Henry Wilson Savage

American theatrical manager and real estate entrepreneur.

Alice Louise Batcheler

(m. 1989; death 1927)

ChildrenTwo, John and Bettina

Henry Wilson Savage (1859 – 1927) was an American theatrical manager and real estate entrepreneur.

Biography

Henry Wilson Savage was born in New Durham, New Hampshire, on March 21, 1859.^[1] He earned his degree from Harvard in 1880. In 1895, he was recognized as a wealthy real estate investor in Boston before he got involved with the theater. His initial foray into the theatrical field was in 1900.^[2]

Savage was the first pioneer in performing Grand opera in English. He lavishly staged these productions, making each performance a grand spectacle for the viewer. Savage staged some of the most popular musical shows of the early 1900s, earning a second fortune. Before he stepped away from production in 1925, he was acknowledged with over 50 stage successes.^[3]

He was the president of the Henry W. Savage Company, Inc., Castle Square Opera Company of Boston, and the Director of the National Association of Theatrical Producing Managers of America.^[3]

Productions

Savage's more notable productions include the following:

The Sho-Gun
The Prince of Pilsen
The Girl of the Golden West
The Merry Widow
The College Widow
The County Chairman
The Chocolate Soldier
Madama Butterfly (the first American performance in 1906)
Little Boy Blue (1912)
Somewhere Else (1913)
Toot-Toot (1917) – featuring "The Last Long Mile"
Everywoman (1913–14)
Mr. Wu (1914)
Lass O'Laughter starring Flora Le Breton in 1925, Savage's last production in New York

Death

Savage died in Boston on November 29, 1927.^[1] In the 1953 memoir Bring On the Girls! (by P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton), he is depicted as an "extraordinarily manipulative and money-grubbing entrepreneur."^[4]

Henry W. Savage produced musicals
Pom-Pom starring Mitzi Hajos 1916
"The Merry Widow" 1908
"Peggy from Paris" showgirls 1904.
"The Florist Shop" Marion Lorne and Louise Drew 1909
Wagner's "Parsifal" Flower Maidens 1917

References

^ ^a ^b "Henry W. Savage, Producer, is dead". The New York Times. New York, New York. November 30, 1927. p. 25. Retrieved March 5, 2024 – via timesmachine.nytimes.com/.
^ McPherson, J. (Autumn 2002). "The Savage Innocents: Part I, King of the Castle: Henry W. Savage and the Castle Square Opera Company". The Opera Quarterly. 18 (4). Baltimore, Maryland: Oxford University Press: 503–533. doi:10.1093/oq/18.4.503. ISSN 1476-2870. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "SAVAGE, Henry Wilson". Internet Archive. New York : Dodd, Mead. 1914. p. 492. Retrieved March 5, 2024. New international encyclopedia
^ Wodehouse, P.G.; Bolton, G. (1997). Bring on the Girls!: The Improbable Story of Our Life in Musical Comedy, with Pictures to Prove it. Akadine Press. ISBN 978-1-888173-17-8. Retrieved March 6, 2024.