Arthur S. Lyons

Arthur Seymour Lyons (né Efroimsky; 27 May 1895 Minsk, Russia – 26 July 1963 Hollywood) was a theatrical agent for stage, radio, and film. He was also a one-time film producer.

Career

Lyons was well-known for having been Jack Benny's manager. His brother, Samuel Theodore Lyons (né Schleima Efroimsky; 1899–1941), also born in Minsk, helped catapult Jack Benny into big-time show business beginning 1929. Arthur Lyons produced the 1948 film, Ruthless. Until his brother's death, Arthur and Sam were business partners. As producers, they were Lyons & Lyons. As agents, they were, in the 1930s, Lyons, McCormick and Lyons, then A & S Lyons Agency, Inc. Arthur was agent representative for Eugene O'Neill, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Joan Crawford, Ida Lupino, Lucille Ball, Hedy Lamarr, Carole Lombard, Kitty Carlisle, and Ray Milland.[1]

Lyons is credited as book writer and staging of the Chocolate Kiddies 1925 European tour.

Family

Lyons was married three times. His second, from 1938 to 1940, was to B movie actress Irene Rhodes, pseudonym of Ila Rae Curnutt (maiden; 1918–1982). Ila, sometime around 1940, presumably after her divorce from Lyons, became engaged to Ronald Reagan, which, according to her, lasted 8 or 9 months.[2][3]

His third marriage – on November 16, 1961, in Los Angeles, to Winnifred L. Gilbert (née Winnifred L. Murphy; 1909–1991) – his surname on the marriage license was the maiden name of his mother, "Klionsky."

References
  1. "A. & S. Lyons, Inc., 1940–1950," Yale University, Theatre Guild Archive, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
  2. "Old Reagan Flame Surfaces," by Brian Nicholson, UPI, December 17, 1980.
  3. Reagan: The Hollywood Years, by Marc Eliot, Three Rivers Press (2008, 2009), p. 72; OCLC 326529057
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