Jerome Robbins | |
|---|---|
 Robbins in 1968 | |
| Born | Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz (1918-10-11)October 11, 1918 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | July 29, 1998(1998-07-29) (aged 79) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1937–1998 |
| Awards | Full list |
Jerome Robbins (bornJerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television.
Among his numerous stage productions wereOn the Town,Peter Pan,High Button Shoes,The King and I,The Pajama Game,Bells Are Ringing,West Side Story,Gypsy, andFiddler on the Roof. Robbins was a five-timeTony Award-winner and a recipient of theKennedy Center Honors. He received twoAcademy Awards, including the 1961Academy Award for Best Director withRobert Wise forWest Side Story and a specialAcademy Honorary Award for his choreographic achievements on film.
A documentary about Robbins's life and work,Something to Dance About, featuring excerpts from his journals, archival performance and rehearsal footage, and interviews with Robbins and his colleagues, premiered on PBS in 2009 and won both an Emmy and aPeabody Award the same year.[1][2]
Robbins was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz in the Jewish Maternity Hospital at 270 East Broadway on Manhattan'sLower East Side – a neighborhood populated by many immigrants.[3] He was the son of Lena (née Rips) and Harry Rabinowitz (1887-1977).[4] He had an older sister, Sonia (1912-2004).[5][6][7]
The Rabinowitz family lived in a large apartment house at 51 East 97th Street at the northeast corner ofMadison Avenue. Known as "Jerry" to those close to him, Robbins was given the middle name Wilson reflecting his parents' enthusiasm for the then-president,Woodrow Wilson.
In the early 1920s, the Rabinowitz family moved toWeehawken, New Jersey. His father and uncle opened the Comfort Corset Company in nearbyUnion City. He graduated in 1935 from Woodrow Wilson High School (since renamed asWeehawken High School).[3] The family had many show business connections, including vaudeville performers and theater owners. In the 1940s, their name was legally changed to Robbins.
Robbins began studying modern dance in high school with Alys [CK] Bentley, who encouraged her pupils to improvise steps to music. Said Robbins later: "What [she] gave me immediately was the absolute freedom to make up my own dances without inhibition or doubts." After graduation he went to study chemistry atNew York University (NYU) but dropped out after a year for financial reasons, and to pursue dance full-time. He joined the company of Senya Gluck Sandor, a leading exponent of expressionistic modern dance; it was Sandor who recommended that he change his name to Robbins. Sandor also encouraged him to take ballet, which he did with Ella Daganova; in addition he studied Spanish dancing with Helen Veola; Asian dance with Yeichi Nimura; and dance composition withBessie Schonberg. While a member of Sandor's company Robbins made his stage debut with theYiddish Art Theater, in a small role inThe Brothers Ashkenazi.
In 1937 Robbins made the first of many appearances as a dancer atCamp Tamiment, a resort in the Poconos known for its weekly Broadway-style revues; and he began dancing in the choruses of Broadway shows, includingGreat Lady andKeep Off the Grass, both choreographed byGeorge Balanchine. Robbins had also begun creating dances for Tamiment's Revues, some of them comic (featuring the talents ofImogene Coca andCarol Channing) and some dramatic, topical, and controversial. One such dance, later also performed in New York City at the 92nd Street Y, wasStrange Fruit, set tothe song of the same name sung byBillie Holiday.
In 1940, Robbins joined Ballet Theatre (later known asAmerican Ballet Theatre). From 1941 through 1944, Robbins was a soloist with the company, attracting notice for his performance asHermes inHelen of Troy, the title role inPetrouchka, the Youth inAgnes de Mille'sThree Virgins and a Devil, andBenvolio inRomeo and Juliet; he also came under the influence of the choreographersMichel Fokine,Antony Tudor, and George Balanchine.
During this period, Robbins createdFancy Free, a ballet with a screwball-comedy plot about sailors on leave that combined classical ballet with 1940s social dancing. He performed in it when it was presented at theMetropolitan Opera as part of the Ballet Theatre's 1944 season. He said that one of his inspirations for this ballet had beenPaul Cadmus's 1934 paintingThe Fleet's In!, even though it was lighthearted, which the painting decidedly was not. Robbins said in an interview withThe Christian Science Monitor: "After seeing ...Fleet's In, which I inwardly rejected though it gave me the idea of doing the ballet, I watched sailors, and girls, too, all over town." Robbins commissioned the score for the ballet fromLeonard Bernstein, who was a relatively unknown composer at the time.[8] He also enlistedOliver Smith as set designer.
