Ballet noir: Pretty and pernicious in pink

July 15, 2014 by

Specter of the Rose posterTrue film noir fans know that back alleys, lonely streets and bar rooms aren’t the only place for angst-ridden protagonists to play out their sagas of doom and struggles against Fate.

In fact, dance critic Debra Levine over at http://artsmeme.com has coined a name for a new sub-genre: ballet noir. Well, I can attest that most femmes fatales and their fall guys have done their pirouettes with temptation and pas de deux with The Law. And of course I’ve always been partial to pink.

For her main proof point, Levine points to “Specter of the Rose,” a 1946 passion project of legendary Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht and a rare “prestige” offering from Republic Pictures.

Set in the world of classical ballet, “Specter” is a psychological melodrama about an aging dance instructor and a scurrilous impresario who promote the comeback of a stupendous dancer, also suspected to be mad—and possibly murderous.

Judith Anderson, Michael Chekhov, Ivan Kirov star. Hecht wrote, directed and produced. Cinematographer Lee Garmes co-produced and shot the flick.

See “Specter of the Rose” for yourself this Saturday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood. Levine and her partner in crime Bryan Cooper of the Hollywood Heritage Museum will introduce the film. http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2014-07-19/specter-rose-1946

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Documentary on dancer reveals rare strength of character

April 4, 2014 by
Tanaquil Le Clercq served as a muse to dance giants George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

Tanaquil Le Clercq served as a muse to dance giants George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

 

At 17, Tanaquil Le Clercq was dancing principal parts in the New York City Ballet.

At 17, Tanaquil Le Clercq was dancing principal parts in the New York City Ballet. Kino Lorber

Tanaquil “Tanny” Le Clercq isn’t a well-known name. But it should be.

Born in Paris on Oct. 2, 1929, to a French father and American mother, her family moved to New York when she was 3. At 17, the stunningly elegant ballerina was dancing principal parts in the New York City Ballet. She was a muse to famed choreographers Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine, whom she married in 1952. Beauty, grace, love and success were hers.

But four years later her life fell apart – on tour in Copenhagen, Tanny contracted polio and most of her body was paralyzed. She never walked or danced again. With her husband’s help, however, she made a partial recuperation and regained the use of her arms. Refusing to give in to self-pity, Tanny turned her attention to teaching, coaching, writing and cooking. She died on Dec. 31, 2000.

Her unusual name as well as her indomitable, inspiring spirit will likely get more of the recognition it deserves thanks to director Nancy Buirski’s new documentary “Afternoon of a Faun,” which is showing Wednesday, April 9, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, co-presented with Dance Camera West. Dance critic Debra Levine will talk with the director after the screening.

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Los Angeles honors Marilyn Monroe with memorial tributes

July 30, 2013 by

Marilyn Monroe in 1957; shot by Sam Shaw. Copyright Sam Shaw

Several special events in Los Angeles are slated to mark the 51st anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death on Aug. 5, 1962. Monroe overcame tremendous adversity to become one of the most iconic movie stars of all time. She died alone at her Brentwood home from a drug overdose; she was 36.

In conjunction with Marilyn Monroe: The Exhibit, which runs through Sept. 8, the Hollywood Museum will host two onsite events. At a meet-and-greet from 1- 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3, Marilyn collectors Greg Schreiner and Scott Fortner will share the history behind items on display in the exhibit.

From 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 4, there will be a book signing with authors Lois Banner, Douglas Kirkland and James Spada. Banner, a professor at the University of Southern California, wrote Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox, which explores Marilyn’s life from a feminist perspective. Photographer/writer Kirkland’s book An Evening with Marilyn includes a series of Marilyn photos he took as well as details of the shoot. Spada produced the coffee-table book Marilyn Monroe: Her Life in Pictures.

The Hollywood Museum is located in the historic Max Factor Building at 1660 N. Highland Ave.

On Saturday night, dance critic Debra Levine and Oscar-winning actor, singer and dancer George Chakiris will introduce the 60th anniversary screening of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” part of the Academy’s Oscars Outdoors series in Hollywood. The event is sold out but there will be a standby line.

