Morosco, Oliver

Morosco, Oliver [né Mitchell] (1876–1945), producer. Born in Logan, Utah, but raised in San Francisco, he began his theatrical career there as an acrobat in a troupe headed by Walter Morosco, whose name he adopted professionally. When the elder Morosco became the lessee of several San Francisco theatres, he made his young protégé his manager. On his own he leased the Burbank Theatre in Los Angeles, and within a few years ran no fewer than six Los Angeles playhouses. To keep his theatres lit, Morosco began producing shows in 1909. Among his play hits were The Bird of Paradise (1912), Peg o' My Heart (1912), The Unchastened Woman (1915), The Cinderella Man (1916), Upstairs and Down (1916), The Brat (1917), Lombardi, Ltd. (1917), and Cappy Ricks (1919). His musical successes, for which he often collaborated on the book and songs, included The Tik Tok Man of Oz (1912); Canary Cottage (1917), and several shows starring Charlotte Greenwood: So Long, Letty (1916), Linger Longer, Letty (1919), and Letty Pepper (1922). Morosco also wrote a number of plays. Because of his close association with the Shuberts, they joined him in building the Morosco Theatre in New York, which opened with his Canary Cottage (1917). Biography: The Oracle of Broadway, edited by Helen M. Morosco and Leonard Paul Dugger, 1944.