Later that year, Robbins conceived and choreographedOn the Town (1944), a musical partly inspired byFancy Free, which effectively launched his Broadway career. Bernstein wrote the music and Smith designed the sets. The book and lyrics were written by a team that Robbins would work with again,Betty Comden andAdolph Green, and the director was the Broadway legendGeorge Abbott. Because Robbins, as choreographer, insisted that his chorus reflect the racial diversity of a New York City crowd,On the Town broke the color bar on Broadway for the first time. Robbins's next musical was a jazz-age fable,Billion Dollar Baby (1945). During rehearsals for it, an incident happened that became a part of Robbins – and Broadway – lore: the choreographer, preoccupied by giving directions to the dancers, backed up onstage until he fell into the orchestra pit.[9] Two years later, Robbins received plaudits for his humorousMack Sennett ballet,High Button Shoes (1947), and won his firstTony Award forchoreography. That same year, Robbins would become one of the first members of New York City's newly formedActors Studio, attending classes held by founding memberRobert Lewis three times a week, alongside classmates includingMarlon Brando,Maureen Stapleton,Montgomery Clift,Herbert Berghof,Sidney Lumet, and about 20 others.[10] In 1948 he added another credit to his resume, becoming co-director as well as choreographer forLook Ma, I'm Dancin'!; the year after that he teamed withIrving Berlin to choreographMiss Liberty.
While he was forging a career on Broadway, Robbins continued to work in ballet, creating a string of inventive and stylistically diverse ballets, includingInterplay, which was set to a score byMorton Gould, andFacsimile, which was set to music by Leonard Bernstein and was banned in Boston [CK]. In 1949 Robbins left Ballet Theatre to join George Balanchine andLincoln Kirstein's newly formedNew York City Ballet as Associate Artistic Director. Soon after that he choreographedThe Guests, a ballet about intolerance.
At New York City Ballet Robbins distinguished himself immediately as both dancer and choreographer. He was noted for his performances in Balanchine's 1929 "The Prodigal Son" (revived expressly for him), Til Eulenspiegel, and (with Tanaquil LeClercq) Bouree Fantasque, as well as for his own ballets, such as Age of Anxiety, The Cage, Afternoon of a Faun, and The Concert, in all of which LeClercq played leading roles. He continued working on Broadway as well as staging dances forIrving Berlin'sCall Me Madam, starringEthel Merman,Rodgers and Hammerstein'sThe King and I, in which he created the celebrated "Small House of Uncle Thomas" ballet in addition to other dances, and the revue Two's Company, starring Bette Davis.
He also performed uncredited show doctoring on the musicalsA Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951),Wish You Were Here (1952),Wonderful Town (1953), and choreographed and directed several sketches forThe Ford 50th Anniversary Show, starringMary Martin and Ethel Merman on CBS.[11]
In 1954, Robbins collaborated withGeorge Abbott onThe Pajama Game (1954), which launched the career ofShirley MacLaine, and created, choreographed, and directed the Mary Martin vehicle,Peter Pan (which he re-staged for an Emmy Award-winning television special in 1955, earning himself a nomination for best choreography). He also directed and co-choreographed (withBob Fosse)Bells Are Ringing (1956), starringJudy Holliday. Robbins recreated his stage dances forThe King and I for the1956 film version. In 1957, he conceived, choreographed, and directedWest Side Story.
West Side Story is a contemporary version ofRomeo and Juliet, set on theUpper West Side. The show, with music by Leonard Bernstein, marked the first collaboration between Robbins andStephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics, as well asArthur Laurents, who wrote the book. Because book, music, and dance were envisioned as an organic whole, the cast, in a Broadway first, had to be equally skilled as actors, singers, and dancers. To help the young cast grow into their roles, Robbins did not allow those playing members of opposite gangs (Jets and Sharks) to mix during the rehearsal process. He also, according to dancer Linda Talcott Lee, "played psychological games" with the cast: "And he would plant rumors among one gang about the other, so they really hated each other."[12] Although it opened to good reviews, it was overshadowed byMeredith Willson'sThe Music Man at that year's Tony Awards.West Side Story did, however, earn Robbins his secondTony Award forchoreography.
The streak of hits continued withGypsy (1959), starringEthel Merman. Robbins re-teamed with Sondheim and Laurents, and the music was byJule Styne. The musical is based (loosely) on the life of stripperGypsy Rose Lee.
In 1956 Robbins's muse,Tanaquil LeClercq, contracted polio and was paralyzed; for the next decade Robbins largely withdrew from his activities at New York City Ballet, but he established his own small dance company, Ballets USA, which premiered at the inaugural season of Gian Carlo Menotti's Festival of the Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy in June 1958, toured Europe and the US under the auspices of the State Department, and appeared on television on The Ed Sullivan Show. Among the dances he created for Ballets USA were N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz and Moves.
In 1950, Robbins was called to testify before theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), suspected of Communist sympathies. Robbins, though willing to confess to past party membership, resisted naming names of others with similar political connections; he held out for three years until, according to two family members in whom he confided, he was threatened with public exposure of his homosexuality.[13] Robbins named the names of persons he said were Communists, including actors Lloyd Gough and Elliot Sullivan, dance critic Edna Ocko, filmmaker Lionel Berman, playwright Jerome Chodorov, his brother Edward Chodorov, Madeline Lee Gilford and her husbandJack Gilford, who were blacklisted for their perceived political beliefs and their careers suffered noticeably, to the point that they often had to borrow money from friends.[14] Because he cooperated with HUAC, Robbins's career did not visibly suffer and he was not blacklisted.[15]
In 1960, Robbins co-directed, withRobert Wise, thefilm adaptation ofWest Side Story. After about 45 days of shooting, he was fired when the production was considered 24 days behind schedule.[16] However, when the film received 10 Academy Awards for the 1961 award year, Robbins won two, one for his Direction and one for "Brilliant Achievements in the Art of Choreography on Film".
