Martin Beck (vaudeville)
| Martin Beck | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
July 31, 1868 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia |
| Died | November 16, 1940 (aged 72) New York City, New York, U.S.A. |
| Occupation | Theater owner, Theatrical manager and booking agent |
Martin Beck (July 31, 1868 – November 16, 1940) was a vaudeville theatre owner and manager, and theatrical booking agent, who founded the Orpheum Circuit, and built the Palace and Martin Beck Theatres in New York City's Broadway Theatre District. He was a booking agent for, and became a close personal friend of the prominent magician, Harry Houdini.
Martin Beck was born on July 31, 1868 in Liptovský Mikuláš, a town in northern Slovakia that at the time of his birth was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He went with a group of actors on the SS Elbe from Bremen, Germany to the United States in May 1884, where he worked as a waiter in a beer garden in Chicago, Illinois.
He went to San Francisco with the Schiller Vaudeville Company, then gained citizenship in the United States in October 1889. When the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco was bought by Morris Meyerfeld, Jr. in 1899, he worked with Morris to acquire more theaters. By 1905, Beck was running the organization.
In 1910 he formed the United Booking Offices with Alfred Butt.
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