Fosse

by Wasson, Sam

  [>] Schary’s mood worsened several months later: Dore Schary, Heyday (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), 261.

  [>] a high-ranking executive: Ibid.

  [>] “When I saw the sets for Kate”: Paul Gardner, “Bob Fosse,” Action, May/June 1974.

  [>] Choreographer Hermes Pan asked: Tommy Rall, interview with the author, April 20, 2011.

  [>] “I met Bobby for the first time”: Ibid.

  [>] After the screening, Pan broke: Ibid.

  [>] “You just have a way of dancing”: “Bob Fosse: Steam Heat,” Great Performances: Dance in America.

  [>] to work with Joe Price: Donald Duncan, “They Flip for Joe Price,” Dance Magazine, August 1964.

  [>] “I thought choreographers were all”: Glenn Loney, “The Many Facets of Bob Fosse,” After Dark, June 1972.

  [>] “Bob knew what was happening”: Tommy Rall, interview with the author, April 20, 2011.

  [>] the studio granted Fosse: Fosse employment correspondence with MGM, LOC, box 51A.

  [>] they bought waterfront land in the Pines area: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 244.

  [>] She wanted a baby: Bill Hayes, interview with the author, December 14, 2012.

  [>] Her eye for décor, like her conversation: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 127.

  [>] was home to writers, painters, and dancers invited: Ibid., 173.

  [>] “She was often very upset”: Ibid., 212.

  [>] “There were three rehearsal rooms at MGM”: “Bob Fosse,” The Dick Cavett Show, PBS, July 8, 1980.

  [>] Can-Can’s producers, Cy Feuer and Ernie Martin: Cy Feuer and Ken Gross, I Got the Show Right Here (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003), 121.

  [>] a voice she described as sounding like a 78 rpm record: Pierre Bowman, “She’s Broadway’s Former Dancing Star with a Heart of Gold,” Honolulu Star Bulletin, October 8, 1985.

  [>] offered Verdon a fully paid weekend: Verdon interview on CUNY Spotlight.

  [>] “I was so scared”: Chris Chase, “What Gwen Verdon Wants Is to Act,” New York Times, December 2, 1983.

  [>] “It probably sounded like”: Ibid.

  [>] “Well, Claudine”: Ibid.

  [>] Gwen went to the Warwick Hotel: Bowman, “She’s Broadway’s Former Dancing Star.”

  [>] “How’d it go, honey?”: Chase, “What Gwen Verdon Wants.”

  [>] He punched her: Ibid.

  [>] director Michael Kidd: Feuer and Gross, I Got the Show Right Here, 174.

  [>] Jealous of Verdon, Lilo insisted: Ibid., 180.

  [>] “I don’t really blame Lilo”: Rex Reed, “‘I Never Wanted to Be Special,’” New York Times, February 6, 1966.

  [>] phone-booth-size dressing room: Verdon interview on CUNY Spotlight.

  [>] “I don’t know how Michael [Kidd] did it”: Cy Feuer, interviewed by Michael Kantor, February 23, 1999, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Theatre on Film and Tape Archive.

  [>] “Sometimes I’m on stage”: Louis Sheaffer, “Sudden Fame Means Busy Schedule to Gwen Verdon,” Brooklyn Eagle, May 19, 1953.

  [>] she got on opening night: American Musical Theater with Earl Wrightson, CBS, January 1, 1962.

  [>] the response to Gwen’s Apache dance was so powerful: Cy Feuer, interviewed by Michael Kantor.

  [>] Gwen Verdon, meanwhile, was oblivious: Verdon interview on CUNY Spotlight.

  [>] Michael Kidd figured as much: Ibid.

  [>] “You have to go out there”: Ibid.

  [>] “I could have walked into Tokyo”: Ibid.

  [>] Gwen had to ride with a policeman: Ibid.

  [>] “I remember the first time I saw her”: Rosenfield, “Fosse, Verdon and ‘Charity.’”

  [>] Fosse would wait for Joan: Bill Hayes, interview with the author, December 14, 2012.

  [>] she led a small acting class: Shirley MacLaine, My Lucky Stars: A Hollywood Memoir (New York: Bantam, 1995), 157.

  [>] She taught Mary Tarcai: Bill Hayes, interview with the author, December 14, 2012.

  [>] Fosse could be seen pacing: MacLaine, My Lucky Stars, 157.

  [>] “Joan was pregnant”: Bill Hayes, interview with the author, December 14, 2012.

  [>] she lost the baby: Ibid.

