Jerome Robbins/Succeed in 2005's Broadway?- Page 3

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 1:21pm

Miriam, Sono Osato and Tommy Rall did indeed escape most of Robbins' wrath but were sensitive to his "mood" of the moment. Both of them ran interference for others on more than one occasion.

Onceadancers2-Miriam, by the way, did you ever have the opportunity to work with or know Maria Tallchief? I suspect most on this Board never heard of her...Do you have any Tallchief experiences you can share with us Miriam? thanks! :)

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 2/26/05 at 1:29pm

Sorry to say, I did not work with Maria Tallchief but knew many who did. Had the NYCB come into existence 10 years earlier, I would have been in it. By the time it came along I had retired from dancing and moved into another career, motherhood and children. Thus is life!

Miriam

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 3/2/05 at 10:42am

p.s. to Miriam,,

Mr. Robbins had quite a "crush" on Tommy Rall, but I suspect you knew that:)

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 3/2/05 at 12:43pm

Let's put it this way. Gossip was just as rampant as it is today. In my day we did not have the internet, chat rooms, blogs or e-mail What we did have was the telephone, Horn and Hardart and the Astor Hotel. Again, I never had any dealings with Robbins, but from what I gathered he led a very unhappy personal life, fueled by his own personal demons!

PS And Tommy Rall was a beautiful dancer. And he could sing just as beautifully! I hope he is happy and is enjoying his life.

Miriam

Updated On: 3/2/05 at 12:43 PM

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 3/2/05 at 2:33pm

Thank you for sharing all of this, this has been one of the most informative threads I've read. WISH, since you know a lot about Robbins, I want to ask if you know what happened between him and Robert Wise when they directed the film version of West Side Story. I herad that Wise fired Robbins because he was taking too long with the dancers, but I wonder if there was a lot more to it than that.

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 1:45pm

Vietgrl,,,,,,I have never heard of that before.......I do know that Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise shared the Best Director Oscar for WEST SIDE STORY. I will ask a couplea folks who "were there," and hopefully let you know soon.

p.s. to Miriam,,,,Tommy Rall was the Scott Wise of his day, but a much better looking one.....I think he is still living on New York's upper east side, but I am not positive. :)

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 2:00pm

I hated him. In today's world, someone would just kill him. Seriously, there's no way he would be able to get away with what he got away with back then.

[Marquise]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 2:06pm

According to interviews included in the "West Side Memories" documentary that's on the 2 Disc Special Edition of "West Side Story" one of the reasons for Robbins' dismissal was because he was taking too long doing his sequences and United Artists and The Mirisches (who co-produced the film) decided that it was best to fire him. All the numbers were already pretty much rehearsed and blocked so when he was let go they were pretty much filmed as he wanted them. The cast found out about his dismissal on the day they were filming "The Dance at The Gym" sequence. Ironically it was on this day that Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince and Robert E. Griffiths visited the set to see how filming was progressing and while looking for Robbins were informed that he had been let go.

Maybe there is more to that story. . .
Updated On: 3/3/05 at 02:06 PM

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 2:16pm

It was not Robert Wise, but United Artists' insistence to the Mirisch Brothers, to fire Jerome Robbins. He had driven the film $300,000 over-budget (an enormous amount back then). In fact, Wise insisted that Robbins retain co-directing credit, although his contribution to the entire film was The Prologue, America, Cool and Something's Coming. It was also Wise who insisted that Robbins be brought back to do the final cutting on The Prologue.

[Marquise]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 3:27pm

can you imagine? running a film $300,000 over budget just on dance sequences alone? incredible.

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 3:41pm

What's really remarkable is that Robbins thought he was going to direct the film, alone. He wanted the film to be a small black and white affair, and was appalled that it was an enormous, widescreen undertaking. His inability to capture anything on film, without Robert Wise telling him that it was ready, confirmed the need for hiring Wise. And, of course, as it turned out, the film was solely directed by Wise.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 3:44pm

Kinda OT, but not unrelated:

On Monday, I went to hear Marge Champion lecture at Film Forum, and in discussing the choreographers she worked with, she noted that "there was a lot of easy give-and-take amongst them" and cited her ex-husband & partner Gower, Nick Castle, Hermes Pan and Stanley Donen as being especially congenial colleagues. The one exception was Jack Cole who she described (without going into gory details) as being "very hard on his dancers." The only time she recalled that the hot-tempered Cole became tolerable and even exciting to work with would be after he'd come back from lunch with Betty Grable - he was much softened up by the Brandy Alexanders.

