Ernest H. Martin

Ernest Harold Martin, born Ernest Harold Markowitz on August 28, 1919, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was an American Broadway producer, book writer, theater owner, and motion picture producer. He died on May 7, 1995. A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was elected president of the senior class, Martin began his professional life at CBS Radio, where he advanced to the position of head of programming before turning his attention to the stage.

Martin's Broadway career spanned several decades and encompassed work as both a producer and a book writer. He wrote the book for Whoop-Up, which he also produced, and his producing credits include Good Morning Dearie, among many others. His most enduring association was with producer Cy Feuer, with whom he formed a partnership that earned the pair the nickname "The Golddust Twins" in recognition of their sustained success on Broadway. Within that partnership, Martin was regarded as the conceptual force behind their projects, while Feuer handled direction and execution. Feuer described the dynamic plainly: "Ernie was the sparkplug and I was the engineer."

Together, Feuer and Martin produced some of the most celebrated musicals of the mid-twentieth century. Guys and Dolls opened on November 24, 1950, and ran through November 28, 1953, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1951. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opened on October 14, 1961, and ran through March 6, 1965, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical in 1962, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. Their other joint productions included Where's Charley?, which Martin first produced in 1948 and again in a subsequent run beginning January 29, 1951; Can-Can, which ran from May 7, 1953, through June 25, 1955; The Boy Friend, which ran from September 30, 1954, through November 26, 1955; Silk Stockings, which ran from February 24, 1955, through April 14, 1956; Little Me, which ran from November 17, 1962, through June 29, 1963; Skyscraper, which ran from November 13, 1965, through June 11, 1966; and The Act, which ran from October 29, 1977, through July 1, 1978.

Martin also produced several Broadway shows independently. These include the original 1948 production of Where's Charley?, Walking Happy, which ran from November 26, 1966, through April 16, 1967, and The Goodbye People, which had a brief run in December 1968. Singly or with Feuer, Martin received five Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, for Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Little Me, Skyscraper, and Walking Happy. Little Me and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying also brought nominations for the Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical.

From 1960 to 1965, Feuer and Martin owned Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Martin later managed the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera from 1976 to 1980, as well as its counterpart in San Francisco, bringing Broadway productions to the West Coast and developing new shows, including Liza Minnelli's The Act, before their Broadway premieres.

Martin's work extended into film production as well. He produced the motion picture Cabaret in 1972, which received ten Academy Award nominations, and A Chorus Line in 1985.

In his personal life, Martin was married three times. His second wife was the actress Nancy Guild, born in 1925 and died in 1999, to whom he was married from 1951 to 1975. They had two children together, Cecilia and Polly, the latter of whom died in 2004, and Martin also raised Liz, Nancy Guild's daughter from a prior marriage. His third wife was Twyla Martin.