Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Frederic Franklin A Biography of the Ballet Star by Leslie Norton Frederic Franklin: A Biography of the Ballet Star by Leslie Norton. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Cloudflare Ray ID: 660f86a0bbf0dfef • Your IP : 116.202.236.252 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. Frederic Franklin: A Biography of the Ballet Star by Leslie Norton. Our systems have detected unusual traffic activity from your network. Please complete this reCAPTCHA to demonstrate that it's you making the requests and not a robot. If you are having trouble seeing or completing this challenge, this page may help. If you continue to experience issues, you can contact JSTOR support. Block Reference: #d0d0e280-cfb6-11eb-a668-0b26cff118b2 VID: #(null) IP: 116.202.236.252 Date and time: Thu, 17 Jun 2021 21:56:05 GMT. Frederic Franklin (1914-2013) A clip from the 2005 documentary Ballets Russes shows Frederic Franklin, as the Sultan in the ballet Scheherazade, leaping from the top of a staircase onto the stage. Despite the distance of his fall, Freddie executes a landing the envy of any gymnast or feline, springs to his feet, and continues cavorting gleefully. He never skips a beat and betrays no fear, exuding only joy. It is essential Freddie, compressed into an eight-second clip of film. This one-of-a-kind vitality and sincerity rendered him a beloved presence in the ballet world well past his ninth decade of life. Freddie helped carve out a place for dance in America, and for male dance in particular. I imagine him as a Johnny Appleseed of ballet, sowing its seeds wherever he ranged. Born in Liverpool, England, Freddie—like many of us—was the only boy in his ballet classes. As a teenager, he danced in London musicals and in Josephine Baker's Paris cabaret. He eventually joined Leonide Massine's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where he forged an iconic stage partnership with Alexandra Danilova. As danseur noble with the company, Freddie performed over 45 leading roles, and worked with legendary choreographers such as Massine, George Balanchine, Michel Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, Frederick Ashton, Ruth Page, and Agnes de Mille—who described her original Champion Roper (of Rodeo) as “strong as a mustang, as sudden, as direct, and as inexhaustible." When war erupted in Europe in 1939, Freddie and the Ballet Russe sailed for America. After navigating German naval mines for 14 days, their ship arrived in New York City, and that same evening the troupe performed to great ovations at the Metropolitan Opera House. In between New York seasons, they roamed the nation, presenting ballet to small-town crowds new to the art form. The company's glamour and growing fame soon swept it west to Hollywood, where several Ballet Russe dancers, including Freddie, starred in feature films. In addition to being a first-rate dancer and partner, Freddie was a ballet master, director, coach, choreographer, and artistic advisor. He and ballerina Mia Slavenska briefly formed the Slavenska-Franklin Ballet, a company that performed, among other repertoire, modern dancer Valerie Bettis' well-received adaptation of Tennessee Williams' “A Streetcar Named Desire." Freddie co-directed The Washington Ballet and helped found the short-lived but critically acclaimed National Ballet in Washington. He assisted young companies like Cincinnati Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, staging ballets and shaping their repertoires. He staged several Giselles, including a version for Dance Theatre of Harlem set in New Orleans. He recreated Fokine ballets such as Scheherazade and Polovtsian Dances, works otherwise rarely seen outside of Russia. He also staged American Ballet Theatre's current production of Coppélia. Freddie sparkled with energy, and until the age of 95, he appeared in character roles with ABT and other companies, often drawing lengthy applause from audiences that recognized him as the biggest star on any stage. His many honors, including a 1985 Dance Magazine Award and the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire, could not have come to a humbler artist. Behind Freddie's smiling blue eyes surged an expansive yet lucid memory. He witnessed the Great Depression, two world wars, the women's and civil rights movements, the Space Race, and the Cold War. And even in this era of iPhones and intergalactic telescopes, he seemed able to recall everything. (He indulged in a nightly Gatorade-and-vodka, and we wondered if that tasty potion, when fused with the molecules of his organism, synthesized into the Fountain of Youth.) Freddie was a rare artist and a bona-fide dance pioneer, but he was something still more impressive: a once-in-a-generation human being. He looked at life in a positive light, and could align others—at least momentarily—to this worldview with just a greeting, anecdote, or embrace. He could cheer a young dancer disappointed with a performance, compel the overly serious choreographer to smile, or elicit laughter from the most temperamental ballet star. Freddie's warmth could thaw even the coolest substance. Utterly devoted to William Ausman, his partner of 48 years, Freddie not only showed us how to dance and how to treat others; he showed us how to love, deeply. Although he has now taken the ultimate leap, his effect on those of us who knew him is indelible. In a way, this enlightened man fortified our faith in humanity, as one Freddie Franklin among us could balance out an army of inferiors. Yes, there is darkness in this world. Then again, our Freddie lived in it too. Sascha Radetsky, a soloist at ABT, was a principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet from 2008 to 2010. Franklin demonstrating the Bartender while staging Ruth Page's Frankie and Johnny for Cincinatti Ballet in 1980. Photo by Sandy Underwood, DM Archives. What is the Address for author Robert Franklin