![]() There's a story about a theatrical producer who needed to speak to Roger about a leading lady. It was called "West Side Story.''īy the way, through much of this period, Roger remained an active player in the real estate market. And after three decades, the mere mention of that show still has the power to thrill. ROGER STEVENS UPDATEAnd ladies and gentlemen, Roger Stevens is the man who backed a crazy idea to update "Romeo and Juliet'' and place it in New York - backed the idea even after another producer pulled out. This is the man who produced "Bus Stop,'' by William Inge "Tea and Sympathy,'' by Robert Anderson and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,'' by Tennessee Williams. Yet it's for his contributions to American theater that Roger should perhaps be most honored. He produced playwrights from around the world: the Frenchman Giraudoux the Swiss playwright Durrenmatt the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and the Englishmen, Shaffer, Bolt, and Pinter. In the fifties and early sixties, Roger had as many as eight shows on Broadway a year. But it was up from there - up and up and up. His second, as a New York theatrical producer, got started in 1949, when Roger staged Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night.'' The show ran for 48 performances, and Roger lost just a little less than $1,000 on each. But as I said, real estate was only the first of Roger's brilliant careers. Roger kept his files in cardboard boxes scattered around the floor. As a matter of fact, you sometimes wonder if he's keeping track of how he'll come out himself.'' Well, it's significant that when Roger engineered the purchase of the Empire State Building the room he selected for his office - there in what was then the tallest, most glamorous building on Earth - the room that Roger selected for his office was a cubbyhole that used to belong to a window washer. He makes it fun for you, too, because in dealing with him, you never have to concern yourself about what you'll get out of it. In the words of a banker who worked with Roger in those days - I'll quote: "Business is a game to him. No, there was a sense of humility and gentleness about him and always a sense of fun. īy the mid-1950's, Roger's holdings qualified him as a tycoon, a magnate, a hard-driving real estate giant, but not his manner. When the war ended, he and his colleagues bought three hotels in Florida and one in South Carolina. And during the war, he spent 2 years at a naval air station in Florida and took the opportunity to look into Florida real estate. Soon he had holdings across the country - Detroit, New York, Seattle. He put money into them and launched his first brilliant career in real estate. Then in 1934 Roger sensed that certain old apartment buildings were undervalued. And some say he kept himself in pocket money mainly by playing blackjack and poker. He spent 6 months in real estate and earned not a penny. He worked on the assembly line in a Ford factory. Born in Detroit, educated at Choate, Roger's schooling ended with the advent of the Depression. Well, tonight, Roger, we're giving your entire life a review, and it's a rave. Since taking this job, I've found out just how hard it is to get a good review from the New York Times. Roger, you were thrilled almost 40 years ago when the New York Times gave you a good review to your first Broadway production, and by the way, I can understand that. Special regards, of course, to Roger, Christine, and their family. His attention to line and narrative have lead to a body of works that operates like a language of glyphs: aesthetically rich in appearance, and conceptually rewarding upon closer inspection.Ĭommissions include: The Whitney Museum of Art, The American Folk Art Museum, PS1, Tiffany & Co.Thank you all, and good evening to you all. His hand-crafted sculptural works and wearable pieces embody carefully wrought stories and ideas that are articulated through composition and form. His work, while abstract in nature, is firmly rooted in a deep personal narrative and draws heavily upon literature, language, mathematics, human physiology and day to day experience. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rodger studied at the Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is now an internationally exhibited artist with work in numerous private and institutional collections. Rodger Stevens is an American artist and sculptor whose principal medium is wire. Jewelry by Rodger Stevens is available at Please email all other inquiries to: phone the studio at: (917) 455-0040 Each is individually designed and handcrafted by the artist himself. ![]()
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