George Antheil and Born in Trenton, New Jersey, in I900, the son of a shoe salesman, Antheil studied mu­ the Dance sic theory and composition, first in Philadel­ phia with Constantin von Sternberg, then in New York with Ernest Bloch. He arrived in Lynn Garafola Paris on the very day of the Ballets Russes pre­ miere ofLesNoces, June I3, I923. Itwas a balmy Like many composers who came of age evening, a ticket was waiting at the box office, around World War I, George Antheil had a and Stravinsky received him warmly back­ long relationship with dance. Dances figured stage after the performance. But fate soon among his earliest works: the Three Creole brought the idyll to an end. Antheil relates the Dances he wrote as a seventeen-year-old the events, as anAmerican friend recounted them, very year the United States declared war on in his lively if somewhat unreliable autobiog­ Germany; the Three Spanish Dances and Pro­ raphy, Bad BOll of Music. At the party that fol­ fane Waltzes he composed two years later; the lowed Les Nom, which happened to be given Ragtime Sonata and Shimmy he wrote in I923. by that golden couple of the American expa­ None of these works was actually intended for triate colony, Sara and Gerald Murphy, some­ dancing; they were composed for the concert one asked Stravinsky whether or not he was so hall, not the dance stage and certainly not the terribly impressed by Antheil's compositions. dance hall. Still, the fact that Antheil chose to With apprehension Stravinsky replied that he write them at all is revealing of a great shift in thought him a fine pianist but that he scarce­ thinking in the more serious quarters of the ly knew his compositions. '''Ah,' cried the music world. What prompted this change was American and his wife, 'that's just what we the Ballets Russes and the landmark works, suspected, a fourflusher.'''I The party ended including Stravinsky's Rite of Spring , commis­ Antheil's friendship with Stravinsky. sioned by the company's forward-looking di­ Far more dramatic was Antheil's encounter rector, Serge Diaghilev. with the Ballets Suedois. Overnight it made Music for the dance had undergone a rev­ him nothing less than a celebrity, theenfantter­ olution. No longer written to measure by rible of the Anglo-American avant-garde. It "specialist composers," it had become the was a scandale, one of those that regularly province of "serious" composers -artists as erupts in Paris, thatwelcomedAntheil's debut opposed to artisans. Diaghilev made it re­ at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees for the spectable to write for the ballet stage. At the openingof the troupe's I923-I924season, and same time, his Ballets Russes and modernist­ amazingly it was all filmed. Or was it so amaz­ oriented companies like Rolf de Mare's Bal­ ing, engineered as it was by Margaret Ander­ lets Suedois proved a ready source of com­ son, the editor of The Little Review, for her in­ missions and a launching pad to internation­ timate, the actress Georgette LeBlanc, whose al renown. Antheil never wrote for either of new movie needed a riot scene? these celebrated troupes. Yet as an American "One day," Antheil recounted, "Margaret who spent most of the I920S and the early Anderson phoned me and asked whether I'd I930S in Europe, he was bound sooner or lat­ like to play at the opening of the Ballets Sue­ erto cross paths with them. And given his flair dois - after Diaghileff' s Ballet Russe the next for self-promotion, the encounters were sure most important social event in Paris. I said to be memorable. indeed I would - as who wouldn't? Everybody Based on a lecture delivered at The Cooper Union of importance would be present. ... Margaret for the Advancement of Science and Art, on Janu­ said, 'Start practicing and be sure to program ary 29,2000, under the auspices of The New York your most radical works, the sonatas that Public Library. caused riots in Germany.' I would go on, she

© 2001 Lynn Garafola added, during the early part of the program, before the ballets commenced."2 Antheil chose three recent works, all for solo piano: Airplane Sonata, which he had composed in 1921, before leaving America; the 1922 Sonata Sauvage, written in Germany; and a new piece, Mechanisms, which trumpeted its modernity in subtitles like Mechanism Cu­ bistic, Mechanism Interrhythmic, and Mech­ anism Elliptic) Halfway through the concert, with the cameras whirring under giant flood­ lights, all hell broke loose. Antheil was in ec­ stasy: "In the audience was Man Ray, Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Picabia, and Heaven knows who else," he wrote. "In one box alone sat James Joyce, the author of Ulysses . . . [and] in an­ other ... sat Leger ... [and] Ezra Pound."4 "People were fighting in the aisles, yelling, clapping, hooting! Pandemonium! I sudden­ ly heard Satie's shrill voice saying, 'Que! [sic] George AntheiI, Berlin, late 1920S. precision! Quel [sic] precision! Bravo! Bravo!' (Photo: Ruth Asch) .. . Milhaud was now clapping, definitely clap­ ping. By this time some people in the galleries described the work that was to be his fame were pulling up the seats and dropping them and bane in later years as being definitely en­ down into the orchestra; the police entered, gaged for a season at the avant-garde Theatre and any number of surrealists, society per­ Beriza with "decor and staging by F[ernand] sonages, and people of all descriptions were Leger, the designer of 'Skating Rink."'7 arrested . . . . Paris hadn't had such agood time Leger, who had designed the hero's fu­ since the premiere of Stravinsky's Sacre du turistic laboratory in L'Inhumaine and both Printemps. As Jack Benny would have said: Skating Rink and Creation of the World for the 'Boy, they loved me in Paris!"'5 Ballets Suedois, eventually teamed up with Despite its artfully contrived riot and so­ the American filmmaker Dudley Murphy to phisticated interiors, L'Inhumaine, as Marcel create the film version of Ballet Mecanique, a L'Herbier's film was called, was nota success. landmark of early experimental cinema. (This As the opera singer Claire (who prompts the was not Murphy's first encounter with bal­ riot), Georgette LeBlanc had none of the mag­ let; in 1922 he had worked closely in New York netism of a femme fatale, while Jaque [sic] with Ballets Russes alumnus Adolph Bolm on Catelain, the Swedish scientist who is the vic­ the pioneering Danse Macabre.) But the final tim of her coldness, seems to loathe her. 6 outcome of Leger's collaboration with An­ Capitalizing on his newfound notoriety, theil was almost certainly not determined un­ Antheil announced to the press that he was til later, no matter what the composer claimed working on a new piece, Ballet Mecanique, in Bad Boy of Music. In its genesis Ballet Me­ which he hoped to produce with motion­ canique was probably what its title suggests: picture accompaniment, if he could find a an avant-garde ballet, cousin to such Ballets collaborator. However, in a letter to his Amer­ Suedois productions as Le Marriage de la Tour ican patroness, Mary Curtis Bok, written in EilJeI and Reliiche. May 1924 (that is, seven months after the up­ For reasons that remain obscure a stage roar at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees), he production failed to materialize. And when