  [>] “Joan had hard numbers in that show”: Ibid.

  [>] Biographer Lisa Jo Sagolla submits: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 220–21.

  [>] The property the Fosses bought: Ibid., 245.

  [>] “by the time they did Me and Juliet”: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] “Others seemed to be even more shy”: George Abbott, Mister Abbott (New York: Random House, 1963), 248.

  [>] Robbins was aiming higher: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] McCracken took Abbott to see Kiss Me Kate: Ibid.

  [>] “Joanie sounded off about Bob every time”: Grubb, Razzle Dazzle, 33.

  [>] “Have you done much choreography?”: George Goldberg, “Bob Fosse, Not an Ordinary Man,” Faces International, Summer 1985.

  [>] “Do you think we can talk Robbins into”: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] Prince called Robbins: Ibid.

  [>] Walking up Fifth Avenue after: Abbott, Mister Abbott, 248.

  [>] Fosse ran into: Carl Reiner, interview with the author, September 14, 2010.

  THIRTY-THREE YEARS

  [>] “[I] let everything that can come out”: American Musical Theater with Earl Wrightson, CBS, January 1, 1962.

  [>] “I go through each number and try to get a combination”: Glenn Loney, “The Many Facets of Bob Fosse,” After Dark, June 1972.

  [>] “I need to have a sense of insecurity”: Kenneth L. Geist, “Fosse Reflects on Fosse,” After Dark, February 1980.

  [>] “I finally [get] to the point”: Loney, “The Many Facets of Bob Fosse.”

  [>] six or seven packs a day: Wolfgang Glattes, interview with the author, November 27, 2010.

  [>] thirty thousand dollars short: Allene Talmey, “Biography of a Musical: ‘Damn Yankees,’” Vogue, March 1956.

  [>] “Abbott would give you line readings”: Rae Allen, interview with the author, September 3, 2010.

  [>] If someone started getting arty: Helen Gallagher, interviewed by Liza Gennaro, March 22, 2006, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

  [>] “His legs were so long”: Rae Allen, interview with the author, September 3, 2010.

  [>] “He was the most disciplined man”: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] He asked the kids to call him George: Rae Allen, interview with the author, September 3, 2010.

  [>] “Bobby was deeply serious”: Ibid.

  [>] “He was mostly quiet”: Janis Paige, interview with the author, July 28, 2010.

  [>] Mickey Mouse lunch box and a Donald Duck baseball hat: Rae Allen, interview with the author, September 3, 2010.

  [>] Fosse was the king of: Shirley MacLaine, My Lucky Stars: A Hollywood Memoir (New York: Bantam, 1995), 163.

  [>] “Just stage it”: Rae Allen, interview with the author, September 3, 2010.

  [>] Robbins’s coat was off by the time: Janis Paige, interview with the author, July 28, 2010.

  [>] “In an hour and a half, [Robbins] had”: Gaby Rodgers, “Bob Fosse: ‘Choreography Is Writing with Your Body,’” Long Island, October 1, 1978.

  [>] “You keep the actors moving”: Ibid.

  [>] “In five minutes, Jerry had it solved”: Rae Allen, interview with the author, September 3, 2010.

  [>] He gave Janis Paige a newspaper: Janis Paige, interview with the author, July 28, 2010.

  [>] “That’s where Jerry Robbins came in”: Sara Dillon, interview with the author, October 8, 2010.

  [>] “It was a big egg”: Ibid.

  [>] “Why don’t you do something simple”: Richard Adler, interviewed by Michael Kantor, March 29, 1999, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Theatr
e on Film and Tape Archive.

  [>] “That’s it,” Fosse said: Ibid.

  [>] “He threw about a million steps at us”: Kevin Boyd Grubb, Razzle Dazzle: The Life and Work of Bob Fosse (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989), 42.

  [>] loved what Fosse did: Bob Fosse, interview with “Haddad,” 1982, LOC, box 49A.

  [>] “If you want to make a reputation”: Ed Blank, “Why Don’t They Dance in Films? Ask Fosse,” Pittsburgh Press, September 8, 1983.

  [>] “The actual choreography comes out of”: Fosse interview with “Haddad.”

  [>] “The tricks”: MacLaine, My Lucky Stars, 165.

  [>] “Steam Heat” got a standing ovation: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] “Bob never forgot how hard Jerry fought”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “They needed money”: Sara Dillon, interview with the author, October 8, 2010.

  [>] Before the opening-night curtain went up: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] That night, May 13, 1954: Alvin Klein, “Hey There! It’s Richard Adler,” New York Times, March 5, 1989.

