Fosse (88 page)

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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.