Bernard Sobel, “one of the last masters of Broadway ballyhoo,” was a leading American theatrical historian and publicist. Born in 1888 in Attica, Indiana, he earned degrees at Purdue University, 1910, University of Chicago, 1910, and the University of Wisconsin, 1917.
For several years Sobel reviewed vaudeville for the Dramatic Mirror. He then turned to public relations, becoming publicity consultant for such heroes of vaudeville as Florenz Ziegfeld, Charles Dillingham, A.L. Erlanger, Walter Wanger, and Earl Carroll. He was also associated with Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers, and United Artists.
Sobel's years of service in and around the theater provided the material for his first book, also a first in the field, Burleycue - A History of Burlesque, 1931. He wrote six additional books, including The Theater Handbook and Digest of Plays, 1940, A Pictorial History of Burlesque, 1956, and A Pictorial History of Vaudeville, 1961. He contributed to Collier's Encyclopedia, the Oxford Companion to the Theater, the Encioclopedia dello Spettacolo, and a host of general and theater magazines. For many years he was a frequent guest on radio and television programs. An active member of the theater community, Sobel was a member of the Lambs Club and edited its magazine, the Lambs Script.
Sobel remained unmarried. He died on March 12, 1964.