FALL 2001 the music was eventually heard - at the Mai­ with the stillness of Noh, Antheil created a son Pleyel in 1925 , at the Theatre des Champs­ percussive score for orchestra that largely es­ Elysees and the salon of Mrs. Christian Gross chewed the use of strings. J. J. Hayes in The in 1926-itwaswithoutthe Dudley-Leger film. Irish Times praised the composer for "grasping Antheil scored his original version for sixteen the Gaelic spirit underlying the story," while Pianolas, but when the master rolls were cut avoiding the "sensationally striking. ... The by Pleyel, the music turned out to be about dramatic element was always present and twice as long as the film. For the United States the orchestra made clear at all times what was premiere of Antheil's work at Carnegie Hall in happening.... Mr. Antheil's music was elo­ 1927, there was a garish backdrop by Joseph quent in meaning and intensity."Il For Yeats Mullen featuring skyscrapers, noisemaking the work was a turning point. To accommo­ machines, and a larger-than-life figure jump­ date de Valois, who refused to speak onstage, ing off a diving board. Only in 1935 at the he cut many of the speeches and put the verse Museum of Modern Art - doubtless through dialogue into prose. The opening and closing the good offices of Lincoln Kirstein, who was lyrics were left unchanged, "for sung to mod­ interested in film almost as much as dance - ern music in the modern way," as he put it, were the two finally synchronized and per­ "they suggest strange patterns to the ear formed together, albeit in a musical arrange­ without obtruding upon itwith their difficult, ment for one Pianola.8 irrelevant words."I2 Although at one point Antheil composed his first music for danc­ Yeats dismissed the playas a "mere occasion ers in the late 1920S. By then he had left France for sculptor and dancer, [and] for the exciting for Germany, where he wrote incidental mu­ dramatic music of George Antheil," in per­ sic for a number of plays and where his first formance he was overwhelmed by what the opera, Transatlantic, premiered in 1930. In Vi­ totality conveyed - "the ritual of a lost faith." enna he did some music for Hedy pfundmeyr, This now became his ideaJ.I3 a soloist of the State Opera Ballet and chore­ In 1932, after spending most of the previ­ ographer in her own right, a commission he ous decade abroad, Antheil returned to the later described as his "first music for dance," United States and settled in New York. The as well as sketches for a ballet called Miditer­ country was mired in the Great Depression; rani. soup kitchens fed armies of the unemployed, A chance encounter with William Butler and tent cities filled Central Park. Still, it was Yeats in the summer of 1928 led to "his first an exciting time if you were a dancer or a com­ ballet opera,"9 Fighting the Waves, actually one poser. There was energy, ahostofyoung faces, of the poet's "plays for dancers." Produced and imaginative daring; organizations were by Dublin's Abbey Theatre, it was choreo­ springing up, especially on the left, and audi­ graphed by the future matriarch of British bal­ ences were growing - all this when few had a let, the Irish-born Ninette de Valois. Yeats, she dime to spare. It was a far cry from the hedo­ recalled, "had always felt the call of movement nism of Paris and other expatriate colonies of in relation to his writings, and he felt the same the 1920S. draw towards music. But he did not show any Years later composer Lehman Engel, who active interest in music and dance as arts in wrote music for Martha Graham and other their own right. For him it was the call of the modern dancers, recalled the excitement of rhythm of the body, and the musicality of New York in the early 1930S, when he was a words, the search for a fusion in a unified ex­ student at Juilliard: "There was so much to be pression of his dance dramas, symbolic in the seen and experienced, so many people in such oneness of the mystery that surrounded his a variety of places. These, combined with the great vision."IO opportunity to create, could only have hap­ For this strange work, blending Celtic myth pened in New York, in our land, in our time.

BALLET REVIEW The discussions ... mattered most, I think. Antheil's interest in dance intensified with They involved the theater, music, painting, po­ his return to the United States. Early in 1932 etry, and the dance, and they ... caused me to he was in touch with Doris Humphrey about think about things that had not before even using her pupils in a "little opera" he expect­ occurred to me."I4 ed to complete by the middle of March. "It Antheil threw himself into American life was a very great pleasure for us to meet you, as with the gusto that was one of his most we always have been great admirers of your endearing traits. There were concerts in dancing, and think that it is of the greatest Rochester, his home town of Trenton, and importance what you are doing for the Amer­ Yaddo, the Saratoga Springs arts colony; com­ ican dance."I8 mitteeworkwithAaron Copland and Walling­ The opera never materialized, but in Sep­ ford Riegger; movie scores for Ben Hecht and temberI933 Antheilwrote to Humphreyabout Charles MacArthur at Paramount's Astoria nothing less than exploring "the possibilities studios; a performance of Ballet Mecanique at of a ballet here in Trenton": "The Trenton the Museum of Modern Art. IS Civic Orchestra has been organized, and is Above all, there was his new opera, Helen Re­ ... pretty good .... I have thought of using tires. Based on John Erskine's novel ThePrivate that (it is at my disposal) and the new Trenton LifeofHelen ofTroy , it premiered at the Juilliard Municipal Theater (which the city wants me to School ofMusicinFebruaryl934, a time when use) and with the help of the Junior League, many were calling for an American opera. The and a number of interested people, put on a book was rich in humor, and the production series of American ballets by American com­ design, by Frederick Kiesler, was striking and posers, with American dancers ... a sort of unusually modern, with lights, slide projec­ Ballet Russe, so to speak, but with a poorer tions, and even motion-picture footage creat­ orchestra ... I must admit. ... [T]he ballets ing most of the stage effects. The chorus sat could be ordered from the young men, if they onstage (as inDiaghilev's production ofLeCoq are not already written, so that they would not d'Or), and the choreography for the student be too ultra difficult. . . . Princeton, the New dancers was by Kiesler and Dalcroze expert Hope Art Colony, and Philadelphia are all Elsa Findlay. Arthur Mahoney, the one pro­ nearby. N.Y. is also only 1:07 minutes away. fessional dancer in the cast, scored such a It might be fun. What do you think? There will success as the Young Fisherman that Juilli­ be no profits unless Mrs. Roebling under­ ard hired him on the spot as a teacher and writes more than she has to date, but that dance director. The opening was like a gala shouldn't stop this first chance at an unlimit­ night at the Metropolitan, with many of the ed orchestra and theater, and enough money city's most distinguished musicians in the au­ for scenery and costumes."I9 dience. I6 This project, too, never came off. But In the years since Ballet Mecanique, Antheil within months Antheil had encountered the had gradually abandoned the more extreme patron extraordinairewhowould made a place elements of his earlier modernism. By 1930 for him at the epicenter of New York's "musi­ a neoromantic element could be discerned cal ballet-opera theatre" (as he called it)20 in his work; a few years later, even a touch of - Lincoln Kirstein. For Kirstein the big adven­ surrealism. At the same time he was gradual­ ture of his life was just beginning. On Octo­ ly losing interest in "pure" music. "There ben8, 1933, at his behest, George Balanchine seems little use to writing trumpet sonatas," had arrived in New York; less than three he told an interviewer in 1936. "The arts need months later Balanchine taught his first class to collaborate; otherwise, they become stilt­ at the School of American Ballet; six months ed, precious, playing to ever diminishing au­ later he choreographed his first American bal­ dience."I7 let, Serenade. By 1935 the two (with financial

