Sydney Rosenfeld

Sydney Rosenfeld (1855–1931) was an American playwright, librettist, and journalist born to a Jewish family in Richmond, Virginia. He relocated to New York during the Civil War and began his theatrical career in 1874 with Rosemy Shell, a burlesque of Rose Michel. Before fully committing to the stage, Rosenfeld worked as a journalist, serving as the first editor of the English edition of Puck magazine and contributing to The Sun and the New York World, though he had left the profession by age 19. He had also written boys' stories beginning at age 15.

Rosenfeld went on to become one of the more prolific figures in American theater during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with close to fifty productions reaching Broadway over the course of his career. The Chronology of American Literature (2004) characterized him as a prolific adapter of foreign plays who was frequently accused of plagiarism. His output included original works as well as translations and adaptations drawn from German, Viennese, and French sources. Among his translations were The Sea Cadet (1880) and Nanon (1885), both derived from works by Richard Genée and Friedrich Zell, The Gypsy Baron (1886) from Johann Strauss II's German operetta, and The Black Hussar (1885), adapted from Carl Millöcker's operetta Der Feldprediger.

His original and adapted plays spanned a wide range of genres and subjects. The Lady, or the Tiger? (1888) was drawn from Frank R. Stockton's well-known short story. The Senator (1890), co-written with David D. Lloyd, who died before completing it, featured a title character modeled on Senator Preston B. Plumb and starred William H. Crane and Georgie Drew Barrymore; the play was later adapted into a silent film in 1915. The Storm Child (1880) was written for actress Minnie Maddern Fiske, and The Whirlwind (1890) was written for actress Helen Dauvray. The Oolah (1889), an adaptation of Charles Lecocq's La Jolie Persane, starred Francis Wilson. Children of Destiny (1910), co-written with actress Laura Nelson Hall, was subsequently adapted into a silent film in 1920, and The Purple Lady (1899), adapted from an uncredited German play, was similarly filmed in 1916.

Among his Broadway credits as composer and book writer were the musical A Society Circus (1905), the burlesque The Giddy Throng, The Charm of Isabel (1914), The Aero Club (1907), and Children of Destiny (1910). Other notable productions included A House of Cards (1896), The King's Carnival (1901), The Mocking Bird (1902), The Vanderbilt Cup (1906), written with actress Elsie Janis, Mlle. Mischief (1908), Jumping Jupiter (1911), and The Optimist (1906). The Opera Ball (1912), co-written with Clare Kummer, was an adaptation of Viktor Léon and Heinrich von Waldberg's Der Opernball. The Rollicking Girl (1905) was a rewrite of his earlier A Dangerous Maid (1898), with music added by W.T. Francis and starring Sam Bernard. His final produced work was Forbidden, also known as Virginia Runs Away, in 1923.

The 1890 New York Times observed that despite an apparent carelessness and misplaced confidence, Rosenfeld possessed a gift of originality that distinguished him from contemporaries such as Belasco and De Mille. Gerald Bordman's American Music Theatre: A Chronicle described him as a long-standing colorful and controversial figure on the American theatrical scene who enjoyed some hits alongside considerably more notoriety stemming from his combative behavior. By the mid-1910s his ability to generate successful work had diminished, though he continued mounting productions until 1923. At the time of his death in 1931, his contributions to an earlier era of American theater were not widely remembered, and his estate was reported to be worth only $100.