Sidney Glazier
Encyclopedia
Sidney Glazer was an American
film producer
best known for his work on the Mel Brooks
film The Producers
.
. His elder brother, Tom Glazer
was to become a composer, guitarist, and folk singer. His father, a carpenter, died during the 1918 flu epidemic, and when his mother remarried, her new husband, Solomon Levick did not want her children in the house. As a result, the three boys were placed in the Hebrew Orphan Home in Philadelphia when Glazier was 5. Glazier later reported that "[h]er reasoning and the pain it brought us remain incomprehensible, unfathomable." Glazier ran away from the orphanage after being sexually abused by a volunteer, but returned as he could find nowhere else to go. He later sought psychoanalysis
to help him deal with these childhood experiences. Glazier left the home at the age of 15, working as an usher at the Bijou burlesque
theater that showed films between acts. He recalled "I instantly realized that films would always be the loveliest and best escape from the troubled life I inherited". He also worked as a part-time pimp for a local madam.
Glazier was managing the Mayfair Theater in Dayton, Ohio
when shortly before the United States entered the Second World War, he enlisted in the Army. The newly-married Glazier served in Australia
and New Guinea
as a second lieutenant
, commanding 100 black troops as a support unit of the 380th Bombardment Group.
and Billie Holiday
. He found a day job under the GI Bill as an apprentice jeweler, but left the position seeking to become a bonds salesman for the new state of Israel. His success in fund-raising led him to be appointed as the executive director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Cancer Foundation. He greatly admired Eleanor Roosevelt
as a person and activist and the two later became friends. When she died in 1962, he initiated the production of the documentary on her life. The film, The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
, which Glazier produced, was groundbreaking in style, and won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In 1964, he married Yungmei Tang who had worked as a production assistant on the film. The couple had a daughter, Karen, in 1965.
at Avco Embassy accepted the project and agreed to let Brooks direct the movie. Filming was not without its challenges. Brooks was an anxious, perfectionist and difficult novice director, who had problems communicating with the actors. Zero Mostel
was also often angry and demanding, and Glazier had to mediate between the director, Mostel and others. Despite frequent requests from Brooks for extra money and resources, Glazier succeeded in bringing the film in under budget. Brooks remembered Glazier as a producer was "very bright, warm and a bit of a bon vivant. Sidney was the first one to say, "The dailies look good, let's have a party." He'd have a party about anything – have a few drinks, canapés and pretty girls. He was right out of a black-and-white Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie." The film, renamed The Producers
at the insistence of Levine, had a mixed reception. Many critics gave it poor reviews, but the actor and comedian Peter Sellers
was so enthralled that he took out ads in various trade papers praising the film as "the essence of all great comedy combined in a single motion picture." The film went onto become a cult classic, and in 1996 was entered into the National Film Registry
as a "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant film." In his 2001 Tony Award
acceptance speech for the Broadway adaptation
of the film, Brooks credited Glazier as the "man who made it happen." He recalled "None of it – all of this wonderful, magical stuff – would be, if it wasn't for the faith and courage of this terrific guy."
's Take the Money and Run
(1969), Waris Hussein
's Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
(1970), Mel Brooks' The Twelve Chairs
(1970), and Glen and Randa
(1971). The company managed the US distribution of Luis Buñuel
's The Milky Way
(1969) and the Dario Argento
film The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
(1970).
In 1973 Glazier produced the television drama Catholics (1973). The production, adapted from a Brian Moore
novel
about the Roman Catholic Church
post Vatican II, won a Peabody Award
.
Brooks asked Glazier to go to Hollywood to work on further films, but with his marriage breaking up he demurred, preferring to remain in New York to be close to his daughter. He continued a savvy business career - for example he invested in the doctor who discovered Viagra - and maintained generous friendships with many, in which he disliked being the center of attention.
Glazier died at the age of 86 of natural causes at a nursing home in Bennington, Vermont.
