User:Robin the Bobbin/John Golden

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=John L. Golden=

John L. Golden (June 27, 1874 – June 17, 1955) was a Broadway theatre producer, author, songwriter, reporter, theater owner, actor, and prominent member of the New York theatre scene up until his death. During his career he produced over 150 plays and musicals and was involved in multiple theater social clubs. He donated his Bayside, Queens estate to the City of New York, which is now a park in his honor.

Early Life
Though born in New York, Golden spent much of his early life in Wauseon, Ohio, only returning to New York when he was fourteen years old. He studied briefly at the New York University School of Law and worked a series of jobs before entering theater, including 13 years at a chemical manufacturing firm and as a reporter.

Broadway Career
Golden produced his first show Turn to the Right in 1916, which brought him tremendous success. A later play Golden produced, Lightnin' (1918), broke the record for longest running show at that time with 1,291 performances. After the first performance, President Woodrow Wilson and his wife Edith Bolling Galt Wilson told Golden it was the most entertaining play they had ever seen.

Golden was a charter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (commonly known as ASCAP), a director from 1914 to 1915 and the organization's first treasurer. He was also a "Shepherd" of the theatrical fraternity the Lambs Club from 1942 to 1944. In 1937 he bought the Theatre Masque, renaming it the John Golden Theatre.

Golden was an active statesmen during the first and second World Wars bringing the war effort together with theater, including creating a free ticket service for servicemen. He also founded both the Stage Relief Fund and the Stage Door Canteen. After the fighting had concluded, Golden worked with Robert Russell Bennett writing the lyrics and composing the music, respectively, to the United Nations All Faith Prayer for Peace.

Life in Bayside
In 1920 Golden and his wife Margaret moved to Bayside, Queens. They opened their well groomed grounds to the community for little league games, Easter Egg hunts, or Sunday picnickers. Golden worked until his death by a heart attack on June 17, 1955. He had bequeathed his estate as a park to the City of New York, "for the use and enjoyment by the young people of the community of all races and creeds in a manner similar to that in which I made this property available for recreation and community acts during my lifetime." The park was dedicated October 18, 1965 with speeches by Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr., Robert Moses, Parks Commissioner Newbold Morris, Bernard F. Gimbel (of Gimbels), Frederick O'Neal, Rube Goldberg, Harry Hershfield, and Vincent Sardi Jr. (of Sardi's). The park was re-dedicated in 1983 by the John Golden Park Block Association and a plaque in Golden's memory was added 1995.



Works
"Poor Butterfly", "Goodbye Girls, I'm Through" (see 1914 in music), "I Can Dance With Everybody but My Wife" (see 1916 in music)

<I believe the following are also his works, but could not find adequate citations: Songs Golden wrote "Willie Off the Yacht", "I'm Growing Fond of You", "Your Heart Looked Into Mine", and "You Can't Play Every Instrument in the Band". Scores Golden composed "The Candy Shop", "Over the River", "Hip, Hip, Hooray!", "The Big Show", "Cheer Up", and "Everything". Plays Golden produced: "Susan and God", "Turn to the Right", "Three Wise Fools", "Lightnin'", "The First Year", "Seventh Heaven", "Counselor-at-Law", "When Ladies Meet", "As Husbands Go", "Let Us Be Gay", "Claudia" and "Skylark">