In the six or so years she danced for Jack Cole, Gwen Verdon was ‘artiste.’ But with Fosse, it was hot dogs, carnie, Vaudeville, Americana, rubber-legs, cigars, straw and bowler hats. And what they were selling, the public was buying.
“Bob and I grew up at the same time, where everybody learned to do everything. Every discipline of dance. Even circus tricks. He was in Evanston, Illinois. I was all the way out in California. I can walk a slack wire. I learned tap, acrobatic, tumbling. I learned all of that.”
Gwen Verdon interview, “Broadway Beat “ cable television broadcast, Bradshaw Smith, producer, June 22, 1999, sourced at The Paley Center for Media