People to Know - George Abbott

I first heard of Mr. Abbott when I watched Elaine Stritch at Liberty. She was talking about working for him on a revival of his show On Your Toes.

George Abbott was born in 1887 and was a great producer, director, playwright and actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1913 in The Misleading Lady. He went on to act in several Broadway shows, and in 1925 the first play he wrote made it to Broadway. From there his career really took off. He was the original director of Chicago, Room Service, The Boys from Syracuse, Pal Joey, Sweet Charity, On the Town, A Funny Thing … Forum and many more. He also wrote On Your Toes, Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game, to name a few.

Abbott was known for being a show doctor. If a show was not working on its out of town try out or before opening on Broadway, many producers brought in Abbott to look at and help fix the work.

George Abbott died just days before his 108th birthday. In 1995 during the opening of the Damn Yankees revival on Broadway he was greeted by a standing ovation. As everyone was applauding he leaned over to someone he was with and said, “Someone really important must be here.”

People to Know - Gwen Verdon

Gwen Verdon was know as the best dancer on Broadway during the 1950’s and 1960’s, which was far from what her parents would have ever dreamed since she was affected with rickets. (Rickets is a softening of bones in children that potentially leads to fractures and deformity.) She was called “Gimpy” by the other kids and spent her early years in orthopedic boots. Her parents, both in show business themselves, put Gwenyth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon in ballet class to help strengthen her legs. By age 11 she was already in her first film as a solo ballerina in The King Steps Out.

Verdon’s first major job was assisting choreographer Jack Cole and teaching dance. Some of her students during that time were Jane Russell, Gene Kelly, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe. She was in many choruses on Broadway, but her first big break was in Can-Can by Cole Porter in 1953. She then went on to lead many musicals; Lola in Damn Yankees, Charity in Sweet Charity, and Roxie in Chicago. By this time she was in married to Bob Fosse. Verdon went on to continue her movie career later in life, working with Woody Allen and Meryl Streep.

I have to say I learn a lot each time a write these posts, and they are really paying off. The most interesting thing that I didn’t know was that Gwen was on the Ed Sullivan Show performing Fosse’s choreography to a song titled "Mexican Breakfast," and that dance was updated and responsible for Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" dance that you see everywhere on YouTube. I even found a clip of the two dances side by side.