"Most movie executives and producers," said Brooks, "are usually boring and dull, and not well-read. They don't care about art or painting, they just care about profits. But Sidney was always an artist. You could talk about anything with him - great literature, life and love." The writer and critic Michael Coveney
knew Glazier as demanding [...], irascible, impatient but full of charm", someone who "epitomised [New York]'s spirit of tolerance, intellectual curiosity, fast living and taste for the high life".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
best known for his work on the Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
film The Producers
The Producers (1968 film)
The Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
.
Early life
Sidney Glazier was born in Philadelphia on May 29, 1916, the second of three sons born to Russian-Polish émigré parents Jake Glazier and Sophie Schekid from MinskMinsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
. His elder brother, Tom Glazer
Tom Glazer
Thomas Zachariah "Tom" Glazer was an American folk singer and songwriter known primarily as a composer of ballads, including: "Because All Men Are Brothers", recorded by The Weavers and Peter, Paul and Mary, "Talking Inflation Blues", recorded by Bob Dylan, and "A Dollar Ain't A Dollar Anymore"...
was to become a composer, guitarist, and folk singer. His father, a carpenter, died during the 1918 flu epidemic, and when his mother remarried, her new husband, Solomon Levick did not want her children in the house. As a result, the three boys were placed in the Hebrew Orphan Home in Philadelphia when Glazier was 5. Glazier later reported that "[h]er reasoning and the pain it brought us remain incomprehensible, unfathomable." Glazier ran away from the orphanage after being sexually abused by a volunteer, but returned as he could find nowhere else to go. He later sought psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
to help him deal with these childhood experiences. Glazier left the home at the age of 15, working as an usher at the Bijou burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
theater that showed films between acts. He recalled "I instantly realized that films would always be the loveliest and best escape from the troubled life I inherited". He also worked as a part-time pimp for a local madam.
Glazier was managing the Mayfair Theater in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
when shortly before the United States entered the Second World War, he enlisted in the Army. The newly-married Glazier served in Australia
Battle for Australia
The Battle for Australia is a contested historiographical term used to claim a link between a series of battles near Australia during the Pacific War of the Second World War...
and New Guinea
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...
as a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
, commanding 100 black troops as a support unit of the 380th Bombardment Group.
New York and film production
After his discharge and divorce, Glazier moved to Manhattan, where he was appointed the night manager of the Apollo Bar, and worked with jazz artists such as Duke EllingtonDuke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
. He found a day job under the GI Bill as an apprentice jeweler, but left the position seeking to become a bonds salesman for the new state of Israel. His success in fund-raising led him to be appointed as the executive director of the Eleanor Roosevelt Cancer Foundation. He greatly admired Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
as a person and activist and the two later became friends. When she died in 1962, he initiated the production of the documentary on her life. The film, The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
The Eleanor Roosevelt Story is a 1965 American biographical documentary film directed by Richard Kaplan.It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1965. -External links:...
, which Glazier produced, was groundbreaking in style, and won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In 1964, he married Yungmei Tang who had worked as a production assistant on the film. The couple had a daughter, Karen, in 1965.
The Producers
The same year the fledgling film writer and director Mel Brooks pitched his project, "Springtime for Hitler" to Glazier, having previously made numerous unsuccessful attempts to interest movie producers. Over lunch in Glazier's office, Brooks acted out all the parts and began singing Springtime for Hitler. Glazier reported that he had never laughed so hard in his life. "He spit out his coffee and tuna sandwich and couldn't stop laughing," recalled Brooks. "He said "I vow to get this movie made. The world must see this picture."" Glazier struggled at first to interest movie studios in the show business satire, but with perseverance Joseph E. LevineJoseph E. Levine
Joseph E. Levine was an American film producer.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His Embassy Pictures Corporation was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as Hercules , The Carpetbaggers, Harlow, The Graduate, A Bridge Too Far and The Lion in Winter.Levine is famous...
