John Kenley(1906-2009)
Stage producer John Kenley was born John Kremchek in Denver, CO, in 1906. His parents owned saloons, and later moved the family to Cleveland, OH. In the late 1920s he traveled to New York City in search of a career on the stage. He got a job with John Murray Anderson's "Greenwich Village Follies" in a dancer/acrobat act with Martha Graham (it was Anderson who suggested he change his name from Kremchek to Kenley).
In 1928 he went to work for the Shubert brothers, who were major Broadway producers. He stayed with them for ten years, mainly as a reader--he would receive plays from writers and agents, and recommend to the Shuberts whether they should e produced or not. During World War II he served as a pharmacist's mate in the US Merchant Marine. After the war he moved to Deer Lake, PA, a resort town favored by the wealthy elite who ran the state's coal industry. There he bought an abandoned church, converted it into a theater, and staged his own productions, naming it the Kenley Players. He built that into a chain of theaters in the Pennsylvania/Ohio area. Eventually, he moved his operation to the 3000-seat State Theatre in Cleveland. He was renowned for persuading major film and TV stars to appear in his productions., such as Joan Fontaine, Bert Lahr, Signe Hasso, Sylvia Sidney, Gloria Swanson, Buddy Ebsen, Bela Lugosi, Kay Francis and Glenda Farrell, among many others.
He died in Cleveland, OH, in 2009.
In 1928 he went to work for the Shubert brothers, who were major Broadway producers. He stayed with them for ten years, mainly as a reader--he would receive plays from writers and agents, and recommend to the Shuberts whether they should e produced or not. During World War II he served as a pharmacist's mate in the US Merchant Marine. After the war he moved to Deer Lake, PA, a resort town favored by the wealthy elite who ran the state's coal industry. There he bought an abandoned church, converted it into a theater, and staged his own productions, naming it the Kenley Players. He built that into a chain of theaters in the Pennsylvania/Ohio area. Eventually, he moved his operation to the 3000-seat State Theatre in Cleveland. He was renowned for persuading major film and TV stars to appear in his productions., such as Joan Fontaine, Bert Lahr, Signe Hasso, Sylvia Sidney, Gloria Swanson, Buddy Ebsen, Bela Lugosi, Kay Francis and Glenda Farrell, among many others.
He died in Cleveland, OH, in 2009.