FALL 2001 85 help from Edward Warburg) had founded the thirty-year-old choreographer, whose days American Ballet, the first of several short-lived as a choreographic revolutionary lay not so predecessors to the New York City Ballet. far in the past. He went up to Juilliard to watch It was Lisa Parnova, a Russian-born dancer rehearsals of Helen Retires and, like Kirstein, who had worked at the Cologne Opera in the attended the premiere. 24 Antheil took to drop­ I920S and was now living in New York, who ping in at the School, which was practically brought Antheil to the School of American around the corner from his apartment on East Ballet in late January I934. He played a rumba 55th Street, where Kirstein as well as Balan­ for Balanchine (so loud that the teacher in the chine were occasional visitors. In late Mayall next studio came in to protest), and soon they three went to see Asadata Dafora's African were talking about a ballet. All kinds of ideas dance-drama Kykunkor at the tiny Unity The­ were floating around: an American ballet with atre on East 23rd Street. There was talk of Bal­ a scenario by Francis Fergusson; a skating anchine and Antheil doing a ballet on the ballet set in Central Park of the I840S; a ballet theme of Don Juan, and even a film, an in­ to Schumann called The Enchanted Garden; a triguing prospect given thatwithin a couple of Rover Boy ballet (this eventually became Alma years both would be working in Hollywood. Mater); revivals of works choreographed by On June IO, I934, the School of American Balanchine in Europe. Ballet gave its first performance at the War­ Only days before the premiere of Helen Re­ burg family estate near White Plains. Three tires, Antheil received his first commission - a ballets were given, all by Balanchine. The pro­ new score for Les Songes, or Dreams, as the gram opened with Mozartiana and closed with American version was called. 21 It was about a excerpts from Dreams. In the middle was Sere­ dancer and nightmarish figures like the Rat­ nade, which was danced in rehearsal costume. Acrobat who assail her dreams. Balanchine By March I935, when the American Ballet had produced the ballet in Europe with music made its official debut at the Adelphi Theatre by Milhaud. Now, with Derain's sets and cos­ in New York, this most beloved of Balanchine tumes at hand (they had come with him to works had costumes by Jean Lur~at, scenery America), the choreographer decided to revive by Gaston Longchamp, and a new arrange­ the ballet, but with a new score.22 A few days ment of the Tschaikovsky Serenade in C for later Balanchine demonstrated the dances and String Orchestra by Antheil. The composer talked to Antheil about timings. Within a week contributed to a third ballet presented during he was playing for Balanchine the music he the company's debut season. This was Tran­ had already written; it was at Lucia Davidova' s scendence, which had a theme by Kirstein in­ and everyone was delighted, calling it charm­ spired by Paganini, sets and costumes by the ing and dansant. By late April the ballet was in American painter Franklin Watkins, and mu­ rehearsal; by mid-May itwas nearly done. And sic by Liszt - his Mephisto Waltz and various AntheilwastalkingtoKirsteinandBalanchine Hungarian Rhapsodies - which Antheil both alike about other projects, including a "waltz­ orchestrated and arranged. Although Tran­ ballet" (which probably became Transcendence) scendence did not remain long in repertory, "a and Archipelago, which Frederick Ashton (who faint echo" of the ballet, Kirstein was to write, had spent the winter in the United States survived in Balanchine's Brahms-Schoenberg choreographing Four Saints in Three Acts) took Quartet, choreographed more than thirty years back with him to London but failed to stage.23 later.2s Unlike most of the painters and compos­ At the same time that Antheil was work­ ers associated with the Kirstein-Balanchine ing for Balanchine, he was also working for enterprise in these years, Antheil was closer Martha Graham. In Bad Boy of Music he pass­ to Balanchine than to Kirstein. Antheil's es over entirely his encounter with the fore­ modernism struck a responsive chord in the most representative of modern dance, al-

86 BALLET REVIEW Graham that premiered at the Guild Theatre on November II, 1934, was based on twenty-four short piano preludes from TheWoman withaHun­ dred Heads. Antheil had written it the year before, inspired by a surrealist collage-novel of etchings by Max Ernst. The individual pieces varied in length and mood, with instructions like "cruel, quick," "nostalgic," and "slightly brutal"; some of the pieces were strongly percussive, while oth­ ers had the atonal sonorities of the composer's later neoclassic works. (Since the Graham score has disap­ peared, it is impossible to know which ones she used.) Graham divided the dance into four parts - "Quest," "Derision," "Dream," and "Sportive Tragedy" - each of which she then divided into six emotionally related "moods," Dreams with Kathryn Mullowny and Charles Laskey, making a total of twenty-four short 1935. (Photo: George Platt Lynes) dances. The result, wrote John Mar- tin in the New York Times, "seems though it produced two works and inspired an oversubtle in purpose and not too well unified adulatory essay. How they met is unknown. in form .... It is impossible to tell when one Perhaps itwas Lisa Parnova (who had a foot in prelude leaves off and the next begins, and the modern camp) or one of the many com­ similarly where one dance theme ends and the posers Antheil had met in New York. Mostlike- next carries on."26 Antheil had nothing but ly, it was Louis Horst, Graham's musical di­ praise for the choreographer's use of his mu­ rector and the composer of several of her ear- sic: "She does it beautifully," he wrote his sup­ ly scores, who brought them together. Antheil porter Mrs. Bok, "and I love it."27 found himself in good musical company. Al­ Far more successful was Antheil's second though Graham had long used modern mu­ work for Graham, Course. A large group com­ sic, her interest in American composers was a position, it was the outstanding feature of her recent development, an early expression of the third recital of the 1934-35 season. Reviewing nationalist impulse that culminated in Ameri­ it in the New York Times, Martin could hardly can Document. In 1934 and 1935 her roster of contain his excitement: "It is a completely composers included no fewer than a half­ exciting piece of work. From the first en­ dozen Americans: Lehman Engel, Henry trance of the solo figure and the group with Cowell, Edgard Varese, Paul Nordoff, Norman its onrush, there is maintained a flow of swift Lloyd, David Diamond, in addition to Horst and brilliant movement which, in spite of its and Antheil. Graham's commitment to new variations, never pauses for an instant. The American music was unmatched by any other 'course' of the title is apparently ... a series choreographer of the time. of games or contests, comparable to a race For his first commission Antheil did not course. The seven dancers besides Miss write new music. Dance in Four Parts, a solo for Graham who figure prominently ... contri-

