The Figurehead 273 tion, however, would be a restaging of the short-lived musical Divorce Me, Darling, written by Sandy Wilson, who had a big hit with The Boy Friend in 1954. Divorce didn’t do as well and closed after a brief initial run in London. Buzz was no stranger to the Broadway and Hollywood pitchmen who called him with empty offers to direct. Now in his seventies and enjoying his new notoriety, he greeted them affably and pronounced his enthusiasm for their proposals. Everything looked promising until Dames at Sea opened, making Harry rethink his whole concept. He felt a production directed by the “real deal” would only draw a comparison. The fact that New York Times theater critic Clive Barnes spoke glowingly about Dames at Sea while making disparaging remarks about The Boy Friend in its treatment of nostalgia only made matters worse. Jane Nusbaum, who handled the financial end of her and Harry’s production team, made a decision to leave Broadway to produce in Hollywood . With an intuition for a likely failure, Harry dropped Divorce Me, Darling as a project. Unfortunately, he had to keep Buzz waiting in the wings. A new money man was needed, preferably one willing to invest in a speculative Broadway enterprise. Harry found such a money man in the guise of Mrs. Cyma Rubin. Cyma Rubin (née Saltzman) was married to Sam Rubin, a multimillionaire and the founder and president of Fabergé, who had sold the perfume company in 1964 for $26 million. Cyma was a patron of the arts, and together with legendary orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski , her Rubin Foundation raised funds for the ultimately successful American Symphony. She was an avid theater attendee as well, and with the accolades she received on behalf of her work with the symphony, Cyma decided she wanted to invest in a show and wanted to meet someone who could help. Through producer Joseph Papp (whose New York Shakespeare Theater was the recipient of grants from the Rubin Foundation ), Cyma met Jane Nusbaum and Harry Rigby. All three seemed to get along well, but Jane’s plans were already leaning toward California. Harry and Cyma continued without Jane’s services and worked on ideas for a new show. In the summer of 1969, Harry called Buzz and told him Divorce Me, Darling was not going to be produced...

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