at Avco Embassy accepted the project and agreed to let Brooks direct the movie. Filming was not without its challenges. Brooks was an anxious, perfectionist and difficult novice director, who had problems communicating with the actors. Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
was also often angry and demanding, and Glazier had to mediate between the director, Mostel and others. Despite frequent requests from Brooks for extra money and resources, Glazier succeeded in bringing the film in under budget. Brooks remembered Glazier as a producer was "very bright, warm and a bit of a bon vivant. Sidney was the first one to say, "The dailies look good, let's have a party." He'd have a party about anything – have a few drinks, canapés and pretty girls. He was right out of a black-and-white Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie." The film, renamed The Producers
The Producers (1968 film)
The Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
at the insistence of Levine, had a mixed reception. Many critics gave it poor reviews, but the actor and comedian Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
was so enthralled that he took out ads in various trade papers praising the film as "the essence of all great comedy combined in a single motion picture." The film went onto become a cult classic, and in 1996 was entered into the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
as a "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant film." In his 2001 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
acceptance speech for the Broadway adaptation
The Producers (musical)
The Producers is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics written by Brooks and music composed by Brooks and arranged by Glen Kelly and Doug Besterman. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich...
of the film, Brooks credited Glazier as the "man who made it happen." He recalled "None of it – all of this wonderful, magical stuff – would be, if it wasn't for the faith and courage of this terrific guy."
Later career
Glazier formed a distribution company, Universal Marion Corporation Pictures, and acted as executive producer on films, such as Woody AllenWoody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Take the Money and Run
Take the Money and Run
Take the Money and Run is a 1969 comedy film written by Woody Allen and Mickey Rose, and directed by and starring Woody Allen. It is an early mockumentary, chronicling the life of Virgil Starkwell, a bungling petty thief...
(1969), Waris Hussein
Waris Hussein
Waris Hussein is a British-Indian television director and film director best known for his many productions for British television....
's Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx is a 1970 film directed by Waris Hussein and written by Gabriel Walsh. It starred Gene Wilder as the titular Quackser Fortune, an autistic Irishman who falls in love with an American exchange student after she almost runs him over.-Selected cast:*Gene...
(1970), Mel Brooks' The Twelve Chairs
The Twelve Chairs (1970 film)
The Twelve Chairs is a 1970 American slapstick comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Frank Langella, Dom DeLuise and Ron Moody. The screenplay was written by Brooks. The film is loosely based on a Russian 1928 novel The Twelve Chairs by Ilf and Petrov...
(1970), and Glen and Randa
Glen and Randa
Glen and Randa is a 1971 rated X post-apocalypse movie directed by Jim McBride. It was co-written by McBride, Lorenzo Mans and Rudy Wurlitzer...
(1971). The company managed the US distribution of Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
's The Milky Way
The Milky Way (1969 film)
The Milky Way is a 1969 film directed by Luis Buñuel. It stars Laurent Terzieff, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Georges Marchal and Michel Piccoli...
(1969) and the Dario Argento
Dario Argento
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
film The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a 1970 giallo suspense thriller directed by Dario Argento . The film is considered a landmark in the Italian giallo genre...
(1970).
In 1973 Glazier produced the television drama Catholics (1973). The production, adapted from a Brian Moore
Brian Moore (novelist)
Brian Moore was a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States. He was acclaimed for the descriptions in his novels of life in Northern Ireland after the Second World War, in particular his explorations of the inter-communal divisions of The...
novel
Catholics (novel)
Catholics is a novel by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore. It was first published in 1972, and was republished with an introduction by Robert Ellsberg and a series of study questions by Loyola Press in 2006....
about the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
post Vatican II, won a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
.
Brooks asked Glazier to go to Hollywood to work on further films, but with his marriage breaking up he demurred, preferring to remain in New York to be close to his daughter. He continued a savvy business career - for example he invested in the doctor who discovered Viagra - and maintained generous friendships with many, in which he disliked being the center of attention.
Glazier died at the age of 86 of natural causes at a nursing home in Bennington, Vermont.
"Most movie executives and producers," said Brooks, "are usually boring and dull, and not well-read. They don't care about art or painting, they just care about profits. But Sidney was always an artist. You could talk about anything with him - great literature, life and love." The writer and critic Michael Coveney
Michael Coveney
Michael Coveney is a British theatre critic. He was educated at St Ignatius' College, Stamford Hill and Worcester College, Oxford....
knew Glazier as demanding [...], irascible, impatient but full of charm", someone who "epitomised [New York]'s spirit of tolerance, intellectual curiosity, fast living and taste for the high life".