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ATPAM: News: HL0701B

NEWS

In Memoriam: Harry Davies

Harry was an ATPAM member since 1938

Veteran theatrical press agent Harry Davies, 94, died on Sunday, July 1 of natural causes at the Actors’ Home in Englewood, New Jersey, according to his son Robert. Born in New York City, Mr. Davies began his career as a press agent with MGM as a teenager in the 1920’s. At age 18 he left MGM to work for Florenz Ziegfield at the Follies. He recalled, "They made me leave the theatre at night because they had these Ben Ali Haggan tableaus with nude girls. They didn’t want me hanging around staring."

Mr. Davies’ most successful publicity stunt proved, in the end, to be too successful. He came across a headline in the New York Journal, which read "Foreign Artists Enter Country as Stripteasers." The story was about the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s investigation of immigration. The paper had simply taken the liberty of spicing up the story with the headline. This gave Mr. Davies an idea—to have his clients, the Minsky brothers, owners of the biggest burlesque house in New York, testify before the Senate committee. They traveled to Washington and testified that, "at Minsky’s only true-blue American girls take their clothes off—no foreigners allowed."

As far as publicity goes, the stunt was a tremendous success. The story was picked up by practically every publication including The New York Times. Unfortunately, there was so much publicity that the New York clergy became angry and forced the famous raid that closed Minsky’s and all the other burlesque houses. According to Harry, this was the inspiration for MGM’s film "The Night They Raided Minsky’s." Basically, it can be said that Harry Davies was responsible for the end of Burlesque.

Mr. Davies’ clients ranged from legitimate Broadway shows, including "The Glass Menagerie," "Tea and Sympathy" and "Mary, Mary," to such specialty acts as "Nelson’s Boxing Cats." Mr. Davies had a long professional relationship as a trusted source for the columnist Walter Winchell. During the 1980’s and 90’s, he served as an advance man for the National Touring Companies of Broadway plays, including the Neil Simon shows "California Suite," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Biloxi Blues," and "Broadway Bound." Mr. Davies is survived by two sons: Robert of Bedford Hills, New York and Richard of Gladwyne, Pennsylvania; and three grandchildren, Pamela, Sara and Hans. Services for Mr. Davies will be held Thursday, July 5 at 12:45 p.m. at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street in Manhattan.