Kliegl Brothers Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company
Company logo from the 1922 catalog
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| Industry | Stage lighting |
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| Founded | New York City, United States (1896) |
| Founder | Anton Kliegl, Johann Kliegl |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Manhattan, New York City, United States |
| Products | Electric stage lighting products |
| Parent | Myerhofer Electric Stage Lighting Company |
| Website | klieglbros |
Kliegl Brothers Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company was an American manufacturer of electrical stage lighting products in the 20th century. The company had a significant influence in the development of theatrical, cinema, television, and specialty lighting. It equipped many major performing venues in the United States and its products were used in several other countries as well. Their eponymous product, the Klieglight, was the trade name for two quite different production lights manufactured by the company, and survives today in both industry argot and in popular idiom as a synonym for "spotlight" or "center of attention".
The company was founded in 1896 in New York City when a Bavarian immigrant, Anton Kliegl, in partnership with A. H. Guendel, purchased the Myerhofer Electric Stage Lighting Company, and renamed it the Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company. A year later his older brother Johann Kliegl replaced Guendel, and the firm became known as the Kliegl Brothers Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company. From its infancy as a firm so small that its proprietors also worked as stagehands to supplement their income, it grew to be one of the largest firms in North America manufacturing lighting and control equipment for the theatre and television stage.
In the beginning, the firm occupied the Meyerhofer facilities in the old Star Theatre at 842 Broadway, New York City. By 1901 they had moved to 1393-95 Broadway/129 West 38th Street. After the loss of this plant to fire on August 15, 1911, they moved again, this time to 240 West 50th Street, and in September 1921, they built and occupied their own four-story plus basement factory at 321-325 West 50th Street. In 1962 they moved to a new, modern two-story plant at 32-32 48th Avenue in Long Island City. By 1966 an annex had been opened two blocks away to meet the press of business. By 1966 "NY/LA" appeared on drawing title blocks, denoting their last expansion, the opening of a branch sales/engineering office in Los Angeles under George Howard. By 1979 "LA" had vanished from the title blocks. After 1980, the company's business began to decline, and by 1990 they had moved to a smaller plant at 5 Aerial Way, Syosset, Long Island, New York. By 1996, the bankrupt company had closed down.
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