  [>] Richard Adler looked through the clamor: Ibid.

  [>] “I don’t think any of us touched”: Seymour Peck, “Up and Coming Actress,” New York Times, May 23, 1954.

  [>] “What do you think?”: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] “That night, Carol and Buzz and Peter”: Janis Paige, interview with the author, July 28, 2010.

  [>] “I think ‘Steam Heat’ was”: “Bob Fosse: Steam Heat,” Great Performances: Dance in America, PBS; first aired February 23, 1990.

  [>] Saying nothing, they just looked: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] “The last new musical of the season”: Brooks Atkinson, “Theater in Review: ‘Pajama Game,’” New York Times, May 14, 1954.

  [>] “The bright, brassy, and jubilantly sassy”: Walter Kerr, Pajama Game review, New York Herald Tribune, May 14, 1954.

  [>] “By 9 A.M.”: Klein, “Hey There! It’s Richard Adler.”

  [>] Robbins gave Fosse a pair: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] After selling their previous lot: Lisa Jo Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down (Lebanon, NH: Northeastern University Press, 2003), 245.

  [>] “I’m confused”: Frances Herridge, “Curtain Cues,” New York Post, May 28, 1954.

  [>] ignore the offer from Columbia: Thomas M. Pryor, “‘Oklahoma!’ Cast Is Named on Coast,” New York Times, June 19, 1954.

  [>] he would go from Joan to Janet: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 223.

  [>] It was immediately obvious to Fosse: Janet Leigh, There Really Was a Hollywood (New York: Doubleday, 1984), 177.

  [>] “I can’t wait to see you”: Tony Curtis with Peter Golenbock, American Prince: A Memoir (New York: Crown, 2008), 167.

  [>] “Bob came to the set with a sense”: Tommy Rall, interview with the author, April 20, 2011.

  [>] “I have always tried to run a dance”: Morton Eustis, “Fred Astaire: The Actor-Dancer Attacks His Part,” Theater Arts Monthly, May 1937.

  [>] “How do you know what you’re doing?”: Blake Edwards, interview with the author, September 10, 2009.

  [>] Credited director Richard Quine looked on: Jerome Delamater, Dance in the Hollywood Musical (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1988), 204.

  [>] “He was determined to make”: Tommy Rall, interview with the author, April 20, 2011.

  [>] “anything I wanted”: Gene Siskel, “Who Killed Dorothy Stratten?,” Chicago Tribune, November 6, 1983.

  [>] On the publicity tour: Delamater, Dance in the Hollywood Musical, 204.

  [>] complications of diabetes: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 224.

  [>] The problems with Fosse added immeasurably to her distress: Ibid., 226.

  [>] tried to make the award show: Arthur Gelb, “Popularizing the ‘Tony’ Awards,” New York Times, April 1, 1956.

  [>] “He was his usual”: Rae Allen, e-mail to the author, February 2, 2013.

  [>] “Look,” he said to Hal Prince: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] “I’m very nervous,” he said: Interviews with Geraldine Fitzgerald, Gwen Verdon, Marian Seldes, and Elizabeth McCann, CUNY Spotlight, CUNY-TV, 1991, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Theatre on Film and Tape Archive.

  [>] “I’m just going to show you”: Ibid.

  [>] moves she recognized from her early days: Ibid.

  [>] “It’s a vulnerability”: “Bob Fosse,” The Dick Cavett Show, PBS, July 8, 1980.

  [>] “Sure, Bob’s tough”: Robert Alan Aurthur, “Hanging Out,” Esquire, December 1972.

  [>] “The thing that impresses me most”: American Musical Theater with Earl Wrightson.

  [>] “My knees were so badly knocked”: Hyman Goldberg, “Little Knock-Knees Knocks ’Em Cold,” Sunday Mirror Magazine, n.d., ca. 1955.

  [>] “That child is like wild sunset!”: Rex Reed, “‘I Never Wanted to Be Special,’” New York Times, February 6, 1966.

  [>] In the fourth grade, Gwen started signing: “Gwen Verdon and the American Dance Machine,” The Dick Cavett Show, PBS, December 5 and 6, 1977.

  [>] Gwen didn’t have technique but: Verdon interview on CUNY Spotlight.

  [>] “My grandmother was very supportive,” Jim Henaghan, interview with the author, January 17, 2013.

  [>] “Her dream was to have a home”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] Henaghan drank: Verdon interview on CUNY Spotlight.

