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A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/153260 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Sexual expression and the romantic ideal explored through an ‘American’ style of dance in dance-led dream ballets within Hollywood film musicals 1935-1956 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television Studies Helen Palmer University of Warwick Department of Film and Television Studies April 2020 1 Contents List of Illustrations……………………………………………………………... 7 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………. 14 Declaration………………………………………………………………………. 17 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… 18 Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………. 19 Introduction:……………………………………………………………………... 20 Methodology………………………………………………………………………. 29 The corpus: Hollywood Musicals with dance-led dream ballets 1935-1956.. 34 Chapter structure…………………………………………………………………. 42 Research questions………………………………………………………………. 45 Anticipated contribution to current research…………………………………… 47 Review of the Literature: The genre of musicals, Dreams & dream, ballets, Interpretation of dance, & Popular culture writing……………… 49 The genre of musicals……………………………………………………………. 54 Dreams and dream ballets………………………………………………………. 60 Interpretation of dance…………………………………………………………… 65 Popular culture writing……………………………………………………………. 68 Chapter One: Origins of the dance-led dream ballet: from Broadway to Hollywood………………………………………………………………………… 71 Setting the context for ballet in America………………………………………… 71 Dance on Broadway pre 1927…………………………………………………… 74 The impact of the ‘through narrative’ music score & American popular song. 77 2 Conflict between high art and popular art in early Hollywood musicals…….. 79 Hollywood film musical adaptations of Broadway shows…………………….. 82 Technical innovations……………………………………………………………. 85 Significant dance practitioners in America, on Broadway and in Hollywood. 89 Significant studios………………………………………………………………… 108 Narrative function and purpose of dream ballets……………………………… 113 Early dream ballets on stage……………………………………………………. 121 Broadway Melody of 1936……………………………………………………….. 125 The demise of dream ballets…………………………………………………….. 131 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………. 133 Chapter Two: An ‘American’ style……………………………………………. 135 Agnes de Mille – origins of ‘Laurey Makes Up Her Mind’ ballet in Oklahoma!...................................................................................................... 135 Agnes de Mille – the original stage production of Oklahoma!......................... 138 ‘Laurey Makes Up Her Mind’ in the film adaptation of Oklahoma!.................. 139 Ballet choreography within the dream ballet…………………………………… 160 Critical and commercial response to Oklahoma!............................................ 161 Oklahoma!’s impact on dance choreography on Broadway…………………. 162 The influence of The Red Shoes………………………………………………… 163 Background to the production of ‘The American in Paris Ballet’ in An American in Paris…………………………………………………………………. 166 Prologue to ‘The American in Paris Ballet’………………………………………174 ‘The American in Paris Ballet’……………………………………………………. 177 ‘The American in Paris Ballet’ as an expression of emotions and moods….. 198 Critical and commercial response to An American in Paris………………….. 200 Cultural appropriation in dance in Hollywood musicals………………………. 202 Background to The King and I…………………………………………………… 203 ‘The Small House of Uncle Thomas’ ballet in The King and I……………….. 204 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 211 3 Chapter Three: Integrated narrative and spectacle, Dream Analysis and Popular Freudian psychology…………………………………………… 213 The dream ballet production process…………………………………………… 214 Integrated narrative aspirations…………………………………………………. 216 Daddy Long Legs…………………………………………………………………. 223 ‘Guardian Angel Daydream’ ballet……………………………………………… 225 Prologue to ‘Paris, Hong Kong, Rio’ nightmare ballet in Daddy Long Legs… 236 The ‘Paris, Hong Kong, Rio’ nightmare ballet…………………………………. 238 Background to ‘A Day in New York’ dream ballet in On the Town………….. 246 Jazz dance in ‘A Day in New York’ dream ballet……………………………… 248 Prologue to ‘A Day in New York’ dream ballet………………………………… 250 The ‘A Day in New York’ dream ballet…………………………………………. 252 Dream analysis and popular representation of psychological tropes………. 260 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 266 Chapter Four: Male and female perspectives and the Production Code Administration…………………………………………………………………… 269 The Production Code Administration (PCA)…………………………………… 269 Choreography styles and meaning……………………………………………… 278 The male dream protagonist’s perspective – background to ‘The Broadway Ballet’ in Singin’ in the Rain……………………………………………………… 283 ‘The Broadway Ballet’……………………………………………………………. 