Grand Old Movies

Balanchine Goddess: ALEXANDRA DANILOVA in “La...

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:03:21 -0400

Balanchine Goddess: ALEXANDRA DANILOVA in “La Sonnambula.”

Marilyn Monroe taking ballet class (with Nico Charisse).

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:22:53 -0400

Marilyn Monroe taking ballet class (with Nico Charisse).

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Gina Lollobrigida in Solomon...

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:43:48 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Gina Lollobrigida in Solomon and Sheba (1959).

Elizabeth Taylor

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:37:55 -0400

Elizabeth Taylor

Gene Tierney and masks.

Thu, 09 May 2013 22:37:51 -0400

Gene Tierney and masks.

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Hedy Lamarr in Samson and...

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:26:39 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Hedy Lamarr in Samson and Delilah (1949).

RIP, Frederic Franklin, 1914-2013

Sun, 05 May 2013 23:51:00 -0400

In The Nutcracker:

Partnering Alexandra Danilova:

As the Champion Roper in Rodeo:

Curtain call:

George Balanchine coaching Mary Ellen Moylan, 1942.

Thu, 02 May 2013 16:25:51 -0400

George Balanchine coaching Mary Ellen Moylan, 1942.

Joan Crawford wears mink.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:44:39 -0400

Joan Crawford wears mink.

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Virginia Mayo in The Silver...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:46:47 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Virginia Mayo in The Silver Chalice (1954).

Sophia Loren eyeballs Jayne Mansfield.

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:20:40 -0400

Sophia Loren eyeballs Jayne Mansfield.

Balanchine Goddess VERA ZORINA in I Was An Adventuress (1940);...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:15:05 -0400

Balanchine Goddess VERA ZORINA in I Was An Adventuress (1940); George Balanchine on left.

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Anne Baxter in The Ten...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:16:29 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Anne Baxter in The Ten Commandments (1956).

1950s Hollywood Biblical Fashion: Lana Turner in The Prodigal...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:24:09 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical Fashion: Lana Turner in The Prodigal (1955).

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Rita Hayworth in Salome...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:07:36 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Rita Hayworth in Salome (1953).

Cary Grant and canine friend studying a script.

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:45:21 -0400

Cary Grant and canine friend studying a script.

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Susan Hayward in David and...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:12:00 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Susan Hayward in David and Bathsheba (1951).

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Patricia Laffan in Quo Vadis...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:28:51 -0400

1950s Hollywood Biblical fashion: Patricia Laffan in Quo Vadis (1951)

RIP, Maria Tallchief, 1925-2013

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:14:00 -0400

The Firebird

Swan Lake

Orpheus

The Four Temperaments

Rehearsing with George Balanchine

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Maria Tallchief wasn’t George Balanchine’s first ballerina muse, but she was the first ballerina of the New York City Ballet. Her triumph in the title role of Balanchine’s version of The Firebird established his company, choreography, and dancers in the first rank. In some rare amateur silent footage that caught a bit of her legendary performance, you can see what must have left spectators marveling. She’s first seen as the wild, terrified, supernatural bird caught by the Prince and trying to escape. As her partner spins her round, she leans back, balanced on one pointe, and stretches out her limbs to their extremes; she reminds you, strangely, of a starfish. Then she allows her partner to lower her to the floor, her hips and knees bending and twisting in space as she sinks and rises, as if she’s discovered a new, more luxuriantly sensual way to move. She ends by leaning against him, an arm raised like a victory salute; and you see a wild creature becoming soft, humanized, feminine, become, in effect, a woman.

No doubt it was this exotic yet womanly quality of Tallchief’s to which Balanchine responded. It was on her that he created his versions of Swan Lake and The Nutcracker: the fragile yet queenly Odette and the delicately regal Sugarplum Fairy, two characters who inhabit both earthly and supernatural realms. For American audiences, there must also have been the thrill of watching an American ballerina re-create, in neo-classical style, these signpost roles of the classical ballerina repertory, which would have been once the possession of European and Russian dancers. And Tallchief was American to the core. The Oklahoma-born daughter of an Osage Native American, Tallchief broke barriers in becoming the prima ballerina of the one of the greatest of classical dance companies. She defined American ballet and ballet dancers to her generation; and, later becoming a noted teacher and director, passed on that definition to younger American dancers.

I never saw Tallchief dance onstage, but I did once see her, some years ago, in a lecture-demonstration at the “Works in Progress” series at the Guggenheim Museum. She was coaching two NYCB dancers in a pas de deux from one of her signature ballets that Balanchine created on her, Le Baiser de la Fee. Tallchief didn’t merely stand by and give advice; she re-enacted the ballet, re-lived it, lunging, arching, stretching, her arms raised to embrace the air, her face taut with an emotion that she must have felt when she first learned the piece. You were no longer aware of the two younger dancers, of the platform they stood on, nor of the viewers and the auditorium. There was only Tallchief, center stage, where she belonged, looking as if she had found a new way to move all over again.

The James Cagney Energy Boost

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 00:27:23 -0400

Although he became famous in films as a tough guy, James Cagney liked to think of himself as a song-and-dance man, and that’s the tack we take in our newest Grand Old Movies post on his 1933 musical, Footlight Parade. Cagney sings and dances in this film, but even between the music numbers he keeps the momentum going. In one scene he takes a phone call and, although he’s sitting down, he keeps stomping one foot in rhythm to the music; he literally can’t stop moving. His body is an instrument that won’t shut down. Whatever is going on in him, as actor and artist, is grounded in this instrument and finds kinetic expression there. It’s what make Cagney so memorably vivid onscreen. He brought a dancer’s energy to all aspects of his performing, even to his gangster characters, but it particularly comes to the fore in his musical roles. Especially in a pre-Code, Busby-Berkeley-choreographed musical like Footlight Parade, which combines a gritty, Depression-toughened vitality with a tongue-in-cheek naughtiness that even today leaves audiences giddy with delight. They really don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Our post is part of the Cagney Blogathon, being hosted by The Movie Projector Blog from April 8-12, 2013. Please click here to read our post and for links to the blogathon page with a list of participating bloggers writing on Cagney’s films.