John Murray Anderson

Who was John Murray Anderson?

John Murray Anderson was a theatre director and producer, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, dancer and lighting designer. He worked almost every genre of show business, including vaudeville, Broadway, and film.

Born in St. John's, Newfoundland, the son of Hon. John Anderson and brother of Hugh Abercrombie Anderson, he received his early education at Bishop Feild College in St. John's. He was then sent to Europe, where he was educated at Edinburgh Academy in Scotland and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. He studied singing with Sir Charles Stanley and art with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Before beginning his theatrical career, he was an antiques dealer in New York City, where he sold collections he had accumulated in Newfoundland. This lasted a year, as he said, because he had "everything but customers" in his store.

In New York, Anderson quickly became involved in theatre, first as a dance instructor, before becoming a writer and producer. He made his Broadway debut wearing three hats, as writer, director, and producer of The Greenwich Village Follies in 1919. He subsequently produced new editions of the revue in each of the five succeeding years. He also was responsible for productions of the Ziegfeld Follies in 1934, 1936, and 1943, the Harold Arlen-Ira Gershwin-E. Y. Harburg revue Life Begins at 8:40, Billy Rose's Jumbo, One for the Money, Two for the Show, and Three to Make Ready, and New Faces of 1952. In the West End he directed The League of Notions, Bow Bells, and Fanfare.