if you have a theatre, symphony, sports, dance or opera subscription...

you may not know the name Danny Newman but he had a direct bearing on your life, especially with the 10% discount you usually receive from having that subscription.

Danny Newman wrote the book on subscriptions, Subscribe Now!, that is still used today as the bible for most organization in the arts and other areas. One could say that he single-handedly help save the arts in the world.

He was also the co-founder of the Lyric Opera of Chicago along with Carol Fox and a few others, not only one of the premier opera companies in the world but also one of the most successful.

Danny died this weekend at the age of 88. He was a marvel.

I met Danny a number of times over the years, with the restaurant at which I worked and through friends. He could not be easily forgotten. He had a story about everything in the arts and everyone in the opera world. Yet, I never heard a disparaging word from him on anyone. Heaven knows, in my life, I have heard some hair-raising stories about some very famous people. [AND no, i won't tell.] You can read some of the stories in a book he wrote last year - Tales of a Theatrical Guru. There are stories in it from Luciano Pavarotti to Jimmy Durante to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy to Maria Callas.

Danny also was famous at the Lyric as the bearer of bad news. If Danny walked out on stage before a performance, you would hear 3,2000 people groan all at once. He was there to announce that one of the singers had cancelled tonight's production. If you were lucky, he was announcing that "though indisposed by a cold, ________ has graciously decided to sing tonight and begs your understanding and forgiveness." John Von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune portrayed it best in today's obit:

"La-dies and gen-tle-men ... " he would begin, his voice ringing with clarion fervor, like a latter-day Moses delivering the 10 Commandments.

Before he retired, he was also the voice that you heard asking you to turn off your pagers and cellphones. No one ever booed..., they usually applauded.

It was always a warm and pleasant feeling when you saw Danny and you always ended up laughing. Appropriately, the Lyric named its Box Office after him when he retired. Talk about a fitting gift to the man who gave to so many others...