In 1962, Robbins directedArthur Kopit's non-musical playOh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad. The production ran over a yearoff-Broadway and was transferred to Broadway for a short run in 1963, after which Robbins directedAnne Bancroft in a revival ofBertolt Brecht'sMother Courage and Her Children.
Robbins was still highly sought after as a show doctor. He took over the direction of two troubled productions during this period and helped turn them into successes. In 1962, he savedA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), a musical farce starringZero Mostel,Jack Gilford,David Burns, andJohn Carradine. The production, with book byBurt Shevelove andLarry Gelbart, and score byStephen Sondheim, was not working. Sondheim wrote and Robbins staged an entirely new opening number, "Comedy Tonight", which explained to the audience what was to follow, and the show played successfully from then on. In 1964, he took on a flounderingFunny Girl and devised a show that ran 1348 performances. The musical helped turn leadBarbra Streisand into a superstar.
That same year, Robbins wonTony Awards for hisdirection andchoreography inFiddler on the Roof (1964). The show starred Zero Mostel asTevye and ran for 3242 performances, setting the record (since surpassed) for longest-running Broadway show. The plot, about Jews living in Russia near the beginning of the 20th century, allowed Robbins to return to his religious roots.
He continued to choreograph and stage productions for both theJoffrey Ballet and theNew York City Ballet into the 1970s. Robbins became ballet master of theNew York City Ballet in 1972 and worked almost exclusively in classical dance throughout the next decade, pausing only to stage revivals ofWest Side Story (1980) andFiddler on the Roof (1981). In 1981, hisChamber Dance Company toured the People's Republic of China.
The 1980s saw an increased presence on TV asNBC airedLive From Studio 8H: An Evening of Jerome Robbins' Ballets with members of the New York City Ballet, and a retrospective of Robbins's choreography aired onPBS in a 1986 installment ofDance in America. The latter led to his creating the anthology showJerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989 which recreated the most successful production numbers from his 50-plus year career. StarringJason Alexander as the narrator (a performance that would win Alexander a Tony), the show included stagings of cut numbers likeIrving Berlin'sMr. Monotony and well-known ones like the "Tradition" number fromFiddler on the Roof. He was awarded a fifthTony Award for it.
Following a bicycle accident in 1990 and heart-valve surgery in 1994, in 1996 he began showing signs of a form ofParkinson's disease, and his hearing was quickly deteriorating. He nevertheless stagedLes Noces for City Ballet in 1998, his last project.
Robbins suffered a stroke in July 1998, two months after the premiere of his re-staging ofLes Noces. He died at his home in New York on July 29, 1998. On the evening of his death, the lights of Broadway were dimmed for a moment in tribute. He wascremated and his ashes were scattered on the Atlantic Ocean.
Robbins had romantic relationships with a number of people, includingMontgomery Clift,Nora Kaye,Buzz Miller, and Jess Gerstein.As a formerCommunist Party member, he named 10 communists in his testimony before theHouse Un-American Activities Committee. Although he gave this testimony only after years of pressure, and threats to make public his sexual orientation, his naming names caused resentment among some of his artistic colleagues, including blacklisted actorsJack Gilford[17] andZero Mostel, who, while working onFiddler on the Roof "openly disdained Robbins".[18]Leonard Bernstein andArthur Laurents worked with him onWest Side Story only a few years after they had beenblacklisted.[19]
Robbins shared theAcademy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for the film version ofWest Side Story (1961). Robbins was only the second director to win theAcademy Award for Best Director for a film debut (afterDelbert Mann forMarty). That same year, theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with a specialAcademy Honorary Award for his choreographic achievements on film.
In all, he was awarded with fiveTony Awards, twoAcademy Awards (including the special Academy Honorary Award), theKennedy Center Honors (1981), theNational Medal of Arts (1988), theFrench Legion of Honor, and an Honorary Membership in the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.He was awarded three honorary doctorates including anHonoraryDoctor of Humane Letters in 1980 from theCity University of New York and anHonoraryDoctor of Fine Arts fromNew York University in 1985.
Jerome Robbins was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame in 1979.[20] Robbins was inducted into theNational Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame 10 years later, in 1989.
In 1995, Jerome Robbins instructed the directors of his foundation to establish a prize for "some really greatly outstanding person or art institution. The prizes should 'lean toward the arts of dance...'" The first two Jerome Robbins Awards were bestowed in 2003 toNew York City Ballet and to lighting designerJennifer Tipton.[21]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)At the end of the summer, on Gadget's return from Hollywood, we settled the roster of actors for our two classes in what we called the Actors Studio - using the word 'studio' as we had when we named our workshop in the Group, the Group Theatre Studio... My group, meeting three times a week, consisted of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock, Jerome Robbins, Herbert Berghof, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, Beatrice Straight, David Wayne, and - well, I don't want to drop names, so I'll stop there. In all, there were about fifty.
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