  [>] “Jimmy”: Jim Henaghan, interview with the author, January 17, 2013.

  [>] “He would do absolutely true”: Ibid.

  [>] Cole was mostly silent with Gwen: Ibid.

  [>] “Jack was pretty amused”: Earl Wilson, “The Girl Who Showed ’Em How,” Silver Screen, February 1954.

  [>] He could see that Gwen had, like him: Tom Prideaux, “A New-Model Verdon,” Life, February 23, 1959.

  [>] “Well, if you say it in English”: Robert Rice, “New Star in Town: Gwen Verdon,” New York Post, June 5, 1957.

  [>] “Gwen’s answer to Cole”: Tommy Tune, interview with the author, January 6, 2011.

  [>] “She had an adeptness”: Rice, “New Star in Town.”

  [>] “I won’t let him beat me”: Ibid.

  [>] “My mom had to decide”: Jim Henaghan, interview with the author, January 17, 2013.

  [>] “She understood”: Ibid.

  [>] “It was quite apparent to everyone”: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 225.

  [>] “All my women have beauty”: Bernard Drew, “Life as a Long Rehearsal,” American Film, November 1979.

  [>] McCracken was the one to urge him: Bob Fosse, interview with Dick Stelzer, Star Treatment, LOC, box 47C, folder 1.

  [>] Mostly he talked about work: Ibid.

  [>] “In my own case these were things like”: Ibid.

  [>] “I’m a pretty good husband”: Chris Chase, “Fosse, from Tony to Oscar to Emmy,” New York Times, April 29, 1973.

  [>] “I think he felt a sense of betrayal”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “I didn’t realize until I got into analysis”: Jan Hodenfield, “Bob Fosse Feet First,” New York Post, April 21, 1973.

  [>] “If an adult has experienced repetitive trauma”: Charles Rousell, interview with the author, July 16, 2011.

  [>] Beginning March 7, 1955, she zipped: “Making of a Musical,” Life, May 16, 1955.

  [>] Two weeks later, the eighty-three-person company: Ibid.

  [>] Prince suggested cutting the big: Harold Prince, interview with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] “Bob and I put the number together”: Carol Ilson, Harold Prince: A Director’s Journey (New York: Limelight, 2000), 22.

  [>] “I begged him to see”: Harold Prince, interview
with the author, October 6, 2010.

  [>] “We were tossing out score”: Ibid.

  [>] “She was very loyal, Gwen”: Ibid.

  [>] Before the show, McCracken went backstage: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 226.

  [>] “I put it all together later”: Ibid.

  [>] She had a heart attack, then another: Ibid., 228.

  [>] It was in the hospital that he left her: Ibid.

  [>] Something was wrong with him: Fosse interview with Dick Stelzer.

  [>] He saw his psychiatrist as often as: Ibid.

  [>] Joan continued to keep her heart attacks: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 229.

  [>] “the most incendiary star on Broadway”: Roger S. Hewlett, “The Devil’s Disciple,” Time, June 13, 1955.

  [>] A few dancers on their way: Name withheld, interview with the author, September 10, 2010.

  [>] as she was walking down a busy avenue: Sagolla, The Girl Who Fell Down, 244.

  [>] At night, he called Joan: Ibid.

  THIRTY-TWO YEARS

  [>] Oakdale Theater: “Irene Manning in ‘Pal Joey’ at Oakdale Theater,” Hartford Courant, June 26, 1955.

  [>] “In this business”: Cynthia Scheider, interview with the author, March 25, 2011.

  [>] “Show business is really important”: Bob Fosse, Tomorrow with Tom Snyder, NBC, January 31, 1980.

  [>] “I can’t do anything but show business”: Wayne Warga, “Bob Fosse: Triple Threat Director,” Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1973.

  [>] for ten hours a day, every day for four weeks: Ed Blank, “Why Don’t They Dance in Films? Ask Fosse,” Pittsburgh Press, September 8, 1983.

  [>] “At the time the money seemed important”: Ibid.

  [>] “Bob was always there”: Harvey Evans, interview with the author, January 28, 2011.

  [>] “Robbins would make her nervous”: Ronna Elaine Sloan, “Bob Fosse: An Analytic-Critical Study” (University Microfilms International, 1983), 100.

  [>] “To Bob, the steps were dialogue”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.

  [>] “One terrible part of the show”: Deborah Jowitt, Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004), 260.

  [>] “You develop a certain few tricks”: Bob Fosse acceptance speech, Dance Magazine awards, New York Athletic Club, April 23, 1963.