Additionally, the annual “Marilyn Remembered” memorial service, co-sponsored by the Hollywood Museum, takes place at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 5, at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, 1218 Glendon Ave. in Westwood.

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Zúñiga tribute opens and arts·meme marks another year

June 4, 2013 by

Tonya Plank, Film Noir Blonde and Debra Levine at the event.

On Saturday, I attended an elegant and lively double-bill soiree: the opening of Francisco Zúñiga: A Centennial Tribute at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts in Los Angeles and an anniversary party for the always-inspiring arts·meme blog, founded five years ago by Debra Levine.

Debra is a former dancer whose grace and poise extends to her writing as well to welcoming guests. She has the old-school and thoroughly charming notion that partygoers might enjoy being introduced to one another. Imagine! There were many to greet on Saturday and Debra did the job nimbly, flitting from person to person, smiling brilliantly, flirting sometimes, briefly quizzing, then nodding, pondering and promising to give her considered reply later on.

There is another arrival and, as always, party clocks shoo the minutes into a lovely over-too-fast blur. Meshuga, she often calls herself. Those who know her call her savvy, sharp, insightful and delightful. Thank you, Debra, for a wonderful party and happy anniversary to arts·meme.

Francisco Zúñiga: A Centennial Tribute at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts runs through July 31.

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Levine to co-host ‘Choreography by Jack Cole’ on TCM

September 6, 2012 by

Critic Debra Levine

Jack Cole and Marilyn Monroe

Los Angeles-based dance critic and arts journalist Debra Levine will co-host a special tribute to the influential dance maker Jack Cole (1911-1974) on Turner Classic Movies. The four-film tribute will be broadcast on Monday, Sept. 10, starting at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Levine joins TCM’s veteran host Robert Osborne to provide commentary.

From 1941 to 1962, Cole pioneered American jazz dance as an art form in Hollywood films. He contributed dance sequences to 30 movies at Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Metro Goldwyn Mayer, some credited, some not.

Cole left behind a celluloid track record of outstanding dance sequences with highly diverse themes (including some with a noir-tinged, nightclubby vibe), all with a recognizable Cole brand that is uncannily contemporary.

TCM schedule for Sept. 10

“Tonight & Every Night” (1945, Victor Saville) 8 p.m. (5 p.m.)
Rita Hayworth, Lee Bowman, Janet Blair, Marc Platt

“On the Riviera” (1951, Walter Lang) 10 p.m. (7 p.m.)
Danny Kaye, Gene Tierney, Gwen Verdon

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1952, Howard Hawks) 11:45 p.m. (8:45 p.m.)
Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell

“Les Girls” (1957, George Cukor) 1:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m.)
Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Mitzi Gaynor, Gene Kelly

Born John Ewing Richter in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1911, Jack Cole’s extraordinary career as a top American dancer/choreographer began with pioneering modern-dance troupe, Denishawn. His innovative nightclub act, Jack Cole and His Dancers, toured the nation’s night clubs starting around 1933. In the mid 1940s in Los Angeles, Cole began a 20-year run as a brilliant and innovative Hollywood choreographer, crafting ingenious customized dance sequences for stars like Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and others.

Cole coached the stars not only in movement but also in song and line delivery. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Levine called Cole’s “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953): “a delicious confection, a piece of Hollywood perfection.”

Cole died in Los Angeles in 1974; he was 62.

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Mitzi Gaynor to appear at UCLA’s Jack Cole tribute night

June 27, 2012 by

So many bad girls, so little time ...

Innovative choreographer Jack Cole is finally getting his due. Long neglected in most discussions of dance on film, Cole introduced radically modern ideas and forms to a sphere often treated as merely decorative. He also lent distinction to the careers of stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and Mitzi Gaynor. Cole came to Hollywood from the world of nightclubs and Broadway.

