Charles Frohman: Manager and ManMarcosson, Isaac Frederick
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Charles Frohman: Manager and Man
Marcosson, Isaac Frederick
Frohman, Charles, 1860-1915; Theater -- United States
"No," said the manager, "but you can take a picture of your niece and I
will pose her for it."
* * *
Frohman's shyness led to what is in many respects the most remarkable of
the countless anecdotes about him. It grew out of his illness. In 1913
he had a severe attack of neuritis in London. Although his friends urged
him to go and see a doctor, he steadfastly refused. He dreaded
physicians just as he dreaded photographers.
One day Barrie came to see him at his rooms at the Savoy. Frohman was in
such intense pain that the Scotch author said:
"Frohman, it is absurd for you not to see a doctor. You simply must have
medical attention. As a matter of fact, I have already made an
engagement for you to see Robson-Roose, the great nerve specialist, at
four o'clock to-morrow afternoon."
Frohman, who accepted whatever Barrie said, acquiesced. Next day, when
half-past three o'clock came, the manager was almost in a state of
panic. He said to Dillingham, who was with him:
"Dillingham, you know how I hate to go to see doctors. You also know
what is the matter with me. Why don't you go as my understudy and tell
the doctor what is the matter with you? He will give you a nice little
prescription or advise you to go to the Riviera or Carlsbad."
"All right," said Dillingham, who adored his friend. "I'll do what you
say."
Promptly at four o'clock Dillingham showed up at the great
specialist's office and said he was Frohman. He underwent a drastic
cross-examination. After which he was asked to remove his clothes, was
subjected to the most strenuous massage treatment, and, to cap it all,
was given an electric bath that reduced him almost to a wreck. He had
entered the doctor's office in the best of health, He emerged from it
worn and weary.
When he staggered into Frohman's rooms two hours later and told his tale
of woe, Frohman laughed so heartily over the episode that he was a well
man the next day.
* * *
Frohman had a great fund of pithy sayings, remarkable for their brevity.
With these he indicated his wishes to his associates. His charm of
manner, his quick insight into a situation, and his influence over the
minds of others were great factors in the accomplishment of his end,
often attaining the obviously impossible.
For example, when he would tell his business manager to negotiate a
business matter with a man, and it would come to a point where there
would be a deadlock, he would say:
"I will see him. Ask him to come down to my hotel."
The next morning he would walk into the office with a smile on his face,
and the first thing he would say perhaps would be:
"I fixed it up all right yesterday; it is going your way."
"You are a wonder!" his associates would exclaim.
"Oh no! I just talked to him," was the reply.
* * *
Frohman disliked formality. He wanted to go straight to the heart of a
thing and have it over with. Somebody once asked him why he did not join
the Masonic order. He said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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