arts•meme arts•meme
12 December 2012

Jack Cole, Hollywood director

Cole directing Diamonds-1000

The choreographer Jack Cole not only created the delicious dance numbers in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1954); he directed them. [...]

11 May 2012

Carol Channing originated the role of Lorelei in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”

marilyn-jane-cement

A little compare and contrast exercise on “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” [...]

5 December 2011

Preparing our Letters of Transit for TCM Classic Cruise

Collage with a cruise ship, vintage letters and stamps

Preparing for TCM Classic Cruise means organizing our Letters of Transport! [...]

4 January 2011

Please do not discriminate against us.

brunettes protesting

Like “Gentlemen”? Read more:

Girl power

26 December 2010

Ronni Chasen’s restaurant renaming

monroe-diM-chasen's

One night in the early 1980s, the boss took his attractive protegee to dinner at the legendary LA restaurant, Chasen’s. The New Yorker Veronica Sue Cohen emerged with a California-friendly name. She didn’t look far for inspiration. [...]

10 November 2010

Jack Cole & Marilyn Monroe reunite at Jacob’s Pillow

cole-monroe

It was my great honor to join a panel at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival on Saturday, August 14, 2010, to honor the peerless jazz choreographer Jack Cole, whom I revere and about whom I have written. As a former Denishawn dancer, Cole had a distinct history at “The Pillow.” Here I contribute a snippet about Cole’s choreography for Marilyn Monroe in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” [...]

24 June 2010

Jane Russell remembers “Gentleman” Jack Cole

MM-JANE, gentlemen-small

Jane Russell speaks at Hollywood Heritage about choreographer Jack Cole, who coached her and Marilyn Monroe in Howard Hawk’s comic masterpiece, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” She says Cole directed the film’s dance sequences. [...]

6 August 2009

Marilyn dances . . .

JC marilyn and Gwen

Marilyn Monroe’s six-movie collaboration with Jack Cole began with 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” the breakthrough film that made her a superstar. Yet the man behind the icon has been forgotten – an odd missing puzzle piece in view of Monroe’s staying power. [...]

4 July 2008

Girl Power

jane russell pantsuit

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are giant amazons in Howard Hawks’s comic masterpiece, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), projected on the humongous screen of the vintage Los Angeles Theater (1931) on Broadway in downtown L.A. in last summer’s Last Remaining Seats. [...]