That pink dress! Costuming Marilyn Monroe for “Diamonds”
At right, Travilla‘s design for Marilyn’s iconic pink dress in “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” from GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) whose 60th anniversary we are honoring with a screening at the Academy’s “Oscars Outdoors” series Saturday August 3. The classy pink dress, lined with felt, was a replacement design for an original, much less ...
Gene Kelly’s witty number in “It’s Always Fair Weather” 5
We enjoyed watching “It’s Always Fair Weather” (MGM, 1955, co-dir: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen) recently on Turner Classic Movies. The song-and-dance number in the video above, Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks, bears much influence of Jack Cole (he, too, worked with Gray, coaching the non-dancer in “Kismet” and “Designing Woman,” both at MGM). So ...
How a genius choreographs: Jack Cole’s “Beale Street Blues” 2
In this 30-second snippet from the men’s dance in “Beale Street Blues,” one of Jack Cole’s three great dance numbers from THE I DON’T CARE GIRL (Fox, 1953), the work of a brilliant dance maker is on display. It’s a game of craps gone wrong. It gets played out on a platform, ostensibly (my reading) ...
New York Times honors Jack Cole & dance critic 3
It’s a big honor to be recognized in the New York Times. I am awfully proud to receive a shout-out (used to be called a “name mention”) from Dave Kehr, the highly respected film critic. In his weekly New York Times round-up of recently released DVDs, Kehr writes: MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW The choreographer ...
Fox to release “The I Don’t Care Girl” (1953) on DVD 1
We just learned, courtesy of our good friends at Polly O Entertainment, personal managers to Mitzi Gaynor, the wonderful news that Twentieth Century-Fox will release arts·meme favorite, “The I Don’t Care Girl” on DVD April 8, 2013. The biopic, a relatively turgid mid-century look back at vaudeville hottie Eva Tanguay (pictured above with Mitzi who ...
Matt (Harold Henry) Mattox, memorialized 1
MATT (Harold Henry) MATTOX b. Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, August 18, 1921 d. Perpignan, France, February 18, 2013 “I’ve never classified myself as a jazz teacher, I prefer to talk about ‘free-style dancing,’ which means I have a choice of movement for any piece of music,” said Mattox in a 1993 interview. To prepare for his ...
Happy New Year 2013 from arts·meme! 1
[click directly on photos for detail] Incandescent dance photography from a Hollywood film. Why are we not surprised that Jack Cole stands behind it? The Harlequinade costumes are a dead giveaway; one of the enduring interests of this choreographer (he died in 1974 in Los Angeles) was commedia dell’arte. High-voltage performance (Gower Champion laudable in ...
Jack Cole rehearses Marc Platt, Rita Hayworth in “Down to Earth”
Jack Cole (seated, pointing) rehearses Marc Platt & Rita Hayworth for “Down to Earth” (Columbia, 1947) in the photo at left. Platt executes the move in costume and a (bad) wig, at right. Cole was very big on gladiators; judging by the look on Platt’s face, the dancer was perhaps less so. [click on ...
Jack Cole, Hollywood director 4
On the camera crane works Jack Cole (in white sweater, click photo for detail), directing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” exactly as he did for all four GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) dance numbers (Two Little Girls From Little Rock, Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love, When Love Goes Wrong, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best ...
Jack Cole, superlative night club dancer, 1940s 1
Dec
5
2012
Photo of Jack Cole costumed for his seminal night club act (photo by Maurice Seymour). Like so much related to Cole, the pose is spectacular and unique. What other dancer would opt for this unusual, asymmetric position? With one leg turned out, and the other in parallel position? It was never seen before nor since. ...