FALL 2001 bute exemplary performances , ... and George dance and ballet. It was also about differ­ Antheil's music serves excellently as its back­ ing views of nationality: what it meant to be ground."28 Alas, the score for Course has also American, what was signified by the idea of been lost. an American dance, what was necessary for Martin was noticeably less enthusiastic a cosmopolitan aesthetic like Balanchine's about Dreams, which received its official pre­ (or Antheil's, for that matter) to acquire an miere less than a month later. "It seems authentic American identity. There were also scarcely worth the labor that has been spent class issues at stake. The American Ballet was on it, for it is trivial in subject matter and ut­ bankrolled by some very rich people, notably terly unsuited in style to the young dancers Kirstein (whose money came from Filene's, who make up the company. Certainly the the Boston department store) and Warburg abandonment of the Milhaud music was of (whose family belonged to the international doubtful wisdom." 29 banking elite). They had connections, and Other critics were equally damning. Wrote they knew everyone. Kirstein brought the rich Pitts Sanborn: "The phantasmagoria of and famous to rehearsals, laying the founda­ 'Dreams' ... proved to be distinctly below the tion for an audience; he courted journalists Ballet's general level of achievement. The (including John Martin) and talked to editors, choreography was rather tiresomely conven­ so that by the time the American Ballet had tional; the dancing . . . somewhat amateurish made its debut, articles about the company in its total effect, and the settings true to a and the School had appeared in such tony French mode that arouses no excitement to­ magazines as Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Town day. Moreover, the music, a sort of Viennese and Country, and Vogue,32 disarrangement, was ill-calculated to add lus­ Thus, in his season roundup, when Martin tre to Mr. Antheil's fame."3 0 questioned whether "the organization [is] to The season prompted all kinds of debates. attempt the fulfillment of its original policy One had to do with the relative merits of bal­ of developing an American ballet, or ... to let and modern dance. Antheil flew to the de­ follow the direction of its present season and fense of ballet in an punchy article that came go on being merely 'Les Ballets Americains,'" out in Stage magazine just as the Adelphi sea­ given its audience of socialites, expatriate son opened: "At the moment American danc­ Europeans, and balletomanes, one feels that ing has twisted itself into such a series of blind the company's social aura, so carefully engi­ alleys that it is time for a little thumbing back neered by Kirstein, repelled him far more than over the exceedingly classic files. The curious Balanchine's choreography,33 In 1935, with thing is that, after ten years of pounding upon the GreatDepression still a reality, manyprob­ the theatrical boards with the heels, toe-danc­ ably shared Martin's distaste. ing seems to come as a fresh and novel spring Martin's criticism did not go unheeded. In wind. The old ballet technique has been dust­ the next decade, Balanchine no less than ed off. Men like Massine and Balanchine have Kirstein would undergo a process of natural­ found a thousand new corners and angles to ization. In the case of Balanchine this would give to an already brilliant and long-perfected result in nearly a score of works for Broadway technique a new and Mesmeric life. How and Hollywood, an exposure to popular en­ much more I prefer to see this than the heavy, tertainment that ultimately transformed him already demoted Neusachlichkeit of the present into an American. Kirstein, too, went his own school of American dancing. Ten years of it, way. In 1936 he founded Ballet Caravan, a and it still is short breathed, heavily German­ chamber company that aimed to make ballet ic, with nothing of our true pioneering spir­ as American as apple pie. The themes of the it." 31 ballets were American, as were the designers, The battle was not simply about modern dancers, and composers. Most of the ballets

88 BALLET REVIEW were forgettable, but they launched a genera­ The event marked his return to the serious tion of American talent, and with Billy the Kid, music world; within months this "musical which had music by Copland, choreography Tom Sawyer, gay, fanciful, ingenuous, self­ by Eugene Loring, and a scenario by Kirstein, confident, and comical," as Virgil Thomson Ballet Caravan created one of the most im­ once described him,38 was offering his ser­ portant works of Depression-era Americana. vices to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. "For As for Antheil, in 1936 he set off in search years I have composed nothingatall," hewrote of America, a journey that took him to Flori­ to the company's director, Sergei Denham; "it da and New Mexico, and ended in Hollywood. had a special psychological reason too long He did not want to be, as he put it in Bad Boy of to go into. But now I should like to write a Music, "a Parisian in New York." 34 And in this wonderful new ballet. And I could."39 What realization his collaboration with Balanchine almost certainly prompted Antheil to resume was crucial, even as he continued to laud the contact with Denham at this point was his re­ choreographer's genius. By 1937 Antheil was cent appointment of Balanchine as the com­ touting Martha Graham as "the very essence pany's resident choreographer. of America," "one of those extraordinary The two were soon back in touch. A few let­ mediums who ... without knowing it present ters from Balanchine to Antheil survive from the mental telepathy of the race and concen­ this period, and they have a jocular, even ban­ trate its essence into the movements of her tering tone. "Dear George," begins one dated body."35 The shoe salesman's son from Tren­ September 13,1945. "You reproached me for ton had come home. lack of promptness in answering your corre­ Like so many newcomers to Hollywood, spondence, well, I have reason to reproach you Antheil went to work for the movies. He con­ in turn . . . . I hear on the gossip grapevine with tinued to write for Modern Music and for a time some alarm that somebody making a film like kept a toehold in the ballet world. When Bal­ the one you indicate" [this was the Ben Hecht anchine went to Hollywood in 1937, he lived production The Specter of the Rose, released the only a block away from the composer. "We following year] "is thinking of hiring a Sig­ are often together," Antheil reported to Mrs. nor Celli for a possible role. Strictly entre Bok. "Three nights ago we played through nous, I prefer to believe that this is just idle the new Strawinsky ballet, Card Party, four talk."4° By August 1946 Antheil was writing hands, which Balanchine recently presented to Denham about two possible ballets. One at the Metropolitan .. . . These things are good was called "Ghost Town," a project that may for my soul, if not for my pocket book." He have involved Marc Platt. The otherwas a "Cre­ was also at work on a new ballet, to be pre­ ole ballet." For this, he added, "I have already sented at the American Ballet's next Metro­ (somewhat in collaboration with Georges politan season.36 However, like other ballets [sic] Balanchinewho gave me 90% of the idea) of thelatel930s, the project came to naughtY worked out [a] little story, .. . besides collect­ Indeed, by 1939 Antheil had stopped writing ing a vast amount of themes remembered music entirely, even for the movies. To make dimly, but beautifully from my childhood."41 a living he wrote a syndicated lonely-hearts Not only has Antheil's "little story" sur­ column, "BoyAdvisesGirl";abookofwarpre­ vived, but also a surprisingly large number of dictions, The Shape of War to Come, published musical sketches. 42 The scenario for the "New anonymously in 1940; and articles on the place Orleans Ballet," as he now calls it, has an un­ of endocrinal glands in the human organism. mistakable Balanchine perfume. Like his 1933 With Hedy Lamarr, he patented an idea about ballet Cotillon, it opens with a dressing scene a radio-directed torpedo. and is set in a ballroom. But there is a cynical In 1944 Leopold Stokowski conducted the undercurrent, a subtle air of moral corruption premiere of Antheil's Fourth Symphony. that recalls the atmosphere of Ni,cjht Shadow,

