In Remembrance: Cy Feuer

     Cy Feuer, the head of Republic Studios’ music department in the 1930s and `40s who became a three time Tony award winning Broadway producer, has passed away on May 17 in New York City. He was 95.

     Born on January 15, 1911, in Brooklyn, NY, Feuer studied music at Julliard and worked as a trumpet player at Radio City Music Hall. In the late 1930s, he became the head of the music department at Republic Studios. In that position he oversaw the music for close to 140 films over the course of a decade. He also composed music for nearly 100 films, with many of his music cues being recycled for use as stock music for other films at the Studio.

     Feuer left the studio in 1947 and soon teamed with Ernest H. Martin to produce a string of Broadway hits, starting with 1948’s Where’s Charley?, with Ray Bolger, based on the play Charley’s Aunt. Martin and Feuer served as producers on the 1952 film adaptation of the show. There are shows included Guys And Dolls (1950), for which they won a Tony award, Can-Can (1953), The Boy Friend (1954) which featured the Broadway debut of Julie Andrews and Silk Stockings (1955). The pair also produced the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying in 1961.

     In the 1970s, Feuer returned to Hollywood to produce the musicals Cabaret (1972) and A Chorus Line (1985) with Martin. The pair also produced the bio-pic Piaf (1974).

     In 2003, Feuer was awarded a special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.