Rosenfield, John, 1900-1966

Max John Rosenfield, Jr., was born in Dallas on April 5, 1900, the son of Max John Rosenfield, Sr., and Jenny Lind Kramer Rosenfield. He attended Dallas Public Schools and the University of Texas in Austin. His studies were interrupted by World War I; he finished his college education at Columbia University in New York City. He began work in New York for the Evening Mail as motion picture reviewer but was soon hired from the Mail by Paramount for their publicity department. In 1923 Rosenfield was transferred by Paramount to Dallas. When the company later asked Rosenfield to return to New York, he chose instead to remain in Dallas where he went to work for the Dallas Morning News . In 1925 he was asked by the publisher to develop an amusement department for the News . Rosenfield headed the department until 1957 when he gave up active administrative duties following a coronary. However, he continued to write his widely acclaimed column, "The Passing Show," and major reviews until his taking his full retirement in September 1966. Rosenfield died at his home in Dallas (Park Cities) on November 26, 1966.

While in New York Rosenfield met and married Claire Burger; they had a one son, Max John Rosenfield III.

As arts critic for the Dallas Morning News, John Rosenfield was the leading cultural voice in the Southwest for several decades. He was profiled twice in Newsweek, as well as the subject of articles, chapters and paragraphs in Look, Life, Harper's and other publications. As a nationally recognized critic, he was once asked for permission to use his name to lend authenticity to a movie scene. Rosenfield's knowledge of opera and music brought him almost annual invitations to appear on the Metropolitan Opera Quiz radio program in New York.

The New York Times in its obituary for Rosenfield said that "it can be argues that John Rosenfield did more for the arts in Dallas than any other person during a long reign as 'cultural pontiff of the Southwest'," echoing Time Magazine which once stated that the "fact is that culture in Dallas has blossomed like a rose on the dry plains of the Southwest, thanks largely to Rosenfield."

Rosenfield was always conscious of the need to develop the arts in Dallas itself. He was instrumental in the revival of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in the mid-1920s and in the selection of its conductors from Paul Van Katwijk (1925) thought Paul Kletzki (1958). He encouraged Margo Jones from the time she was a student at Texas Women's University; the establishment of the Margo Jones Theatre (one of the first important regional theatres in the United States) in 1945 was due, in large part, to Rosenfield's ability to influence financial backers. Rosenfield was also a leader in the movement which resulted in the building of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Dallas Theater Center.

The following awards were given to John Rosenfield in recognition of his role in encouragement of the arts:

1955 and 1960 honor award of Southwest Theatre Conference

1956 Critics Award from Screen Directors Guild

1960 Service to Music in Dallas award from Sigma Alpha Iota

1965 honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Southwestern University, Georgetown.

1966 annual cultural service award of Big D Chapter of B'nai B'rith Women, which named Rosenfield as "Mr. Show Business"

As a memorial, in 1967 a John Rosenfield Scholarship in Playwriting was established at the Southern Methodist University School of the Arts.

From the guide to the John Rosenfield Collection MA68-1., 1910-(1950-1967), (Texas/Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)