A glimpse of Jack Cole coaching Monroe
In the photo at left (yes, from an ebay sale) choreographer Jack Cole rehearses Marilyn Monroe in “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” on the set of Let’s Make Love” (1960) Click on the photo for a better view. If you examine Cole’s head and shoulders, and Marilyn’s, you’ll see the difference between a trained dancer ...
Ronni Chasen’s restaurant renaming
Gaining her first p.r. experience by promoting her brother Larry’s blaxploitation movies, Ronni Chasen soon joined the renowned entertainment publicity firm, Rogers & Cowan. The powerful p.r. macher, Warren Cowan, became the young woman’s mentor, and by some accounts, her lover. Urban legend has it that early in their ten-year working relationship, Cowan took his ...
Jack Cole’s top ten list 3
Film zany Michael Schlesinger enjoyed ribbing me with this ‘top-ten list’ he conjured for arts•meme: Top ten things choreographer Jack Cole liked about Christmas 10) Holiday spectaculars at Radio City Music Hall — boy, can them Rockettes kick or what? 9) People telling me how much they love “The Christmas Song.” (Oh, wait, sorry, that’s ...
Jack Cole & Marilyn Monroe reunite at Jacob’s Pillow
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 ...
Don Murray held Marilyn Monroe close in “Bus Stop”
Sep
6
2010
Read this story on The Huffington Post. We passed the Labor Day weekend inhaling the Egyptian Theater’s popcorn-soaked oxygen during the 46th annual CINECON — a festival of the weird, the wonderful, and the rarely viewed. Cinecon is a connoisseur’s festival; and the key word is rare — movies that for whatever reason haven’t been ...
Jack Cole to be celebrated at Jacob’s Pillow 2
arts·meme‘s Debra Levine is proud to announce her participation, on Saturday, August 14, at 4 pm, in “Jack Cole, Unsung Genius” a celebration of the innovative jazz choreographer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the summer dance camp for grown ups in Becket, Massachusetts. The Cole commemoration fits surprisingly well with Jacob’s Pillow history. In his ...
Jane Russell remembers “Gentleman” Jack Cole 3
“Yes,” answered Jane Russell last Wednesday evening, nodding emphatically when asked if choreographer Jack Cole had directed the dance sequences in Howard Hawks’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953). Russell’s brown eyes flashed and she became animated on hearing Cole’s name. The brunette bombshell of the 1940/50’s, appearing at a Hollywood Heritage event this past week, chatted ...
Marilyn dances . . . 1
The first man to impersonate Marilyn Monroe may well have been her dance coach, Jack Cole. Anticipating the iconic Marilyn, he brought out her exceptional femininity through dance. Monroe copied him in return. A star was born. Monroe’s six-movie collaboration with Cole began with 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” the breakthrough film that made her a ...