Jack Cole

Mitzi Gaynor

As dance critic Debra Levine points out, Cole was a preeminent film choreographer when he joined Twentieth Century Fox to coach Monroe and Jane Russell in 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”

His film portfolio includes remarkable female solos: “Put the Blame on Mame” for Hayworth in the film noir “Gilda” (1946); “No Talent Joe” for Grable in “Meet Me After the Show” (1951) and “Beale Street Blues” for Gaynor in “The I Don’t Care Girl” (1953).

On Saturday, Aug. 4, the UCLA Film & Television Archive is hosting a tribute to Cole. There will be a screening of “The I Don’t Care Girl” and a discussion with Gaynor, Levine and Larry Billman, founder of the Academy of Dance on Film. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, the movie shows Cole’s hyper-stylized choreography to dazzling effect.

The UCLA event precedes Levine’s guest-host appearance on Turner Classic Movies. “Choreography by Jack Cole,” a four-film Cole homage, airs Sept. 10 on TCM.

UCLA’s tribute is at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Billy Wilder Theater, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024, 310-206-8013. Tickets are $10 and I hear they are going fast!

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The ‘pulchritudinous and punctual’ Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday, Mr. President … and more

June 4, 2012 by

After reading about Marilyn Monroe and watching some of her movies over her birthday weekend, I felt like sharing these video clips.

 

Marilyn sang on Saturday, May 19, 1962, for President John F. Kennedy at a celebration of his 45th birthday, 10 days before his actual birthday (Tuesday, May 29).

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Marilyn sings in “Some Like It Hot,” from 1959, directed by Billy Wilder.

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Marilyn sings “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the musical “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” directed by Howard Hawks and choreographed by Jack Cole. To read more about Cole and his career, visit dance critic Debra Levine’s wonderful arts meme.

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And, while reading about Marilyn, I was struck by her insightful notes on Fox’s final cut of “The Prince and the Showgirl” (1957, Laurence Olivier): “I am afraid that as it stands it will not be as successful as the version all of us agreed was so fine. Especially in the first third of the picture the pacing has been slowed and one comic point after another has been flattened out by substituting inferior takes with flatter performances lacking the energy and brightness that you saw in New York. Some of the jump cutting kills the points, as in the fainting scene.

“The coronation is as long as before if not longer, and the story gets lost in it. American audiences are not as moved by stained glass windows as the British are, and we threaten them with boredom. I am amazed that so much of the picture has no music at all when the idea was to make a romantic picture. We have enough film to make a great movie, if only it will be as in the earlier version. I hope you will make every effort to preserve our picture.”

In the end, no changes were made to the picture.

From “The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe” by J. Randy Taraborrelli

(Note: Film noir horoscopes will return next month.)

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Visually stunning ‘Pina’ immerses you in singular style, but lacks context

January 13, 2012 by

Pina/2011/Neue Road Movies, et al/106 min.

Wim Wenders

Having long admired Wim Wenders as a neo-noir director (“The American Friend,” “Hammett,” “The End of Violence,”) and documentarian (“Lightning Over Water,” Buena Vista Social Club,” “The Soul of a Man”), I always look forward to seeing his work. His latest film, “Pina” is a documentary about Pina Bausch, a German dancer, choreographer and teacher, who died in 2009 at the age of 68. It is the German entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

Shot in 3-D and visually stunning, the film fully immerses you in Bausch’s singular aesthetic, vision and teaching style. From the first frame, you sense her intensity. And if you like German expressionistic dance, you might find the film illuminating, even moving. There are moments of humor as well.

If, like me, that style of dance is not your cup of tea, but you’re curious as to who this woman was, how she got started, how she made her mark and what critics thought, you’d best Google Pina Bausch beforehand. It’s definitely not in the film.

Oh all right, I’ll admit it, I’m a lazy American who doesn’t follow trends in Tanztheater, but I was hoping for maybe half a chapter of Bausch’s backstory and at least a glimpse of what made this woman tick. Interviews with people other than Bausch’s former students, perhaps?

Once you’ve done your Googling, be sure to follow critic Debra Levine’s brilliant suggestion for preparing to see this film and watch Mike Myers in “Sprockets.”

“Pina” opens today in LA and New York.

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