Front Office
Box Office

In 1946, finding himself discharged from the military and in California, Neil took the Stanford University admission tests and used the GI Bill and jobs with the college veterans and Annual Reviews offices to fund his pursuit of an A.B., which he received in 1949. His mentor was Charles Fairman, who guided him to graduate work at Harvard University where he took an M.P.A. (1951) and a Ph.D. (1953).

To support his family while in graduate school he accepted a position as business manager of a new summer tent theater called Music Circus that operated out of Lambertville, New Jersey. When he was offered the Sheldon Traveling Fellowship for 1951-52, he had to make a decision between an academic career and a partnership in the theatre business. Neil chose to go to London where he headquartered at the School of Economics while collecting data for his dissertation on wartime emergency powers. He reported his research in the Stanford Law Review in 1953; the article was reprinted in U.S. Senate hearings in 1973.

President Eisenhower appointed Cotter to the staff of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1960. He worked with the commission on research and hearings, particularly in the South, until 1963. He continued to work with the Civil Rights Commission after moving to Wisconsin, serving on the state advisory committee. He died in 1999 after sustaining injuries in a car crash.

Source: www.apsanet.org/
Source: wikipedia.org

Tom wrote us: "I was a political science major at Harvard (running both its radio station and dramatic club) when I was introduced to Cornelius P. Cotter (Neil) in the spring of 1951. He was Terrell's first general manager as I recall and at age 26 recruited me to be his secretary for the 1951 summer season. (He needed a male secretary because it was then illegal to work women more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, and my typical day began with picking up the mail at the post office around 8:30 a.m. and finished with my making a night deposit at the bank around 1:00 a.m."

"A couple of weeks into my employment at Lambertville, my title was changed from "secretary" to "assistant to the general manager," and a few weeks later, the "to the" was dropped. The following season (summer of 1952), I returned as general manager in fact although the title was held by Arthur Gerald who actually functioned as assistant director."

"I left the company a few weeks before the end of the 1952 season in order to enroll in the Harvard Business School with the intention of making a career in theatrical management. When I graduated, David Marshall Holtzman offered me the position of general manager for all of the [Richard] Aldrich operations on the Cape [Cape Cod] (two music circuses and two playhouses)."

Read more of Tom's memories
Source: www.the-view-less-seen.com/

Born in West New York, N.J., Mr. Gerold became general manager of the Lambertville Music Circus in the 1954. In 1955, he joined the Van Horn Costume Co. of Philadelphia, one of the oldest theatrical costume providers in the world.

A Rutgers University graduate, Mr. Gerold enlisted in the Navy during World War II. In 1946, he was assigned to a vessel that participated in the first nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

In 1952 he married Marilyn Jean Miller, whose stage name was Marilyn Day, and who starred as Sharon in the Music Circus' 1951 production of "Finian's Rainbow."

Mr. Gerold went on to buy Van Horn in 1962 after it merged with the Brooks Uniform Co. The business moved to New York City, and he remained owner until 1981.

While Mr. Gerold was at the helm, the company was a leading supplier for Broadway productions by such legendary producers as David Merrick. His workroom turned out costumes for the original stage productions of many shows, including such hits as "Hello Dolly," "West Side Story," "Cabaret," and "Hair."

Arthur William Gerold, 92, costumer to a variety of performers, from Oscar winners to elephants, died in 2016, at Neshaminy Manor in Doylestown PA from complications of old age.

In the winters of 1949-1950 and 1950-1951 Mr. Gerold also managed the new Music Circuses in Miami, FL and St. Petersburg, FL.

Source: https://www.inquirer.com/

After his work as General Manager at the Music Circus, Mr. Somlyo went on to business manager at the Cape Playhouse in Massachusetts, the Cape Cod Melody Tent, Margo Jones Theater in Dallas and a tour of the one-woman show "Hildegarde."

Some of his credits as a Broadway G.M. included famous engagements of "Beyond the Fringe," "An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May," "An Evening With Yves Montand," "Hamlet" starring Richard Burton, "Dear World" and more.

Mr. Somlyo was the first managing producer for Tony Award Productions, and, according to the American Theatre Wing, which co-presents the awards with The Broadway League, "was the architect of the current Tony Awards structure and presentation." He was the awards show's managing producer for 12 years. Mr. Somlyo was president of the American Theatre Wing for five years, serving through the 2003 Tony Awards. He also worked on more than 50 network programs, for which he won four Emmy Awards.

Source: https://www.playbill.com/

Mr. Osorio was the Company Manager for such Broadway shows as "Hair" [Replacement-1968], "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" [1967], and "Don't Drink the Water" [1966].

Gerald Sidney Krone was born on Feb. 25, 1933, in Memphis, Tennessee and attended Hume High School, where Elvis Presley was a class or two behind him; Krone once served as master of ceremonies at a school event and introduced Presley.

Mr. Krone, a successful off-Broadway theater manager and producer joined with Douglas Turner Ward and Robert Hooks in 1967 to found the Negro Ensemble Company, a New York theater troupe that championed black writers, actors and themes in what was then a largely white theatrical landscape.

The partnership enjoyed quick success, and the Negro Ensemble Company went on to send three plays to Broadway: "The River Niger" in 1973, "The First Breeze of Summer" in 1975 and "Home" in 1980. In 1981 it staged, off-Broadway, the premiere of Charles Fuller's "A Soldier's Play," with a cast that included Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson; the play won the Pulitzer Prize. Less than two years after it was founded, the company received a special Tony Award.

Once NEC's Ford Foundation money ran out, the company faced occasional financial crises. Krone remained as administrative director until 1982, when he left to work in television news, though he remained on the board of directors for some years.

Mr. Krone died Feb. 20, 2020 at his home in Philadelphia. He was 86. His longtime partner and husband, Ivan Kaminoff, said the cause was Parkinson's disease.

Elsie worked for Mr. Terrell for nearly 20 years; not only did she know where everything was, but she knew most aspects of the business. Initially, Elsie was hired by Mr. Terrell, as his personal secretary, but as the years went by, she became so entwined in the many facets of the business that at various times her title was Administrative Assistant and/or Office Manager, responsible for the entire office administration, reporting to the General Manager, and always working with Mr. Terrell directly.

Elsie was a "behind-the-scenes" very hard worker; people who knew her said that she was the backbone of the organization—an indispensable, wonderful woman. Elsie was a very pleasant, but no-nonsense, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-the-job-done-whatever-it takes person. Elsie was devoted to Mr. Terrell and shared (or believed in) his dream and vision for the Music Circus. They had a special business bond and were totally committed to each other and their work. They shared a mutual respect and admiration for each other's abilities.

Courtesy: Bob Scheetz
Read more of Bob's story

"Harry Mulhern was the first box office treasurer. He served from the beginning at least through my tenure. An enormously conscientious man, he had a bad case of ulcers from worrying all season long that the box office bank account would come up short at season end. Using the Shubert box office system which he imported from his work for the Shuberts in Philadelphia during the winter, that kind of uncertainty was inevitable just about down to the last day of the season."

"Harry had two assistant treasurers, young local sisters Anita and Joan Wells."

Source: Tom Billings

Max Eisen has been the Press Representative for more Broadway shows than we can list here. To see a list, go to the Internet Broadway Database.

Max Eisen's writes about Sinjin Terrell and the Music Circus in this 1962 Music Circus Season Program on page 5.

Max Eisen died on November 23, 2009 at his Manhattan home at age 91.
Max Eisen's New York Times Obituary