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Max Liebman (1902-1981) was a producer, director, and composer known for his Broadway work and, most notably, for creating the 1950 TV variety show Your Show of Shows. This program launched stars Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca and helped establish the careers of Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Nanette Fabray, and writers Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Mel Tolkin.
Liebman debuted on Broadway in 1936 by writing sketches for The Illustrators' Show, which closed after just five performances. Three years later, his original comedy Off to Buffalo, co-written with Howard Boretz, also failed, running for seven shows before closing in February 1939. Later that year, he achieved his first Broadway success with the musical The Straw Hat Revue, for which he wrote the book and staged the production. The show ran for 75 performances and featured contributions from Danny Kaye, Jerome Robbins (then a hoofer), and Imogene Coca.
His next musical revue, Crazy With the Heat, had two Broadway runs in 1941: it initially closed after seven performances in January before reopening later that month for an additional 92 shows. That same year, Liebman gained association with a major hit by writing additional numbers for the musical comedy Let's Face It!, which featured songs by Cole Porter and starred Danny Kaye. The show ran for 547 performances. In 1942, he produced the drama Autumn Hill, which closed after eight shows in one week, but later that year found greater success with Wine, Women and Song, a two-act revue blending burlesque and vaudeville elements that ran for 150 performances.
Beyond Broadway, Liebman produced musical revues at Taminant, a Poconos Mountain resort in the Borscht Belt known for producing many top 20th-century comedians. After World War II, he directed sketches in the 1948 musical revue Make Mine Manhattan, starring Sid Caesar, which ran for 429 performances.
Liebman entered television in 1949 with The Admiral Broadway Revue, and the following year made TV history by creating Your Show of Shows. Carl Reiner credits Liebman with recruiting him to the show after Reiner had worked as a script doctor on the unsuccessful 1950 Broadway revue Alice and Kicking, where Reiner also performed. Liebman continued producing for TV through the 1950s and into the 1960s, with his final role as coordinating producer for Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine in 1962.
