Authors: Sam Wasson
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“I decided to form my own company”: Richard W. Nason, “Glimpse of a ‘Goddess,’”
New York Times,
August 18, 1957.
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“I thought he was a funny fellow”: Seymour Peck, “Exit from Realism,”
New York Times,
November 5, 1961.
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“I meant the play to be”: “Chayefsky Talks about ‘Josef D.,’”
New York Times,
February 15, 1964.
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He had taken a part-time teaching position: Clyde Haberman, interview with the author, April 13, 2011.
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“From that time on”: Shaun Considine,
Mad as Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky
(New York: Random House, 1995), 245.
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They got to work in Paddy’s office: Jack Perlman’s notes on Charnin suit, LOC, box 26C.
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“It was like a cave”: Karen Hassett, interview with the author, September 5, 2010.
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At their second meeting: Jack Perlman’s notes on Charnin suit, LOC, box 26C.
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he called Neil Simon in Rome: Neil Simon,
Rewrites: A Memoir
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996),
214–15.
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“I love the new lines”: Ibid., 217.
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“This number,” he said through: Ibid., 216.
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“When you’re dancing in one of Bob’s”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.
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“Bob would say that he didn’t”: Kathy Witt, interview with the author, May 20, 2011.
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“People have been toying with this”: “Is the Director-Choreographer Taking Over?” Roundtable discussion broadcast by radio station WEVD, New York, March 30, 1966.
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“We went to a dance hall to observe”: Rex Reed, “‘I Never Wanted to Be Special,’”
New York Times,
February 6, 1966.
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“They saw kids doing the Jerk”: Diana Laurenson, interview with the author, January 17, 2011.
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Arthur, the most exciting new club: Sybil Christopher, interview with the author, January 23, 2012.
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“[Arthur] was supposed to be”:
Broadway Beat with Richard Ridge,
Manhattan Neighborhood Network, June 22, 1999.
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“That’s how Bob really developed”: Tony Stevens, interview with the author, February 8, 2011.
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“When he and Gwen were working”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.
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She saw he was proud of her: Robert Alan Aurthur
,
“Hanging Out,”
Esquire,
December 1972.
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They worked after work: Donna McKechnie, interview with the author, October 14, 2010.
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“I don’t know if this is”: Ibid.
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“It can be as pedestrian as”: Betty Spence, “Bob Fosse—He’ll Take the Risks,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 17, 1981.
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“Bob never treated us like a chorus”: Kathryn Doby, interview with the author, November 27, 2010.
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“He didn’t just want to put something”: Linda Posner (Leland Palmer), interview with the author, July 23, 2010.
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“Ladies,” he said: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011.
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“She wasn’t
the star
”: Lee Roy Reams, Theater Production Workshop Dialogue Series Features
Sweet Charity,
Marymount Manhattan College, March 15, 2011.
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“Gwen would break the steps”: Christine Colby, interview with the author, March 20, 2011
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He wanted to direct movies: Margaret Herrick Library, George Cukor Papers, Production files—unproduced,
Bloomer Girl
(20th Century Fox and G-D-C Enterprises); choreography 1965–66
.
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a good hook for Fosse: Ibid.
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worried about the offer: Ibid.
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Fosse confessed to Fox executive: Ibid.
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“It was one of the hardest shows”:
Broadway Beat with Richard Ridge
.
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“Gwen hated singing ‘Where Am I Going?’”: Reams, Marymount Manhattan College.
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“I think the true reason was”: Robert Viagas, ed.,
The Alchemy of Theatre: The Divine Science
(New York: Playbill Books, 2006), 32.
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Privately, Fosse knew his show was hers: Reams, Marymount Manhattan College.
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“Gwen was out from time to time”: Ruth Buzzi, interview with the author, January 3, 2011.
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“I went on a hundred times for her”: Helen Gallagher, interviewed by Liza Gennaro, March 22, 2006, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.
