Albert H Woods

Early life

Woods was born in Budapest, Hungary, but his family brought him to the United States as an infant. He grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As a child he would skip school to go to theatrical shows, where he developed the goal of becoming a producer himself.

Career

Woods formed an early partnership with Sam H. Harris and Paddy Sullivan, running tour companies of popular melodramas, starting with The Bowery After Dark. His first Broadway production was The Evil That Men Do in 1903. His work on Broadway escalated after the popularity of the touring melodramas declined. Woods had a stable of favorite playwrights, most notably Owen Davis, who he worked with for several years on melodramas such as Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model. When Woods turned to producing regular Broadway shows, he focused on bedroom farces, starting with The Girl from Rector's in 1909.

When he became successful, Woods continued to emphasize his humble roots and was known for his folksy manner with everyone. He greeted patrons at the Eltinge as "sweetheart". Upon being introduced to King George V, Woods addressed the monarch (who was older than him) as "kid" and took the opportunity to promote one of his productions, declaring it to be "a regular show".

Woods was at his peak in the 1920s, producing such hits as Ladies' Night (1920), The Demi-Virgin (1921), The Green Hat (1925), The Shanghai Gesture (1926), and The Trial of Mary Dugan (1927). However, he lost most of his fortune in the early 1930s and never fully recovered. In the 1930s his only major hits were Five Star Final (1930) and Night of January 16th (1935). When Woods staged the Sheldon Davis comedy Try and Get It in August 1943, critics expressed hope that it would revive his flagging career, but it closed in less than a week. It was his final production.

Later life

Although Woods continued to read scripts and attempt to generate interest, he was unable to stage any productions after 1943. He died on April 24, 1951, in his residence at the Hotel Beacon in New York. The once wealthy former producer ended his life bankrupt. After a memorial service attended by many prominent theater personalities, his remains were cremated.

Censorship battles

Woods produced a number of bedroom farces, which critics and local authorities often saw as pushing the boundaries of propriety. In several instances Woods encountered legal troubles as a result.

The Girl from Rector's

In 1909, Woods staged The Girl from Rector's, Paul M. Potter's adaptation of Loute, a French farce by Pierre Veber. The plot portrays several couples in a tangle of adulterous affairs, and the play was considered indecent by many critics. Prior to opening on Broadway, preview performances were scheduled in Trenton, New Jersey. After the first matinee, a group of 25 local clergy complained to Trenton police the play was immoral. The police shut the play down and did not permit any further performances.

The Girl with the Whooping Cough

In April 1910, Woods began a production of The Girl with the Whooping Cough, an adaptation of a French farce that features a woman who spreads whooping cough by kissing numerous men. At the urging New York Mayor William Jay Gaynor, the New York City Police Commissioner attempted to suppress the play due to its risqué content. The commissioner contacted the theater's management company and threatened that if the play was not stopped, he would refuse to renew the theater's operating license. Woods got an injunction from the New York Supreme Court that prevented the authorities from interfering with the show directly, but it did not compel them to renew the license for the theater. Left with no home for his production, Woods was forced to shut it down.

The Demi-Virgin

In 1921, Woods again encountered problems with New York City censors when he produced The Demi-Virgin, a sex comedy written by Avery Hopwood that featured risque dialog and a strip poker scene. On November 3, 1921, Woods and Hopwood were called to the chambers of William McAdoo, the Chief Magistrate of the New York City's magistrates' court, to respond to complaints about the play. Woods would not make any changes to address the complaints, so McAdoo held a formal hearing and ruled that the play was obscene, describing it as "coarsely indecent, flagrantly and suggestively immoral, impure in word and action." Woods was placed on bail, and the case was sent to the grand jury for an indictment on a misdemeanor charge of staging an obscene exhibition. The grand jury heard the case on December 23, 1921, but dismissed it that same day, even though it had heard only witnesses favoring the prosecution. As the obscenity case proceeded, the city's Commissioner of Licenses threatened to revoke the theater's operating license if the production continued, but a New York state appeals court ruled that he did not have the legal authority to revoke a theater license once it had been granted.

Although Woods won the legal proceedings and the play was a hit, it was considered immoral by many critics. Woods was personally condemned by prominent rabbi Stephen S. Wise, who said the involvement of a Jewish producer with "theatrical filth" hurt the reputation of Jews generally.

Broadway productions

Woods produced over 140 plays on Broadway.