289 ‘The Veil’ dance dream ballet in ‘The Broadway Ballet’………………………. 296 The function of ‘The Veil’ dance in ‘The Broadway Ballet’…………………… 300 The ‘Girl Hunt’ ballet in The Band Wagon…………………………………….. 302 Female dream protagonists……………………………………………………… 311 Stormy Weather and the historical context of all black cast musicals in Hollywood………………………………………………………………………….. 311 Stormy Weather…………………………………………………………………... 315 Katherine Dunham, Pioneer of African American Dance…………………….. 321 Prologue to the ‘Stormy Weather’ dream ballet……………………………….. 325 The ‘Stormy Weather’ dream ballet…………………………………………….. 327 ‘Louise’s Ballet’ in the original stage production of Carousel on Broadway... 332 4 The film adaptation of Carousel…………………………………………………. 334 Background to ‘Louise’s Ballet’ in the film adaptation of Carousel………….. 337 ‘Louise’s Ballet’ in the film adaptation of Carousel……………………………. 339 The aftermath of ‘Louise’s Ballet’……………………………………………….. 345 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………. 348 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….. 351 Appendices……………………………………………………………………….. 371 Appendix 1 Dance glossary……………………………………………………… 371 Appendix 2 Primary research in archives and collections……………………. 376 Note: Appendices 3 – 17 film plot summaries are necessarily a considerable condensation of the storylines for the films with sometimes complicated plots. Appendix 3 An American in Paris plot summary……………………………… 380 Appendix 4 Broadway Melody of 1936 plot summary……………………….. 381 Appendix 5 Carefree plot summary……………………………………………. 382 Appendix 6 Carousel plot summary……………………………………………. 383 Appendix 7 Daddy Long Legs plot summary………………………………….. 384 Appendix 8 Lili plot summary……………………………………………………. 385 Appendix 9 Oklahoma! plot summary………………………………………….. 386 Appendix 10 On the Town plot summary……………………………………….. 387 Appendix 11 Singin’ in the Rain plot summary……………………………….. 388 Appendix 12 Stormy Weather plot summary………………………………….. 389 Appendix 13 The Band Wagon plot summary………………………………… 390 Appendix 14 The King and I plot summary……………………………………. 391 Appendix 15 The Pirate plot summary…………………………………………. 392 Appendix 16 The Red Shoes plot summary…………………………………… 393 Appendix 17 Yolanda and the Thief plot summary…………………………… 394 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………… 395 5 Filmography……………………………………………………………………… 410 6 List of illustrations Chapter One *Images have been removed to adhere to copyright regulations *Figure 1.1 Anna Pavlova as The Dying Swan………………………………. 72 *Figure 1.2 Ballet Russes The Rite of Spring…………………………………. 74 Figure 1.3 ‘I Used to be Color Blind’ dream ballet originally intended to be shot in colour, performed in slow motion in Carefree………………………… 88 Figures 1.4a and 1.4b. Widescreen image of Oklahoma! (1.5a) and cropped image of Oklahoma! (1.5b)……………………………………………………… 89 Figure 1.5 Martha Graham, foreground in Appalachian Spring (1944), filmed for television in 1959……………………………………………………………… 91 *Figure 1.6 Agnes de Mille in Rodeo for American Ballet Theatre, (1942)…. 93 Figure 1.7 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Swing Time…………………. 99 Figure 1.8 Gene Kelly in ‘La Cumparsita’ dream ballet in Anchors Aweigh…105 Figures 1.9a and 1.9b. Extremes of stylisation: surrealism in the ‘Will You Marry Me?’ dream ballet in Yolanda and the Thief (1.9a) and the use of the colour red in the ‘Mack the Black’ dream ballet in The Pirate (1.9b)…………112 Figure 1.10 Hand drawn style of the mise-en-scène in the ‘Paris, Hong Kong, Rio’ nightmare dream ballet in Daddy Long Legs……………………… 114 *Figure 1.11 Tilly Losch and Fred Astaire in ‘The Beggar Waltz’ in The Band Wagon (1931)……………………………………………………………………… 124 Figure 1.12 Eleanor Powell in a Ziegfeld Follies pose in the ‘Lucky Star Ballet’ in Broadway Melody of 1936…………………………………………….. 129 Figure 1.13 Overhead crane shot of Albertina Rasch dancers in the ‘Lucky Star Ballet’………………………………………………………………… 130 Figure 1.14. Eleanor Powell dancing into frame with the Albertina Rasch dancers in the second part of the ‘Lucky Star Ballet’…………………………. 131 Figure 1.15 Eleanor Powell dancing mirrored in the pond in the ‘Lucky Star Ballet’………………………………………………………………………………. 132 Figure 1.16 Gene Kelly in Invitation to the Dance……………………………. 134 Figure 1.17 Roy Schneider as Joe Gideon (inspired by Bob Fosse’s life) in ‘Hospital Hallucination’ in All That Jazz………………………………………… 135 7 Chapter Two *Figure 2.1 Marc Platt