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an ebullient Neil Simon set out: Simon,
Rewrites,
228.
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was a preemptive move, Fosse said: Ibid.
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When he awoke Sunday morning: Martin Charnin, interview with the author, December 3, 2011.
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“He told me I had to wait and see”: Ibid.
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Fosse asked Stanley Donen to come up: Simon,
Rewrites,
230.
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“The ending,” Fosse said: Ibid.
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Fosse had decided Irene Sharaff’s: Gottfried,
All His Jazz
, 182.
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“They fought”: Reams, Marymount Manhattan College.
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“It should be grittier, darker”: Simon,
Rewrites,
230.
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“People in the audience would”: John McMartin, interview with the author, November 8, 2010.
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Look, Neil Simon said to Fosse: Simon,
Rewrites,
231.
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“I still think I’m right,” he said: Ibid.
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the Palace Theater: Milton Esterow, “Old Palace Theater Prepares for a Musical: Interior Refurbished for ‘Sweet Charity’ by New Owners,”
New York Times,
January 14, 1966.
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dressing room: Reed, “‘I Never Wanted to Be Special.’”
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“It opens up the eye”: Suzanne Charney, interview with the author, February 20, 2011.
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In the first-row balcony, Martin Charnin: Martin Charnin, interview with the author, December 3, 2011.
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“There was material on that stage”: Ibid.
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“The last thing I wanted to do”: Ibid.
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“Talented Bob Fosse”: Harold Clurman, “Theater,”
Nation,
February 28, 1966.
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“The proscenium is all broken up”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.
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“Bob was there from the first day”: Dan Siretta, interview with the author, February 22, 2012.
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“The only time he spoke directly”: Ibid.
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“He did come up with the one idea”: Gwen Verdon interview,
Dance in America,
WNET archives, September 6, 1989
.
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“Bob would get so lonely”: Dan Siretta, interview with the author, February 22, 2012.
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“Fosse would call me at night”: Ellen Graff, interview with the author, February 3, 2012.
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“Bobby was so much a little boy”: Dan Siretta, interview with the author, February 22, 2012.
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“You are the strangest actor”:
Broadway Beat with Richard Ridge
.
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“Whose performance do you think”: Gottfried,
All His Jazz
, 186.
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sense of injustice increased: Ibid.
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“During much of their joint professional”: Gottfried,
All His Jazz
, 284.
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“If Fosse did anything generous”: Marie Wallace, interview with the author, February 16, 2012.
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“She loved being with us”: Ibid.
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“Those were fabulous parties”: Laurent Giroux, interview with the author, December 13, 2010.
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“I felt sorry for Gwen”: Ruth Buzzi, interview with the author, January 3, 2011.
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would visit Gwen in her dressing room whenever they could: Ibid.
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“We were in there most nights”: Ibid.
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Gwen placed a frightened call to Robert Alan Aurthur: Gottfried,
All His Jazz,
186.
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Aurthur finally reached Fosse: Ibid.
TWENTY YEARS
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“Have you finished work yet, Daddy?”: Robert Wahls, “Bob Who? Bob Fosse!,”
New York Sunday News,
November 26, 1972.
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personal resonance: Leslie Bennetts, “Bob Fosse—Dancing with Danger,”
New York Times,
April 6, 1986.
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“This is the manic-depressive floor”: Wahls, “Bob Who?”
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Fosse’s suite was nicely disheveled: Ibid.
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850 Seventh was a magical place: Lionel Larner, interview with the author, January 25, 2012.
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“A man who is not touched by”: Herb Gardner,
The Collected Plays
(New York: Applause, 2001), 43.
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“That was a marriage between”: David Picker, interview with the author, October 7, 2010.
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he was called the “Corned Beef Confucius”: “Max Asnas, Long-Time Owner of the Stage Delicatessen, Dies,”
New York Times,
December 12, 1968.
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“Paddy could tell Bob everything”: Ann Reinking, interview with the author, November 15, 2010.