FALL 2001 89 which Balanchine staged early in 1946. In two razor-sharp meat knives strapped to its both, the hero toys with a pair of contrasting legs; Paco misses a pass; a knife plunges into women, here, a beautiful Creole girl who is his his belly, and he dies. All agreed it would make fiancee and the beautiful quadroon servant an exciting ballet and should be done at the girl who is his mistress. Met. Hemingway turned to a young American In the first scene the quadroon girl, who is writer in his entourage. "'Would you like to do identified in the score as Caroline or the "Black it, Hotch?'" Hotch would. So began a byzan­ Creole," helps the white Creole girl to dress; tine journey for A. E. Hotchner, the future au­ at the same time she flirts with her beau, who thor of Papa Hemingway: A Personal Memoir­ prolongs the coquetry by rejecting the gowns "four harrowing, impresario-infested years," modeled by his fiancee. The second scene as he put it, that ended, amazingly, both with takes place at the quadroon ball, where Caro­ a premiere at the Met and a broadcast on na­ line has arranged to meet her lover, who soon tional television. 44 arrives and dances with her. In the last scene, Hotchner wrote his scenario for Denham and here I quote Antheil, "the Creole girl [is] (whose sole piece of advice, "no cousins," beingvery decorously escorted home by her fi­ sounds suspiciously like Balanchine's injunc­ ance, never knowing that while she was danc­ tion against mothers-in-law). Denham for­ ing at the white ball, her boyfriend [was hav­ warded the script to Antheil, who then con­ ing] a wonderful time at the quadroon ball." tacted the writer, expressing his enthusiasm Although the ballet was never produced, for the project. A year later the score was fin­ Antheil composed a fair amount of music - ished, and Antheil played it for Denham, who about seventy pages worth. Some of itis in the wept and kissed him, told him it was beyond form ofvery rough pencil sketches, but a num­ anything he had expected, that it would open ber of pages are fairly clean, and include tem­ his next season at the Met. Then nothing. pi and other markings; some sections have Hotchner, a newcomer to the ballet world, reached the short-score stage, and there are was shocked. "Things are notconducted in the even a few instrumental parts written out, in­ ballet world as they are in the world of writing dicating that some parts of the ballet were and letters," Antheil remarked in a letter. close to their final form. Why the projectfailed "Writers think in terms of all sorts of rights, to materialize is unclear. The most likely ex­ firm contracts, legally binding papers. To step planation is Balanchine's departure from the from this world into the world of ballet, where Ballet Russe to join Lincoln Kirstein in found­ everything is done with mirrors and where no ing Ballet Society, which presented its first contract I have ever signed has ever protected program in November 1946. Without him the me an iota, is a big step."45 project was dead, although Antheil kept try­ Antheil himself was no slouch when it ing, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate it. 43 Final­ came to plotting and scheming. As Denham ly, in 1950, Denham approached him about a procrastinated, the script made the rounds projectthatdid materialize, although his com­ of Hollywood. At one point director Stanley pany would not produce it. This was Antheil' s Kramer was interested, then turned it down last ballet, Capital of the World. because John Huston had announced he was The idea was born over a sumptuous lunch doing a picture called Matador. There was in honor of Ernest Hemingway at a palazzo on talk of a ninety-minute television opera for Venice's Grand Canal. Somehow the discus­ Omnibus, the NBC series sponsored by the sion turned to ballet and Hemingway's short Ford Foundation that had already broadcast story "The Capital of the World," which has as Menotti's Amahl and theNight Visitors and Brit­ its climax a macabre scene in which two Span­ ten's Billy Budd, followed by an expanded ver­ ish boys, waiters in a pension for second-rate sion for Broadway. At some point Denham matadors, play bullfight with a chair that has drew up a contract, but with so many other

90 BALLET REVIEW irons in the fire, Antheil never signed it. In any event Denham was pretty much bankrupt. At Hotchner's urging, the composer wrote to Kirstein, now man­ aging director of City Center, in charge of all its constituents. Kirstein was not interested, either in the ballet or in An­ theil's new opera, Volpone. "We are not in a position to do any new works at this time," he responded.46 Yet in less than a month the Center would receive a $200,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation "to cover the costs of cre­ ative preparatory work on new produc­ tions in ballet and opera."47 Kirstein's real beef was Antheil's ac­ count of Balan chine in Bad Boy of Music. Howitmusthave galled him to read that working with Balanchine on his "Pari­ sian ballets" was what had "fulcrumed" the composer out of New York.48 Ever one to hold a grudge, Kirstein now wanted nothing to do with Antheil, dismissing him as late as the 1970S as an "enthusiastic if disappointing col­ laborator," who "hardly fulfilled his early heady notoriety."49 As a friend of The Capital of the World with Lupe Serrano and Roy Hotchner's reported, "Kirstein is much Fitzell, I953. (Photo: Fred Fehl) too peeved with you over your book to entertain the project in any size, shape or TV Workshop was underwriting the produc­ form."so tion. Antheil received $600 for his score and a With the New York City Ballet out of the royalty of $15 for each theater presentation of question, Hotchner sent the script to Ballet the ballet - not much, even at 1950S ratesY Theatre, which then forwarded it to Eugene And he agreed to provide two scores: one for Loring, who was now living in Los Angeles. a twenty-piece television orchestra, the other Antheil invited him to lunch and played him for the sixty-piece orchestra the company the sketches. Loring loved the music but felt would have at the Met.S3 Antheil's years of ex­ that extensive changes were needed for the perience in the movies, where composers had script to work as a balletY With Hotchner's to work fast, now stood him in good stead. permission, they set to work on the revisions. Capital of the World was a narrative ballet in The setting was moved from a pension to a tai­ the character tradition popularized by Mas­ lor shop catering to bullfighters. A love inter­ sine in Le Tricorne, Gatti Parisienne, and many est was introduced, along with a cafe scene. other ballets. Much of the action was conveyed Once Loring had agreed to choreograph the by pantomime, and much of the choreog­ ballet, everything fell into place: the Omnibus raphy was in Spanish style; there was also premiere in early December, the gala Met pre­ something of the faux primitivism of so many miere just after Christmas. In what was very Hemingway works, especially those set in possibly a ballet first, the Ford Foundation's Spain. Paco, the hero, dreams of being a bull-

