People to Know - Federal Theatre Project

Today’s is not realty a person but a Project. During the last economic downturn President Franklin Roosevelt created the New Deal which was meant to create lots of jobs as quick as possible. The Great Depression devastated America and Roosevelt wanted to make sure artists, actors, directors and writers. And so we have the Federal Theatre Project which was created in 1935.

The Federal Theatre Project was also intended to bring arts all over the country and to poorer families. The biggest part of the project was Living Newspapers which took current events from newspaper clippings and turned them into plays. Most of the topics focused around farm policy and were know to be very liberal. This is what made them so controversial in congress and ultimately killed the project.

There were many notable people like Arthur Miller and Orson Welles who got there start in the Project. The Federal Theatre Project came to an end in 1939 when congress stopped funding because of the left-wing spin that most of the projects had.

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.

People to Know - David Merrick

David Merrick, whom I actually have heard of because he is a famous producer (but I didn’t really know more than his name), used to be plastered all over the Great White Way. But there was much I didn’t know, like the fact he is from St. Louis. Hmm. Rocco Landesman, David Merrick . . . Jared Neff. I digress. He was born in St. Louis and attended Washington University and then studied law at Saint Louis University.

Merrick was famous for his publicity stunts. When I was given the assignment I was told of the story where Merrick got seven people to come see his show Subways Are For Sleeping and give him quotes about how much they loved it. The seven people had the same names as the seven most well know reviewers in New York City. 7 Out of 7 Are Ecstatically Unanimous About Subways Are For Sleeping the full page ad read. The ad actually helped the musical stay open for about 6 months, and it turned out he actually had the idea for the stunt years earlier but could never find someone with the name Brooks Atkinson, so he had to wait until Atkinson retired from the New York Times to carry out the stunt.

When director Gower Champion, the original director of 42nd Street, died on the morning of August 25th, 1980, Merrick, who produced the show, kept his death a secret to everyone involved in the production and the press so that he could announce it later that night at the curtain call of the opening night performance.

Although Merrick was known to be extremely hard to work with, he won 11 Tony Awards and often was the sole producer of his shows. Some his most famous shows were the original production of Gypsy with Ethel Merman and Hello Dolly with Carol Channing. He produced so many shows that he was often his own competition for the Tony Award. Merrick passed away in 2000 and leaves us with many great shows and even better stories.

People to Know - Leonard Bernstein

As I said last week, when I didn’t know who Leonard Bernstein was, my boss about died. So begins a weekly series on people you should know in theatre. We start with Leonard Bernstein, who was born in 1918 and passed away in 1990.

His most popular musical is back on for its fifth time since opening in 1957, and this latest production is another hit, recouping its 14 million dollar capitalization just yesterday. He also wrote On the Town, Candide, and Wonderful Town. His name can be found in playbills from 28 different productions spanning from 1944 to today.

He is actually probably more known in the music industry for his work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and later the New York Philharmonic, where he was named the principal conductor in 1957. He started the Young People’s Concerts, which aired on CBS for several years.

I was also impressed by his work as a teacher, AIDS activist and anti-discrimination activist. You can tell how important his music was to West Side Story just by watching the Tony Awards this year. In case you missed it, there is a clip below.