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“You’d see them at their table”: Karen Hassett, interview with the author, September 5, 2010.
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It was just Fosse’s
goyishe
sandwich: Alan Heim, interview with the author, July 22, 2010.
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had his sights set on
Sweet Charity
next: For more on the Hollywood musical in the late 1960s, see Paul Monaco,
History of the American Cinema, Vol. 8: The Sixties
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001); Ethan Mordden,
Medium Cool
(New York: Knopf, 1990); and “
Darling Lili
(1970)” in Sam Wasson,
A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards
(Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2009).
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Charnin’s arbitration: Martin Charnin, interview with the author, December 3, 2011.
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“Fryer and Carr had to admit to it”: Ibid.
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“Okay, kid”: Shirley MacLaine,
My Lucky Stars: A Hollywood Memoir
(New York: Bantam, 1995), 175.
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“I remember feeling tentative”: Charles Champlin, “Finest Hour for Bob Fosse and Feet in General,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 11, 1969.
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“I hate show business and I love it”: Bernard Drew, “Life as a Long Rehearsal,”
American Film,
November 1979.
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Surtees liked to joke that one day: Bob Fosse correspondence with Robert Surtees, LOC, box 47A.
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“Bobby was fascinated with”: Sonja Haney, interview with the author, February 27, 2011.
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“Anyone less charming than Bob”: Bruce Surtees, interview with the author, March 28, 2011.
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Ross Hunter had soft-focus ideas in store: “Ross Hunter Withdraws from U’s ‘Charity’ after ‘Difference’ with Fosse,”
Daily Variety,
November 6, 1967.
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“There was quite a fight”: Champlin, “Finest Hour for Bob Fosse.”
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“He wanted to be an artist”: Bruce Surtees, interview with the author, March 28, 2011.
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Fosse talked to Surtees about McCracken, about ideas she had: Ibid.
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“If there were people,” McCracken had written: Joan McCracken, “Thoughts While Dancing,”
Dance
Magazine,
April 1946.
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They discussed John Huston’s: Bruce Surtees, interview with the author, March 28, 2011.
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“
Moulin Rouge
was the first time”: Moira Hodgson, “When Bob Fosse’s Art Imitates Life, It’s Just ‘All That Jazz,’”
New York Times,
December 30, 1979.
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Fosse began wearing a viewfinder: Bruce Surtees, interview with the author, March 28, 2011.
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“How do you feel about it?”: Chris Chase, “Fosse, from Tony to Oscar to Emmy,”
New York Times,
April 29, 1973.
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“I loved rehearsing with Shirley”: Sonja Haney, interview with the author, February 27, 2011.
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“It had to be one of the worst things”: John McMartin, interview with the author, November 8, 2010.
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“The fact that she was there at all”: Chita Rivera, interview with the author, February 3, 2011.
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One would glimpse her whispering: Ibid.
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“They literally finished each other’s”: Suzanne Charney, interview with the author, February 20, 2011.
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Gwen turned down the title role in: Lewis Funke, “Will Rogers Recalled,”
New York Times,
October 13, 1968.
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“If I’d known how he worked”: “Won’t Sit Down on the Job,”
Chicago Daily Defender,
April 4, 1968.
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“One of the reasons you wanted to work”: Lee Roy Reams, Theater Production Workshop Dialogue Series Features
Sweet Charity,
Marymount Manhattan College, March 15, 2011.
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“His anxieties and indecisions”: Marilyn Beck, “There’s Been Trouble on ‘Sweet Charity’ Set,”
Hartford Courant,
February 27, 1968.
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“I knew that he felt he was under”: Sonja Haney, interview with the author, February 27, 2011.
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“He missed nothing”: MacLaine,
My Lucky Stars,
179.
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“Everything about films”: Bob Boyle, “Bob Fosse Began Early on Successful Career,”
Nevada Daily Mail,
February 4, 1969.