FALL 2001 91 fighter; he is an idealist, chaste in his admira­ far more mixed. In DanceNews P.w. Manches­ tion for the coquettish Elena, kind to the ter complained that "Loring very rarely broke wrecks who visit the tailor shop to pawn the into straight choreography to tell what story precious suits they once wore in the bullring. there was ... and for the greater part of the The heartofthe balletisPaco's solo, a rare mo­ time kept his dancers strutting or tripping (ac­ mentof introspection; the shaming scene that cording to sex) about the stage, accompany­ follows where he is taunted by several whores; ing themselves with assorted groans, laughs, and the fight that ends in his death. Rather jeers, coughs, screams, or the whirring of a than a comic hero ala Massine, Loring gives hand-operated sewing machine."56 For Doris us a character with the innocence and soul­ Hering, writing in Dance Magazine, "the most fulness of the new movie heroes of the I950s, absorbing moments ... were those when the along with a fight scene that in its intensity pantomime blossomed into dance - as in the and in the physical closeness of the two men seduction duet ... and in Paco's touching so­ expresses a kind of perverse love. Roy Fitzell los." Like Manchester, she found the charac­ gave a glowing performance as Paco; Scott ters one-dimensional, "like bright figures in Douglas was a splendid Enrique, and Lupe a Spanish travel poster." 57 As for John Martin, Serrano was appropriately sexy as Elena.54 he hated it: "The original tale, ifitis to be made Virgil Thomson, long an admirer of An­ into a ballet at all, would demand the services theil's work, reviewed the score in his music of a psychological expert like Antony Tudor, column in the New York Herald Tribune. The who would not blanch at its sadistic under­ Capital ofthe World , hewrote, revealed the com­ tones. ButMr. Loring has treated it rather cute­ poser "as a master [of] the choreographic mu­ ly, and altogether for surface values. There is sical theater.... Rarely have I heard music for hardly a nickel's worth of dancing in it. It is dancing with so much real energy in it. Itis no diffuse, unchoreographic and undramatic, mere accompaniment for dancing: it gener­ except for outbursts of laughing, coughing, ates physical activity on the stage, moves the groaning (for real!). It suggests some old dancers around. Itis colorful, too, bright and silentmoviedirected, perhaps, by Massine."58 dark and full of the contrasts that are Spain. Martin had once admired Massine, just as Its tunes are broad and strong; its harmonic he had once admired the character tradition structure is clashingly dissonant; its orches­ from which Capital of the World descended tration is picturesque, emphatic, powerfully and to which it still partly belonged. But for underlined, a master's score. Martin, as for other New York critics, the "Everything about the music is boldly con­ spell of Balanchine coupled with the growing ceived and completely effective . . .. In this bal­ presence of his New York City Ballet made letAntheil has found scope for his talent. That it increasingly difficult to appreciate older talent has ever been for clowning, for carica­ choreographic styles. Like Esteban Frances, ture. And the art of the great caricaturists - of the ballet's designer, who gave up painting Hogarth and Goya and Daumier and Steinlen when abstract expressionism made surreal­ and Boardman Robinson - is an art always ism demode, Balanchine's formalism, his compacted of tenderness and anger, of joyful distillation of plot and character, emotion exuberance and implacable debunking; these and symbol into a dance shorn of everything qualities are in Antheil's music too. Never be­ but movement itself, made Loring's work fore, however, have they been so powerfully seem hopelessly old-fashioned - as well as used as in this ballet. ... Antheil's score for impure. Unlike a ballet by Balanchine or a Eugene Loring's choreography is the most painting by Jackson Pollock, Capital of the original, striking and powerful American bal­ World could not be understood merely in terms let score with which I am acquainted."55 of its form or as an interplay of abstract prop­ The response to Loring's choreographywas erties: it was a mixed bag. In these reviews,

BALLET REVIEW with their Greenbergian echoes, one finds an century's greatest choreographers along with early crystallization of the sensibility identi­ several lesser ones. He had played a part in fied with the critics who came to the fore in Balanchine's first American seasons and con­ New York during the 1960s. tributed to the first ballets he choreographed Capital of the World stayed in repertory for a in America. An enthusiastic collaborator, he couple of years. Not long after the ballet went wrote music that revealed not only a deep un­ on the road, Antheil wrote to his publisher that derstanding of theater but also an intuitive a new commission was in the offing, on a sub­ grasp of dance. Had he lived, George Antheil ject he "could do particularly we11."59 Like so would have celebrated his hundredth birth­ many of his projects, this one came to naught. day in 2000. Surely, the time is ripe for the Five years later he died of a heart attack and dance world to remember him, to rediscover was promptly forgotten by the dance world. his music, and even perchance to choreograph Yet he had worked with two of the twentieth- brave new works to it.

