Gwen Verdon sighting: ‘Drink your prune juice!’ 2

Dance · Film
There’s our girl: Gwen Verdon You’re a contract dancer at Twentieth Century-Fox, and you’re lazing around the studio with the guys, killing time. No assignment. All of a sudden into the rehearsal hall strides Jack Cole, hurriedly. He impatiently assembles a sage bit of choreography on you. Growling orders at Matt Mattox and Frank Radcliffe ...

Farber on Film: ‘Lady in the Dark’ @ TCM Fest 2017

Film
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A strong female character is at the center of Lady in the Dark, a forgotten 1944 film that was presented in a beautiful 35mm nitrate print at the Egyptian Theatre on the final night of the festival. This movie was adapted from a Broadway play written by Moss Hart, with music by Kurt Weill and ...

Book review: ‘Hermes Pan, The Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire’ 3

Dance · Film · Reviews
A book review first published by Dance Magazine [December 2012] Growing up in Memphis as the son of Greek immigrants, Hermes Pan (1909–1990) copped dance steps from the family’s African-American household help. Fast-forward to the Depression, when the self-taught Hollywood choreographer’s black-and-white dance fantasies for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers offered Americans escape. The versatile ...

Doris Day shares career memories on TCM 1

Film
TCM does such a wonderful job … no one does it better. The best bits come when Day recounts memories of working with James Cagney, Ginger Rogers, and Jack Lemmon. [Apologies for commercial first.]