Frohman, Daniel

(1851-1940)

   Born in Sandusky, Ohio, the brother of producers Gustave and Charles Frohman, Daniel Frohman worked as a newspaperman before becoming a business manager for Steele MacKaye at the Madison Square Theatre. He might be credited with the idea of an auxiliary road company to tour plays across the United States while the original production continued its run in New York (Dion Boucicault had operated similarly in London and the rest of England). From 1887 to 1902, Frohman ran his own stock company at the Lyceum Theatre (continuing at a new theatre until 1909). He developed a strong company of actors, including at various times E. H. Sothern, Henry Miller, William Faversham, Effie Shannon, Richard Mansfield, Maude Adams, and James K. Hackett. Frohman's company focused on works by contemporary playwrights, including Clyde Fitch and current English writers. Sothern starred in Frohman's productions of Lord Chumley (1888), The Charity Ball (1889), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1895). Frohman also presented a series of English musicals at Daly's Theatre beginning in 1899 and produced the American premieres of The Case of Rebellious Susan (1894) and Trelawny of the "Wells" (1898). Frohman served as president of the Actors' Fund of America from 1903 to 1940 and got in on the ground floor of the motion picture industry, working with the Famous Players-Lasky Film Company beginning in 1912, a company with the purpose of bringing major stage stars to the screen. He also wrote several books, including Memories of a Manager (1911), Daniel Frohman Presents (1935), and Encore (1937).