NOTES

1. George Antheil, Bad Boy of Music (Garden City, FrancescoMalipiero's 'SeptChansons' and Manuel N.Y.: Doubleday, 1945), p. 106. de Falla's 'EI Amor Brujo' (L'Amour Sorcier) .. . . 2. Ibid., p. 131. The settings for ['Sept Chansons'] and most of the 3. Ibid., p. 132. Unless otherwise noted, dates other Beriza ballets were done by Ladislaw and titles ofworks follow the catalogue ofAntheil's Medgyes, a Hungarian artist, who completed the music in Linda Whitesitt, The Life and Music ofGeorge harmony of the effect by staging the works him­ Antheil1900-1959 (AnnArbor: UMI Research Press, self" (Henrietta Malkiel, "Paris Modernists Rebel 1983). Against Outmoded Ballets," Musical America, July 4. George Antheil, letter to Mary Curtis Bok, 25,1925, p. 3)· quoted in Wayne D. Shirley, "Another American in 8. Whites itt, pp. 106-7. For Lincoln Kirstein's re­ Paris: George Antheil' s Correspondence with Mary lationship with Antheil in the mid-1930S, see be­ Curtis Bok," Quarterly Journal of the Library of Con­ low. gress, 34, no. 1 (January 1977), pp. 7-8. Mrs. Bok 9. Henry Gilfond, "George Antheil," Dance Ob­ helped to supportAntheil throughout the 1920S and server, April 1936, p. 38. See also Antheil's letters to much of the 1930s. Mary Curtis Bok, February I, 1930 (about Mediter­ 5. Antheil, Bad Boy, p. 133. rane) andsummerI928 (about Yeats) , in GeorgeAn­ 6. For a brief discussion of the film, which was theil Collection, Box I, Music Division, Library of released in 1924, see EricRhode,AHistory oftheCin­ Congress (hereafter Antheil Collection, MD-LC). ema from its Origins to 1970 (New York: Hill and 10. Ninette de Valois, Step by Step: The Formation of Wang, 1976), pp. 135-37. A print is in the collection an Establishment (London: W. H. Allen, 1977), p. 180. of the Museum of Modern Art. II. J. J. Hayes, "A Ballet at the Abbey," New York 7. Quoted in Shirley, p. 10. Marguerite Beriza, a Times, September 22,1929, sec. 9, p. 4. one-time prima donna of the Chicago and Boston 12. W.B. Yeats, "FightingtheWaves:Introduction," operas, sponsored some of the more interesting ex­ in Wheels and Buttqflies (New York: Macmillan, periments in lyric theater of the mid-1920S. Re­ 1935), p. 61. Antheil's music for the overture, Fand's viewing her 1925 season, Musical America's special dance, and Fand's final dance was published at the Paris correspondent wrote, "The work is often end of this volume. crude, for Paris theaters are not equipped for ex­ 13. Judith Simpson White, "William Yeats and the periment, but it is always vital. With a company of Dancer: A History of Yeats's Work with Dance The­ singers as well as dancers, Beriza has been able to atre," doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia, produce a series of ballets, operas bouffes and 1979, pp. 122-23. miniature operas, which were notonlynovelties but 14. Lehman Engel, This Bright Day (New York: successful ones. The outstandingworks of her sea­ Macmillan, 1974), pp. 49-50. son were two ballets to modern music which has 15. For Antheil's activities in this period, see already been acclaimed in Europe and America - George Antheil Scrapbooks, Music Division, New

FALL 2001 93 York Public Library for the Performing Arts (here­ R[alph] T[aylor], "Martha Graham," The Dance Ob­ after MD-NYPL). server, December 1934, p. 88. I6. This account is pieced together from reviews, 27. Antheil to Bok, January 8,1935. Antheil Col­ advance pieces, and the program of Helen Retires in lection, Box 2, MD-LC. Antheil first mentions the Music Clippings File (Antheil, George), MD­ Graham in a letter to Mrs. Bok written on Septem­ NYPL. For Elsa Findlay, see JosiLim6n: An Utiftnished ber 22, I934: "This season ... I shall have more new Memoir, ed. Lynn Garafola (Hanover, N.H.: Uni­ works upon the boards than almost any other versity Press of New England/Wesleyan University American composer. Martha Graham is presenting Press, I999), p. I54, n. I2; for Arthur Mahoney, see a rather large work of mine The Woman With 100 Dancer's Almanac and Who's Who 1940, ed. Ruth Heads, which I wrote last year in Europe, on No­ Eleanor Howard (New York, I940), p. 70. vember 8th. .. . She is known to be the very first ll· Gilfond, p. 39· American dancer, so this will be a rather important I8. George and Boske Antheil, letter to Doris event" (Antheil Collection, Box 2, MD-LC) . Humphrey, February 5,1932. Doris HumphreyCol­ 28. John Martin, "Two New Dances by Miss lection, Folder C324.3, Dance Division, The New Graham," NewYorkTimes, February II, 1935, p. IS. York Public Library for the Performing Arts (here­ The cast consisted of Graham (One in Red), Bon­ after DD-NYPL). nie Bird, Lil Liandre, May O'Donnell (Three in 19. Antheil to Humphrey, September II, 1933. Green), Dorothy Bird, Sophie Maslow (Two in Humphrey Collection, Folder C346.20, DD-NYPL. Blue), Lily Mehlman and Anna Sokolow (Two in 20. Antheil to Bok, February 25, I934, Antheil Red). The program and sundry clippings can be Collection, Box I, MD-LC. found in George Antheil Scrapbooks, MD-NYPL. 21. InalettertoMrs. BokwritteninApril, Antheil 29. John Martin, "American Ballet Opens Second claimed that the day after the reviews of Helen Re­ Bill," New York Times, March 6, I935, p. 23. tires had appeared, "the new American Ballet, rep­ 30. Pitts Sanborn, "New Items on Program of resented by Kirstein (editor of Hound and Horn), Ballet," in George Antheil Scrapbooks, MD-NYPL. Warburg (the financier of the new ballet), Balan­ 31. George Antheil, "Down-at-the-Heels Ballet," chine (its guiding spirit and artistic director), and Stage, March 1935, p. 49· Dimitrieff came up here in a body and commis­ 32. See, for example, DanielFawkes, "The Future sioned me to do a new ballet for them for produc­ of the American Ballet," Vanity Fair, May I934, p. tion this year." (Antheil to Bok, April 8, 1934. An­ 32; "AnAmericanBallet," Vanity Fair, Aprih935, pp. theil Collection, Box 2, MD-LC). 38-39 (with "snapshots in color" bySteichen); "The 22. Whether Antheil received anypaymentfor his American Ballet," Vanity Fair, January I936, pp. 52- efforts is unclear. He later claimed, with much bit­ 53 (with drawings by Dora Abrahams); Marya terness, that Warburg refused to pay the $400 com­ Mannes, "Season's Turn in Show-Life ," Vogue , Sep­ mission he was promised. See Antheil to Bok, June temberr, 1934, pp. 52-53;MaryaMannes, "Vogue's I7, 1934. Antheil Collection, Box 2, MD-LC. Spot-light," Vogue, FebruaryI5, I935, pp. 52-53, 90; 23. Antheil to Bok, April 8, 1934, Antheil Collec­ Marya Mannes, "Vogue's Spot-light, Vogue, April tion, Box 2, MD-LC. An orchestral work, Archipel­ I, I935, pp. 76-77, I22; "America Launches a Ballet ago premiered as "Rhumba" (its subtitle) on April Company," Town and Country , December IS, I934, 7, I935 by the General Motors Symphony Orches­ p. 31; "America On Its Toes: Balletomanes Revive a tra, conducted by Howard Barlow. Gay New-Old Art," Vanity Fair(?), September (?) 24. On the dayof the premiere, February 28,1934, 1935 [in George Antheil Scrapbooks, MD-NYPL]. Balanchine, Kirstein, and Warburg sent the fol­ Photographs ofBalan chine and unidentified mem­ lowing telegram to Antheil: "Homage and many bers of the American Balletwere featured in "Beat­ congratulations to our friend and collaborator" on's Scrapbook," Vogue, June I, I935, pp. 70-73. (George Antheil Papers, Columbia University 33 .JohnMartin, "The New American Company's [hereafter Antheil Papers, CUll. First Season Rated as a Success," New York Times, 25 . LincolnKirstein, Thirty Years: TheNewYorkCity March 10, 1935, sec. 8, p. 9. Marya Mannes spoke Ballet (New York: Knopf, 1978), p. 49. of this as well in her column for Vogue: "The Ballet 26. John Martin, "The Dance: Graham Again," audience was truly a concentration of all brilliant NewYorkTimes, November 25 , I934, sec. 9, p. 8. For chi-chi ; given over to hysterical applause, delighted a more detailed description of the dance, see gasping, and a startling lack of discrimination. It

