Michael Myerberg's varied interests mark him as one of the most diversified theatrical producers of our time. Born August 5, 1906, in Baltimore, Maryland, he attended Baltimore Prep School from 1918 to 1920 and Baltimore City College from 1920 to 1924. In 1924 he continued his education at Johns Hopkins University and remained there until 1926. It was at Johns Hopkins that his interest in show business began, when he booked the University's Blue Jay Dance Band into the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. Myerberg continued as a manager of dance bands until 1928, at the same time picking up experience as a vaudeville unit producer. Expanding his interests, he became an artists' manager from 1930 to 1934, handling such personalities as Ed Wynn, Lou Holtz, and Charles Weidman.
1933 saw Myerberg's first New York production, Candide, at the Booth Theatre; Symphony followed, in 1935. After these two ventures the new producer moved back to his previous occupation of artists' manager, undertaking the management of Leopold Stokowski (1937-1942) and the Philadelphia Ballet (1938-1939). In conjunction with conductor Stokowski, he organized the All America Youth Orchestra under the auspices of the U.S. State Department; in 1940 he presented the AAYO on tour in South America and the following year repeated the tour in the United States.
By the late 1930s, Myerberg had added another field to his growing list of endeavors. In 1937 he began working in the film industry, producing the sound track for One Hundred Men and a Girl for United Artists. In 1940 he created the format and produced the sound track for the Walt Disney film, Fantasia.
By 1942 Myerberg, in his own words, “foresaw war conditions favoring theatrical productions and limiting concert work,” and he “returned to the theatrical field.” Not only did he buy the Mansfield Theatre in 1942, but he also produced a milestone in theater history, Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. This drama won the Pulitzer Prize for 1943. This success encouraged Myerberg to produce the national tour of Star Dust in 1943 and the New York production of Lute Song in 1946. In 1947 he adapted and directed as well as produced Dear Judas; it was this production that prompted critic Brooks Atkinson to refer to Myerberg as “the high priest of poetic theater.” Dear Judas was followed in 1950 by the production of The Barrier.
In the early 1950s, Myerberg turned from theatrical producing to concentrate on his invention of a rubber-face puppet. In addition to developing a new technique of rubber casting for the puppet's face, Myerberg also invented a new type of universal joint which allowed the puppet's body and face to move more flexibly. This kind of puppet has since been used in the television medium.
In 1952 Myerberg chartered Michael Myerberg Productions, Inc., to produce cartoon shorts and full-length films for television and film distribution, succeeding his individual business enterprises. In 1954 he produced Hansel and Gretel for RKO; that film was followed by Patterns for United Artists. Patterns received the Christopher Award for 1956.
In that same year, 1956, Myerberg returned to the stage with his production of Beckett's Waiting for Godot, acclaimed as another theatrical milestone. Since 1956 he has produced two plays, Compulsion in 1957 and What Did We Do Wrong? in 1967. Myerberg then concentrated on management of the Mansfield Theatre (renamed the Brooks Atkinson Theatre) and developing “The World,” a Long Island discotheque (in partnership with Murray Kaufman, “Murray the K”), and its counterpart, “Florida World,” and retirement and housing developments in Florida.
