Background
Martin Beck was born on July 30, 1867, in Liptó Szent Miklos, in Hungary (later a part of Czechoslovakia, today Slovakia). His early history is obscure.
Martin Beck was born on July 30, 1867, in Liptó Szent Miklos, in Hungary (later a part of Czechoslovakia, today Slovakia). His early history is obscure.
By his own account Beck was educated in Vienna, joined a troupe of German actors, and came with them to the United States by way of South America when he was about eighteen years old.
Martin's first work as a theatrical manager does seem to have grown out of a position as waiter in Ratke's Music Hall in Chicago, where, by his own account, he was left stranded when another German theatrical company broke up. He persuaded the proprietor, in 1893, to allow him to stage an entertainment. It was so successful that he was invited to produce a show for Engel's, the largest music hall in Chicago. For two years he prospered, but hard times in 1895 sent him once more on the road. Joining the Schiller Vaudeville Company, he traveled to San Francisco, where he made the acquaintance of Gustav Walters, proprietor of the Orpheum Concert Saloon, and became his manager. Walters was soon in financial difficulties, but when the Orpheum was taken over in 1897 by Morris Meyerfeld, Jr. , for unpaid debts, Beck continued as manager. Out of this association grew the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit, established in 1903, which expanded to include some sixty theatres and came to control vaudeville operations west of Chicago. Meyerfeld remained president of the circuit until his retirement in 1920; Beck was the active manager.
Beck became famous for his ability to choose new theatre sites, often selecting an area which seemed to have no promise at all, only to have it become the center of a thriving community. He also had a notable instinct for talent that led him to discover a number of performers who later achieved fame, among them the magician Harry Houdini. In 1907 Beck transferred his headquarters to New York, where booking arrangements with performers could be more easily conducted. In 1913 he determined to challenge the monopoly on eastern vaudeville held by the United Booking Office and, with Meyerfeld's backing, announced plans for the construction of the Palace Theatre on Times Square. Immediately Willie and Oscar Hammerstein, who held the U. B. O. franchise in that area, threatened legal action. Meyerfeld now withdrew, and Beck, forced to the wall, joined with Edwin F. Albee, an eastern vaudeville magnate, and bought out the Hammerstein franchise.
The Palace was, as vaudeville houses go, exactly what its name implied. Beck intended to present "class" vaudeville--concert musicians, dancers, and famous legitimate stars--instead of concentrating on knockabout comedy and popular songs. He believed that vaudeville should have something for everybody, including spectators with taste. For some months it seemed that the new venture must fail, but a sensational engagement played by Sarah Bernhardt finally attracted the audiences that Beck was aiming for. In its years of success the Palace became the Mecca for all variety entertainers and remained a part of the mythology of the profession long after the day of vaudeville had passed.
In 1920 Beck became president of the Orpheum Circuit, a position which he held for three years until voted out of office by the stockholders. Retiring from active control of the Palace, he made a tour of the world. On his return in 1924 he announced his intention of constructing a legitimate theatre. At that time the playhouses in New York were clustered in a few blocks around Times Square, but Beck continued his practice of seeking out unlikely sites and built the Martin Beck Theatre on 45th Street on the far side of Eighth Avenue. In spite of prophecies of disaster, his talent had not deserted him; the new theatre proved to be a success from the start, and Beck continued in active management until his death.
In 1932-1933 Beck returned to the Palace, as a kind of emergency manager, but by that time vaudeville was in such desperate straits that even his experience and shrewdness could not restore it to health. He died in New York City of a cerebral blood clot following an unsuccessful operation for cancer and was buried in Salem Field Cemetery, Brooklyn.
Beck was a bald, fat little man with a rich sense of humor and sharp business acumen.
Martin Beck was twice married, first to Sarah Sonnenberg, a niece of Morris Meyerfeld, by whom he had two daughters, Josephine and Helen. After his first wife's death in 1919, he married a radio singer, Louise P. Heims.