Danny Newman, 88, Proselytized for Subscription Theater

Danny Newman, the public voice of Lyric Opera of Chicago for nearly 50 years and the so-called "Billy Graham of subscription theater" died Sunday at 88 in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood.

Elfin and grinning, and with bushy eyebrows and a voice as loud as those of the opera singers he ballyhooed, Newman was press agent for Lyric Opera from 1954 until 2002, and insisted on using the rather dated job title.

"I'm not a publicist or director of public relations. I'm a press agent, even though that's a pejorative term now," Newman said in 2001. But Newman also worked as a theatrical producer, movie theater owner, motivational speaker, sports promoter, announcer, author, and more. He set up an early talk radio show with young Myron (now better known as Mike) Wallace.

Most importantly, he revolutionized the way live performances are marketed to audiences.

Six consecutive opera companies failed in Chicago before the Lyric made its debut in 1954. But Lyric survived, by emphasizing prepaid season subscriptions instead of individual ticket sales.

Newman was not in charge of marketing for the Lyric, but he refined the subscription idea and took it on the road, serving as an audience development consultant to hundreds of professional performing arts organizations on five continents. His 1977 book, Subscribe Now!," has become a textbook in many graduate schools of arts management.

Newman was also one of Chicago's great raconteurs, with a never-ending supply of celebrity stories. Some involved classic opera stars such as Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi and Jussi Bjorling, while others reflected his background in the vanished worlds of vaudeville, burlesque and Yiddish theater.

Newman's first wife, the Warsaw-born Dina Halpern, was an internationally known Yiddish actress blessed with what one critic called "the voice of an Amati cello."