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Max Gordon: From Keith-Orpheum to “Cadillac”
Originally published in 2013.
Tribute today to vaudeville and Broadway producer Max Gordon (Mechel Salpeter, 1892-1978).
The younger brother of “The German Senator” Cliff Gordon, Max too went into vaudeville, but not as a performer. At the tender age of 17 he became an advance man for a Hyde & Behman show. By his early 20s he had amassed enough experience to start a special agency with his vaudeville partner Albert “Al” Lewis (not the same one who played Grandpa Munster). The firm of Gordon and Lewis produced finished one act plays for vaudeville, buying the scripts, casting them, booking them, and sending them around the Keith and Orpheum circuits, working with such big names as Phil Baker, Lou Holtz,Eddie Foy and Theda Bara.
By the mid 20s Gordon and Lewis were producing Broadway shows (one of them was the original stage production of The Jazz Singer, starring Georgie Jessel). In 1930, Gordon struck out on as his own as a producer and became one of the most successful ones on Broadway, responsible for almost 50 shows, including major hits like Roberta (1933) Dodsworth (1934), and Born Yesterday (1946). His last show was The Solid Gold Cadillac (1953-1955) by his frequent collaborator George S. Kaufman.
Gordon’s 1963 autobiography cleverly resembles a playbill.:
Addendum: In 2022, my good friend Mari Lyn Henry of the Society to Preserve Theatre History sent me this interview she conducted with Mr. Gordon at his apartment at the Dorset Hotel in 1977. Portions will certainly form part of her own upcoming books, but I thought the raw interview would provide an invaluable window not just on Gordon’s personality, but on the workings of vaudeville itself. I LOVE for example, how he refers to theatrical teams, some of them truly great ones as “acts”, as though they were plate spinners. Vaudeville kept you humble! I turn you now over to her:
Mr. Gordon is waiting for me outside his door as I get off the elevator. I realize his time is valuable and he is ʻtimingʼ me. First off, he wants to know what I do. Judging from the card I gave him, he is not sure since Cunningham & Walsh is in much larger print than my name. I explain I have small ʻbillingʼ on the card, getting a slight chuckle from him. We proceed. I tell him I work with Chico Marxʼs daughter casting commercials. I am not sure he understands what ʻthatʼ is exactly, but time is valuable and I donʼt explain.
The apartment is elegantly furnished and immaculate. Mr. Gordon lives comfortably and in good taste. He is dressed at this hour in a vested suit, looking very dapper. He refers me to a cushioned chair opposite him and then, before we get into the interview, he suggests I sit on a directoire sofa near his chair, so “Iʼll be in the light.”
Q: Mr. Gordon, how did you get started in producing one-acts and playlets for vaudeville?
A: (He lists his early hits, his later hits, comments on his four nervous breakdowns, and all the times he was broke–how Moss Hart called him to check on his health and told him that when he was better, he had a play for him. That play turned out to be one of his biggest hits–Then: )I was a student at the prep school to Columbia University. I dropped out and went into the Behman show, burlesque for six months. Raymond Hitchcock suggested I stick with my education but I wasnʼt interested. My brother Cliff was a great monologuist, known as the “German Senator”, whose material was written by Aaron Hoffman. Cliff passed away in 1913.
I met Al Lewis when he was doing a “Dutchʼ act in Vanity Fair. Al wanted to direct, stage and produce. I didnʼt know much about any of that. So we became partners. It was the playlet “Straight” by Aaron Hoffman that set us on the road to success in vaudeville. The playlet had a history of failure until Arthur Sullivan (who had been on the bills at Loewʼs American, not the composer) took over the lead. In the Keith houses it was a bust. Ray Hodgdon booked it at the Davis Theatre in Pittsburgh. The manager there praised it as a great melodrama and J. J. Murdock put it in the Keith Houses.
Q: What about the writers Edwin Burke and John B. Hymer?
A: I discovered Ed Burke. Al discovered John Hymer. E. F. Albee wanted a one-act for Eddie Foy. He called in Ed Burke and Tom Barry. The act was a sensation. It was booked at the Jefferson Theatre and Albee put it on at the Palace.
Q: What about OʼNeillʼs “In the Zone”?
