John Kenley
| John Kenley | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 20, 1906 Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Died | October 23, 2009 (aged 103) Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Occupation | Theatrical producer |
John Kenley (February 20, 1906 – October 23, 2009) was an American theatrical producer who pioneered the use of television stars in summer stock productions. In 1950, he was the first producer to desegregate live theater in Washington, DC. In 2004 he was made an Honorary Life Member of Actors' Equity for his contributions to American theater. His Kenley Players company was described by Variety as "the largest network of theaters on the straw-hat circuit."
Kenley was born John Kremchek to Ana Machuga and John Kremchek Zyanskovsky in Denver, Colorado. His father, a Slovakian saloon owner, baptized him as Russian Orthodox. Kenley made his stage debut singing in church in both Russian and English, and was given a solo part at age 4. His family had moved several times ahead of the spread of prohibition, finally settling in Erie, Pennsylvania.
After graduating high school at 16, he moved to Cleveland and landed a job as a choreographer for a burlesque show despite his lack of training. “I taught the girls silly simple routines,” he later recalled, “As I taught them, I got pretty good.”
Three years later he moved to New York and landed a part as an acrobat in John Murray Anderson’s Greenwich Village Follies. With the signing of his first performance contract John Kremchek became known as John Kenley. Throughout the 1920s he played the vaudeville circuit, singing, dancing, and doing impersonations of Al Jolson, Maurice Chevalier, Beatrice Lillie and Ethel Barrymore.
From 1928 to 1940 Kenley worked as producer Lee Shubert’s assistant. Amidst the approximately 1000 scripts he read in that decade, he discovered such hits as Lillian Hellman’s first play, The Children’s Hour, and William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life.
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