Sam Zolotow was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 theater reporter for The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

who was known for his tenacity in getting the details about how Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 shows were performing, relentlessly pursuing producers, press agents and the crowds attending opening nights to get the details he needed for his stories and columns during his half century at the newspaper.

Theater reporting

Zolotow served in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, enlisting in 1916. After completing his military service, he was hired in December 1919 by The Times to work as a copyboy, though it was not until the 1930s that he had earned his own byline.

Arthur Gelb

Arthur Gelb

Arthur Gelb was the managing editor of the New York Times.He began working the night shift as a copy boy. He ascended through the ranks holding several titles in many different departments. His biggest impacts were while working in the drama department. He enjoyed Eugene O'Neill's plays so much...

, a former theater critic and later managing editor of The Times described Zolotow as someone who could get any theater information he sought, as long as he had "a corned-beef sandwich, a cigar and a telephone... even if it took him all day and all night". Once on the phone with producer Max Gordon

Max Gordon (producer)

Max Gordon was an American theatre and film producer. His credits included My Sister Eileen, which he produced both on stage and on film.-Biography:...

, trying to pump him for details with little success, Gordon had to tell Zolotow over the phone "Sam, don't look at me that way". Attending theater openings for decades, he could get his best information by working the crowds. During a 1930s call to Elmer Rice

Elmer Rice

Elmer Rice was an American playwright. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1929 play, Street Scene.-Early years:...

, Zolotow insisted on getting accurate numbers for Rice's current production and was left dumbfounded when Rice retorted "how much money did The New York Times take in last week?"

Over his 50 years with the paper, Zolotow had written five columns weekly, arriving early and doing his best to advocate for inclusion of the copy he wrote for each day's paper. He worked alongside such critics as Brooks Atkinson

Brooks Atkinson

Justin Brooks Atkinson was an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960...

, Clive Barnes

Clive Barnes (critic)

Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...

, George S. Kaufman

George S. Kaufman

George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers...

, Stanley Kauffmann

Stanley Kauffmann

Stanley Kauffmann is an American author, editor, and critic of film and theatre. He has written for The New Republic since 1958 and currently contributes film criticism to that magazine....

, Walter Kerr

Walter Kerr

For the RN admiral see Lord Walter KerrWalter Francis Kerr was an American writer and Broadway theater critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals.-Biography:...

, Howard Taubman

Howard Taubman

Hyman Howard Taubman was an American music critic, theater critic, and author.-Biography:Born in Manhattan, Taubman attended DeWitt Clinton High School and then won a four-year scholarship to Cornell University, from which he graduated, as a Phi Beta Kappa member, in 1929.He then returned to New...

 and Alexander Woollcott

Alexander Woollcott

Alexander Humphreys Woollcott was an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine and a member of the Algonquin Round Table....

. A May 1969 retirement party was attended by 500 at the Playbill Restaurant in the Royal Manhattan Hotel, with best wishes sent by individuals from the theater, such as Alfred Lunt

Alfred Lunt

Alfred Lunt was an American stage director and actor, often identified for a long-time professional partnership with his wife, actress Lynn Fontanne...

, Lynn Fontanne

Lynn Fontanne

Lynn Fontanne was a British actress and major stage star in the United States for over 40 years. She teamed with her husband Alfred Lunt.She lived in the United States for more than 60 years but never relinquished her British citizenship. Lunt and Fontanne shared a special Tony Award in 1970...

 and Leslie Uggams

Leslie Uggams

Leslie Uggams is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her work in Hallelujah, Baby! She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.-Singing:...

, as well as from Mayor John Lindsay

John Lindsay

John Vliet Lindsay was an American politician, lawyer and broadcaster who was a U.S. Congressman, Mayor of New York City, candidate for U.S...

, Senator Jacob K. Javits

Jacob K. Javits

Jacob Koppel "Jack" Javits was a politician who served as United States Senator from New York from 1957 to 1981. A liberal Republican, he was originally allied with Governor Nelson Rockefeller, fellow U.S...

 and President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

.

On the side, Zolotow wrote a guide for new theater productions, ran a messenger service and early on would take wagers on horses. He once left a note that he had left on vacation to spend a week at Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

.

Death

A resident of Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

, Zolotow died on October 21, 1993, because of stomach cancer

Stomach cancer

Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...

 at age 94 at the Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital in West Los Angeles

West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

West Los Angeles is a district in Los Angeles, California, within a larger region known as the "Westside."-Geography and transportation:...

. He was survived by two daughters, two sons, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. His wife of 70 years had died in 1991.