A: That was a coup for us. It was a smash hit and brought OʼNeill to the public. I donʼt have the rights to it. We didnʼt have the rights to anything.
The phone rings. “Excuse me.”
While Gordon is on the phone, I get up and look about the living room. I see old pictures, a silver framed production still, engraved on the bottom from , 1932. A picture of Cliff is on a table near the exit. There is a glass-enclosed book case with a desk. I scan the books, noting three copies of , which he has suggested I read to find the further biographical information I need. The room suggests a color scheme of green and gold with dark wood furniture, a round covered table and chairs, everything tastefully arranged.
I return to the sofa and Mr. Gordon returns.
He reminisces about discovering Bob Hope in vaudeville, launching his career in and extolls his brilliance both in vaudeville and the legitimate. I mention that Bob Hope had, without his knowledge, written an article about him which was very complimentary.
Q: How did you respond to the following acts you produced in vaudeville? Mildred Harris (former Mrs. Charlie Chaplin) in “Movie Mad” written by Edwin Burke.
A: That wasnʼt mine. That was Alʼs.
Q: “Poor Rich Man” with Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne.
A: She was a perfect lady. One of our biggest hits. They got over $2,000 a week, big in those days. Great actors!
Q: “Their First Anniversary” with Roberta Arnold written by Anne Harrison. She was a good actress; and she was a good author.
Q: “Predestination” with Mrs. Sidney Drew by Edwin Burke.
A: She was great and so was her husband Sidney, a great act.
Q: “The Trimmer” with Grace Huff & Co. by John B. Hymer.
A: I donʼt remember, not too impressive.
Q: “Right or Wrong” with Crane Wilbur and Martha Mansfield, co-authored by Sam Shipman and Clara Lipman.
A: Good act.
Q: “Likes and Dislikes” by Edwin Burke with Marion Murray.
A: Good!
Q: “The Bandit Prince” written by Burnett Hershey starring Sessue Hayakawa
A: GREAT!
Q: “Maggie Taylor, Waitress” with Jean Adair written by Edwin Burke.
A: Wonderful sketch. It opened at the Fifth Ave. Theatre, one of the acts I booked at the Colonial Theatre. (Lou Holtz had closed, his specialty was singing “O Solo Mio”.) I put in Jean Adairʼs great sketch.
Q: “Unknown Lady/Collusion” starring Nazimova by George Middleton.
A: I donʼt know about that playlet but it was replaced by our sketch “The Cherry Tree” starring Harry Green.
A: I remember he was a prolific writer and they were a terrific performing team.
I put Roland Young in a one-act and he was in my first legit hit “Her Masterʼs Voice”. I also got Judith Anderson in vaudeville in dramatic playlets. Henry Hull was great in an act that I believe was called “Five Minutes to the Station.” I loved Mary Nash. I used to call her every New Yearʼs Eve. I didnʼt find out till recently that she died. I never saw Lillie Langtry. I do remember Frank Keenan in “Vindication”a great playlet with a great actor. He said “God Damn” which was a big shock but Albee let it stay in spite of all the rules about vulgarity on the stage posted in the Keith theatres.
Q: George Beban in “The Sign of the Rose”.
A: A great act, ruined it when it went full-length.
A: The booking office loved her. I thought she was a lousy actress. Donʼt print that!
A: Great actor worked with Victor Moore.
Q:Amelia Bingham, “Great Moments from Big Plays”
A: She stayed with William Morris in opposition to the Keith Circuit.
Q:Alan Dinehart.
A: A great act, “The Meanest Man in the World”, which George M. Cohan extended into full-length play.
“Kick-In” was a terrific play, Florence Reed was good in “Jealousy”Henri DeVries was great in “Case of Arson”.
The hour was up. Gordon entertained me with a rendition of a song entitled “Iʼve Had a Birthday Today.” The phone rang again, he said goodbye. I said I would find his book and read it and he responded “If you find another copy, send it to me.”
PS It is over 40 years since I interviewed him and I am grateful that I had that visit not knowing his health condition was fragile and that less than two years later he would be gone. But his legacy continues with the frequent airing of Born Yesterday starring Judy Holliday and that My Sister Eileen was turned into the hit musical Wonderful Town…
To find out more about vaudeville and producers like Max Gordon, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.
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