Fantastic Fanny Wolff — refashioned as Fanchon!
FANCHON (Fanny Wolf/Wolff later Simon) b. Los Angeles, California, USA, September 14, 1892 (or 1895) d. Los Angeles, California, USA, February, 1965 (Obit for Fanchon Simon) Legendary dance director, film and stage producer, writer, lyricist, costume designer and prolific producer of prologues in movie theaters (live productions in conjunction with films, also called “Ideas”) for ...
Fanchon and Marco, explored
“Variety” called Fanchon and Marco “the most famous brother and sister producing team” and “the standard by which stage shows are judged.” Their work included productions for Paramount, Fox, Republic Pictures, MGM, the Ice Follies, the Hollywood Bowl, a talent school and and dance companies through the ’20s to the ’40s. An illustrated presentation will ...
Gang warfare quelled by dancer love — backstage at Miami City Ballet 3
On stage, it was “The Jets are gonna have their way … tonight.” It was the premiere of Jerome Robbins‘s “West Side Story Suite” at Miami City Ballet. A big tangle of tension, gang hatred, rumble, and knife-fight. But backstage, a cross-generational love fest took hold, as George Chakiris, the iconic Sharks gang-leader, now retired, ...
A rumble, with love, at Miami City Ballet 2
Valentine’s Day love continues to take new and different forms. This year, February 14, 2014, in serendipitous Miami, Florida, a love connection of a special sort occurred at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. It was a backstage visit by Oscar-winning dancer/actor George Chakiris following Miami City Ballet’s premiere performance of “West Side ...
West Side Story’s George Chakiris to host Miami City Ballet gala 4
The distinction — true, false or otherwise — between so-called commercial dancers and those of the “concert” dance world will be breached February 14, 2014, when George Chakiris, “Bernardo” in WEST SIDE STORY (1961), hosts a gala to benefit Miami City Ballet, one of the nation’s leading classical ballet companies. Chakiris, who began his long ...
Fred Astaire’s songs that dance 2
If all you know of Fred Astaire is his movie dancing, the new two-CD set “Fred Astaire: The Early Years at RKO” (Turner Classic Music/Sony Masterworks) will be a revelation. With the possible exception of Bing Crosby, Astaire introduced more good songs — first on the Broadway stage, then in his movie musicals — than ...
Cecil B. DeMille’s “Madam Satan,” dance-dissected, March 15 5
Delighted to announce my talk, “Theodore Kosloff & Cecil B. DeMille Meet Madam Satan” concerning the notorious early talkie-musical, co-sponsored by the American Cinematheque and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles. The “illustrated lecture” is slated for Saturday March 15, 2 pm, coupled with a screening of MADAM SATAN (MGM, 1930), at the Egyptian ...
Meet Marc Platt, stage & screen dancer 2
Born ‘Marcel Emile Gaston Leplat’ in Pasadena, California, on December 2, 1913, Marc Platt’s passion (and training) for classic dance started at an early age. The son of concert artists, he began studying dance with Mary Ann Welles in Seattle, at age 12, when after watching her class he declared: “I could do that.” They let him ...
Who was Sally Forrest? Let’s watch her dance. 2
Katherine Sally Feeney, the daughter of amateur ballroom dancing parents, was born on May 28, 1928. Her father, Michael Feeney, a U.S. Navy career man moved his family to various naval bases, finally settling in San Diego where little Sally was born and began dance classes with Marguerite Ellicott at the age of 12. “Miss ...
Something to celebrate: Marc Platt turns 100! 4
One of the greats, Marc Platt, a veteran of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo (as Marc Platoff), Agnes de Mille’s original Broadway cast of “Oklahoma,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “Tonight and Every Night,” just turned 100. And his friends are throwing a party him in northern California this weekend. Dance lovers invited! ...