Updated On: 3/3/05 at 03:44 PM

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 3:50pm

Good story. I really like Cole's work, but I heard negative things about him. Of course, I love Robbins work and he was a creep. Some people feel the end justified the means; but I don't.

[Marquise]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 3:55pm

Jack Cole was responsible for alot of Monroe's choreography right? He loved surrounding her with a bunch of male dancers.
He choreographed her numbers in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Let's Make Love".

He's a good choreographer.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 4:19pm

Yes, Marquise. Cole worked with Marilyn in all these films - she would not work with anyone else. Ms. Champion also noted that in working with his stars, he would "get into their heads", even choreographing the way their eyebrows arched and lips moved.

And yes, he LOVED muscle boys. Every Cole-choreographed musical film includes at least one beefcake number.

Cole's lead female dancer (and occaisional co-choreographer) was Gwen Verdon. Bob Fosse learned much from Cole.

Here's a link that tells much about Cole, including his tough reputation.

"Highly disciplined and dedicated to absolute perfection Cole was known for being a tyrannical task master. Throughout his career, Cole viewed information, thought and knowledge as necessary support systems to his life as a dancer and choreographer, not merely as avenues to the period, style and local color preparation for each new show. He made extraordinary demands on his dancers. He was reputed to have used vulgar language and even physical violence in his quest for artistic excellence.

In a 1968 interview with Dance Magazine he confided, "Sometimes you have to slap them. Sometimes you have to kiss them. It isn't like painting or writing or something that can be done in solitude. The trouble with choreography is you have to get the person out of the way before you can bring out the dancer." But the mastery of technique wasn't everything. Cole also demanded that his dancers be in touch with the emotions and attitudes of the movement. In the same interview Cole says:

"In the theatre you want to see real people doing real things, expressing valid emotions in an artistic, meaningful way, disclosing bits of insight that will transfix you and make you understand something about life, and about yourself. ... I just try to touch the dancer at the center of his emotion. I try to remind him of what he is -- a dancer, and actor, a real person. If you're ashamed of this or that emotion, you can't dance. You yourself may not behave a certain way as a person, but when you dance you must bring real emotion to whatever you're doing. Isn't that what dancing is about --emotion, life -- and not just patterns in the air?"




Jack Cole

Updated On: 3/3/05 at 04:19 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 4:56pm

I was an assistant director on a revival of West Side Robbins was involved in. Most of the time he ignored me, but one day, on a dare, my friends in the Jets and Sharks persuaded me to take the dance class before rehearsals. I borrowed a pair of jazz pants and did the barre work, but I couldn't possibly do the floor work, so I remained at the barre practicing what I had learned.

Mr. Robbins (as he was known, never Jerome or Jerry) came in while my back was to him and saw me at the barre. He rolled up his newspaper and swatted me on the ass so hard that it startled me. Everyone heard the noise and stopped and looked. He unfolded his paper and said, "Keep working at it and we'll put you into 'Somewhere.'"

I laughed good-naturedly but my ass really hurt. When I changed out of my borrowed jazz pants, I saw that there was a welt where he had hit me.

[Marquise]

Posted: 3/3/05 at 6:40pm

damn Joey he couldn't have just playfully tapped you on the cheek to get your attention?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 12:42am

That was playful for Mr. Robbins. Apparently it was worse if you slept with him. Much worse.

Posted: 3/4/05 at 12:43am

Playful and Worse ae both relative to the situation

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 12:52am

I thought you'd like that story, DGrant.

Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:07am

Lordy, lordy - I really HAVE divulged far too much in this forum!

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 11:00am

PalJoey, while not knowing first hand, I have heard of many "s&m ish" bedrooms about Sondheim, but rarely about Robbins. I have also heard similar stories about Johnny Mathis.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 11:43am

Damn, Beav!!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 11:59am

Oh, Beav...I had a similar missed opportunity with Leonard Bernstein in early 80s, although in a disco, not a leather bar.

I was glad I said no at the time (I was dating a boy whose name I can barely remember), but ever since I've wondered, "What if I had...?"

Missed opportunities...

[Spooky]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 12:08pm

I don't know Robbins from the theater world, but watched him in rehearsals at NYCB. He was tough on some of the dancers, mostly the boys, but he told us wonderful stories of his friendship with Tanaquil LeClercq.
And I have to say, I think his choreography came quite easily and his understanding of the relationships between the dancers onstage and their relationship to the music was dead on.