Fox Associates Co-Founders
Bob Baudendistel,
left, Mary Strauss, center, and Harvey Harris,
right
It will be a Thoroughly
Special Evening
When ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’
comes to St. Louis’ Fabulous Fox
By
Daniel Hines
Publisher
America’s Seniors/TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
Every
performance at The Fabulous Fox is special.But when ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ comes to St. Louis,
December 2-14, it will be a special event that will allow three
visionaries who formed Fox
Associates more than a decade ago to celebrate their
accomplishment, not just with the Tony-award winner of the ‘best
musical’ in 2002,
but to have a poignant moment of memories of another of their founding
group—the beloved Leon Strauss, who succumbed to cancer four
years ago.
The
remaining three include Mary Strauss, Leon’s wife, who continues to
exhibit the drive and vision that enabled her to convince husband Leon
that there was promise in the crumbling, Byzantine-grandeur of the
deserted Fox Theatre
in an area of the city that was also in a stage of decay.
The
diminutive Mary is a lover of all things theatrical. Even today, more
than 20
years after giving Leon a tour of The Fox, she exudes the same
energy and excitement that undoubtedly swayed Leon.Of course, she also had a leg up on the effort, because Leon is
remembered as a visionary who had a singularly unique outlook towards
ways of making
cities livable, and he was involved in many efforts that improved St.
Louis.
Still,
there can be no doubt that Mary was instrumental in getting Leon to
apply that vision to the Fox.
Then,
she turned her attention to two friends and business associates. It was
an unlikely pair with absolutely no experience in show business. One—Bob
Baudendistel—was the founder of Mark Twain bank, and is a leading St.
Louis businessman. The other-- prominent St. Louis attorney Harvey
Harris—was the lawyer for Leon and Mary. Bob was and is as quiet in an
old-school gentlemanly fashion as Mary is exuberant.Harvey is described by Mary as a ‘natural showman’, and has
an Irish charm and command of language.
To
an outside observer, it might have seemed that the odds against success
were overwhelming.But, the
combination of vision and commitment to St. Louis created chemistry that
has made theater history, not just in St. Louis, but also on a national
and international scale.
It
doesn’t take long to sense the deep respect and affection each has for
the other or the love they have for The Fox Theatre.
“The
Fox is a special theater,” Mary explains. Then, using an oxymoron, she
continues that the theater is “ostentatiously
glorious.”But she can be
allowed such statements because as she describes bringing Leon to see
The Fox for the first time, you can almost sense her standing in the
dirty, peeling, vacated theater, pointing out to him all of the
beautiful features.
She
recalls how she had decided that she and Leon should ‘adopt’ the
theater and make it the cornerstone of a new arts and entertainment area
for the city. (It is a commitment that has taken new directions with the
formation of the Fox Associates
Foundation, whose mission is to support the performing arts and literacy
with a community-wide outreach to children, a project that she, Bob
and Harvey all describe as their way of saying ‘thanks’ to the
community.)
InBob
and Harvey, the Stauss’ found two men equally committed to the
contribution that the arts—especially a theater like a restored
Fox—could make to the community.Also, both men had memories of the theater in its splendor.
While
Fox Associates and the Fox were to be successful, and The Fabulous Fox
was to be the flagship for operations, new challenges and opportunities
were to present themselves—the formation of Fox Theatricals.
Fox Theatricals is the result of merging the talents of Chicago producer
Michael Leavitt
and Fox Associates.Successes
quickly followed.
‘Thoroughly
Modern Millie’ is probably the best known of those successes.As Mary notes, “It isn’t often that you have ‘the top
musical’.”But it is
the culmination of an impressive track record.
It
started in 1999, with a Tony for Best Revival of a Play for Arthur
Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’, starring Brian Dennehy.Fox Theatricals also won a 2001 Tony Award for Best Revival of a
Play for ‘One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest’, starting Gary Sinise.Other credits include co-producing musical hits ‘Jekyll &
Hyde’ and ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,’ which received two
1999 Tony Awards.
Fox Theatricals has also been involved in a number of productions in
Chicago’s Off-Loop area, and other New York productions.
But,
‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ is special, perhaps because it has so
many of the characteristics and qualities of The Fabulous Fox and the
three visionaries who crowded on the stage with the cast of ‘
Thoroughly Modern Millie’ to receive their own Tonys.Consider: an unlikely girl comes to New York and becomes a star.Three people with a love of theater combine to become highly
successful producers, with a continuing run of ‘Millie’ on Broadway,
a traveling Broadway production and a London production.
The
group says that they knew they were going be winners of the coveted Tony
when Mary Tyler Moore, who played Millie in the movie, was the
presenter.
And,
while each of them were and continue to remain excited—Harvey says he
is inviting all his friends and family to see the show and celebrate
during the St. Louis run—perhaps Mary summed it up best when she
recalls her feelings as she stood on stage before a national audience
with her Tony:
“It
is so unusual that a stage-struck little girl from St. Louis should have
three Tonys on her fireplace mantle,” she muses.
“But
that wasn’t my primary thought…instead, I believe that Leon was
looking down at us and smiling…and I thought of how far we had all
come together…and I said silently to him, ‘We’ve come a long way,
Strauss…it’s been quite a journey…”
Let’s
hope that it is a journey that will continue for Mary, Bob and
Harvey…and all of the rest of us who have been able to enjoy the
journey with them.
Now,
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Fox Associates Co-Founders
Bob 