Minnelli's reputation grew and he was offered a job at MGM in 1940 by producer Arthur Freed. Minnelli later worked on The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, Hooray for What!, Very Warm for May, and The Show is On. The revue was well received and enjoyed a two-year run. Īfter leaving Radio City Music Hall, the first play Minnelli directed was a musical revue for the Shuberts titled At Home Abroad which opened in October 1935 and starred Beatrice Lillie, Ethel Waters, and Eleanor Powell. He was eventually employed at Radio City Music Hall shortly after its 1932 opening as a set designer and worked his way up to stage director – he was also tasked to serve as a color consultant for the original interior design of the Rainbow Room. He soon left Chicago and rented a tiny Greenwich Village apartment. Owned by Balaban and Katz, the theater chain soon merged with a bigger national chain of Paramount-Publix and Minnelli sometimes found himself assigned to work on shows in New York City. Minnelli's first job in the theater was at the Chicago Theatre where he worked as a costume and set designer. His interest in the theater grew and he was greatly interested in art and immersed himself in books on the subject. He later worked as a photographer for Paul Stone, who specialized in photographing actors from Chicago's theater district. His first job was at Marshall Field's department store as a window dresser. Career įollowing his high school graduation, Minnelli moved to Chicago, where he lived briefly with his maternal grandmother and an aunt. Library of Congress and the Newberry Library in Chicago have Vincenzo (aka Vincent) Minnelli compositions in their collections. Vincenzo was a music teacher and composer. While traveling as a piano demonstrator for Knabe Pianos, Vincenzo met his future wife Nina Picket during a stop in Delaware, Ohio. After the Bourbon return to power Vincenzo reportedly hid in the catacombs of Palermo for 18 months before being successfully smuggled onto a New York-bound fruit steamer. Domenico Minnelli had been Vice-Chancellor of the Gran Corte Civile in Palermo at the time he helped organize the January 12, 1848, uprising there. His paternal grandfather, Vincenzo Minnelli, and great-uncle, Domenico Minnelli, both Sicilian revolutionaries, were forced to leave Sicily after the collapse of the provisional Sicilian government that arose from the 1848 revolution against Ferdinand II and Bourbon rule. The family toured small towns primarily in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, before settling in Delaware, Ohio. His mother was born in Chicago and was of French-Canadian descent with a strong probability of Anishinaabe lineage through her mother, who was born on Mackinac Island, Michigan. His mother's stage name was Mina Gennell, and his father was the musical conductor of Minnelli Brothers' Tent Theater. He was baptized in Chicago, and was the youngest of four known sons, only two of whom survived to adulthood. Lester Anthony Minnelli was born on February 28, 1903, to Marie Émilie Odile Lebeau and Vincent Charles Minnelli.
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