94 BALLET REVIEW was apparently smart to laugh at the inept buf­ September 21, 1947, Denham Papers, DD-NYPL. fooneryof 'Alma Mater,' to clap every entrechat, and 44. The genesis of the project is described in A. to weep over the colours that Tchelitchew gave 'Er­ E. Hotchner, "Hemingway Ballet: Venice to Broad­ rante,' which were indeed exquisite and far superi­ way," New York Herald-Tribune, December 27, 1953, or to the composition itself. This same audience at sec. 4, p. 3· a peerless performance at the Radio City Music Hall 45. Ibid. would not have lifted a finger. In justice, though, 46. Kirstein to Antheil, March 5, 1953 , Antheil there were some in the audience who took the bal­ Papers, CU. The above account is pieced together let at its worth: as a group of charming and talent­ from Antheil's correspondence with Hotchner in ed youngsters working in a purely Russian con­ the Antheil Papers, Columbia University. This cor­ vention that could give considerable optical plea­ respondence includes not only Hotchner's letters sure, but that naturally needed time and fresh di­ but carbon copies of Antheil's frequent and volu­ rection to bring it to any real importance. Of Amer­ minous replies. ica, the only evidence is the directness and vitality 47. Grant authorization 5316, April I, 1953. of the dances, and that should be, above all, nour­ Rockefeller Foundation Collection, R.G. 1.2 (Pro­ ished. In one thing did the aesthetes and the sober­ jects), Series 200R (U.S./Humanities), Box 392, heads agree; William Dollar could be one of the Folder 3390, Rockefeller Archive Center, Pocanti­ leading dancers of to-day. But, as one critic point­ co Hills, N.Y. ed out the morning after the American Ballet 48. Antheil, Bad Boy, p. 277. opened, this wild applause of the fashionable is the 49. Kirstein, Thirty Years, p. 49. greatest danger that promising group can know" 50. Hotchner to Antheil, [early April 1953l . An­ ("Vogue's Spot-light," April I, 1935, p. 77). theil Papers, CU. 34. Antheil, Bad Boy, p. 277. 51. Antheil to Hotchner, Septemberr6, 1953. An­ 35. George Antheil, "Antheil 1937," in Martha theil Papers, CU. Graham: The Early Years, ed. Merle Armitage (Los An­ 52. Samuel Lurie to Antheil, November 10,1953. geles, 1937; rpt. New York: Da Capo, 1978), pp. 72, American Ballet Theatre (hereafter ABT) Records, 75-76. Folder 474, DD-NYPL. "Support for American bal­ 36. Antheil to Bok, [June 1937l. Antheil Collec­ let came from an unusual source recently when the tion, Box 2, MD-LC. At the time Antheil was living Ford Foundation's TV Workshop commissioned at 8163 Willow Glen Road in Hollywood. Ballet Theatre to create a new work. Ballet Theatre 37. A letter to Antheil from Sergei Denham dat­ responded with 'The Capital of the World,' devised ed May 21,1939, indicates that at some point a pro­ by Eugene Loring from a Hemingway story" jectwith the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo was in the ("Hemingway in Ballet," New York Times Magazine, offing, but that the composer had unaccountably December 27, 1953, p. 38). failed to pursue it (Sergei Denham: Records of the 53. Antheil to Lurie, November 19, 1953, ABT Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Folder 1389, Dance Records, Folder 74, DD-NYPL. Division, New York Public Library for the Perform­ 54. This description is based on the revised li­ ing Arts [cited hereafter as Denham Papers, DD­ bretto and two drafts of the television script (Eu­ NYPLl. gene Loring Papers, Folders 50, 53, and 54, DD­ 38. Virgil Thomson, "Music: Our Musical Tom NYPL) and a kinescope of the Omnibus telecast, Sawyer," New York Herald-Tribune, February 14,1944, which is also in the Dance Division. p.8. 55. Virgil Thomson, "Music and Musicians: In 39. Antheil to Denham, November 26,1944, Den­ the Theater," New York Herald-Tribune, January 3, ham Papers, Folder 1389, DD-NYPL. 1954, sec. 4, p. 5· 40. Balanchine to Antheil, September 13, 1945, 56. P. W. Manchester, "Season in Review: The Antheil Papers, CU. Ballet Theatre," Dance News, February 1954, p. 7. 41. Antheil to Denham, August 3,1946, Denham 57. Doris Hering, "Season in Review: Ballet The­ Papers, DD-NYPL. atre," DanceMagazine, February 1954, p. 74. 42. Both the scenario and the sketches are in 58. John Martin, "Ballet Theatre Gives Novel­ Folder 88, Antheil Papers, MD-NYPL. ties," New York Times, December 28, 1953, p. 15 . 43. See, for example, Antheil's letters to Den­ 59. Antheil to Samuel Weintraub, May 10, 1954, hamofDecemberr7, 1946, December 27,1946, and MD-NYPL.

FALL 2001 95