Leslie? Hi, Bob Leslie was my neighbor in the 1970's in Camarillo California. At that time he lived on Coe St. He suffered a stroke in the early 80's, and I lost touch with him. He and his wife, Lea, didn't have any children, but he had a nephew who came in to help once he had his stroke. I'm sure he moved from Camarillo after his stroke. He was in his 70's when I knew him, so it's possible that he is no longer with us. He was such an amazing man. Joi Hayden. Frederic Franklin, Inventive and Charismatic Ballet Star, Is Dead at 98. Frederic Franklin, a charismatic British-born dancer and ballet master who was known for his stylistic versatility and his inexhaustible energy — he performed into his 90s — died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 98. The death was confirmed by William Haywood Ausman, Mr. Franklin’s partner of 48 years. Mr. Franklin also lived in Manhattan. Known in the dance world as Freddie, Mr. Franklin had a genial but magnetic stage personality that made him popular everywhere he performed. His repertory ranged from the Prince in “Swan Lake” to a cowboy in “Rodeo” and Stanley Kowalski in a choreographic version of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” As a principal dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Mr. Franklin was often paired with the Russian ballerina Alexandra Danilova to form one of the great partnerships of 20th-century ballet. When he first met her, he once recalled, she warned, “Young man, if you are going to dance with me, you must learn where my curves are.” He did. They danced together in many works, including “Swan Lake” and “Coppélia,” and were especially popular for their effervescence in two comedies by Léonide Massine, “Le Beau Danube” and “Gaîté Parisienne.” Major choreographers like Massine and George Balanchine recognized Mr. Franklin as a quick learner with a sharp mind and theatrical flair. They created leading roles for him in ballets like Massine’s “Seventh Symphony” and “Rouge et Noir” and Balanchine’s “Danses Concertantes.” The stage was a second home for him, and he never really stopped performing. In his later years he portrayed mime roles like Friar Laurence in “Romeo and Juliet,” the Witch in “La Sylphide,” the Tutor in “Swan Lake” and the Charlatan in “Petrouchka” — all to warm applause. Mr. Franklin founded the National Ballet of Washington with Jean M. Riddell in 1962 and directed it until it disbanded in 1974. He also served as an adviser to Dance Theater of Harlem, the Oakland Ballet, the Tulsa Ballet and other companies. In his book “Looking at the Dance” (1949), the critic Edwin Denby wrote that Mr. Franklin’s dancing “always makes perfect sense; like a true artist, he is completely at the service of the role he takes, and his straight delight in dancing, his forthright presence and openhearted nature give his version of the great classic roles a lyric grace that is fresh and sweet.” In her book “Dance to the Piper” (1952), Agnes de Mille described him as “strong as a mustang, as sudden, as direct and as inexhaustible.” Born in Liverpool, England, on June 13, 1914, Mr. Franklin was the oldest of three children of Fred Franklin, a caterer, and the former Mabel Brown. By his account, his interest in the theater began when his parents took him, at age 4, to see a production of “Peter Pan”; when he came home he stood on his bed and tried to fly. He studied dance and acting with local teachers, becoming proficient in tap as well as classical ballet. At 17, determined to make a life in show business, he set off for London with money raised by his mother and grandmother. In London, he lived in a cold-water flat as he went from one theatrical agency to another. “This handsome lad had eyes of sapphire blue, golden hair, and a skin of milk-and-roses,” Leslie Norton wrote, with Mr. Franklin, in “Frederic Franklin: A Biography of the Ballet Star” (2007). “He was altogether the round-cheek English choirboy.” Although ballet was his great love, there were few opportunities for British ballet dancers when he was young, so he performed in musical comedies and joined a tap-dance act called the Lancashire Lads. In Paris, the group, under the name the Jackson Boys, performed in a revue with Josephine Baker at the famed Casino de Paris music hall. He was also in a supper club dance team with Wendy Toye, who became a successful musical comedy choreographer and director. All the while, he sought out ballet teachers. In 1935, Mr. Franklin joined the Markova-Dolin Ballet, a British company, and was soon considered a young dancer worth watching. Among those who saw him was Massine, who hired him for a new company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. He remained with the company until financial troubles forced it to disband temporarily in 1951, but rejoined in 1954 and stayed until 1957. When the Ballet Russe was temporarily inoperative, Mr. Franklin and Mia Slavenska, a ballerina with the company, formed a small touring group, the Slavenska-Franklin Ballet, with a varied repertory that ranged from “Nutcracker” excerpts to Valerie Bettis’s sizzling adaptation of the Tennessee Williams’s “Streetcar Named Desire,” with Slavenska as Blanche DuBois to Mr. Franklin’s Stanley. Mr. Franklin occasionally choreographed ballets of his own. The most durable was “Tribute,” created for the Ballet Russe in 1961. He won special acclaim for his revivals, which were notable for both their choreographic accuracy and their theatrical vividness. For Dance Theater of Harlem, his staging brought fresh life to “Schéhérazade,” Michel Fokine’s 1910 drama about unfaithful harem wives. Mr. Franklin altered none of the traditional steps; instead, he invested them with fresh dramatic motivation. He also preserved the traditional steps for the company’s “Giselle.” Yet by changing the setting of this 1841 classic from the German Rhineland to the Louisiana bayous, he encouraged his cast to dance with unusual emotional intensity. The recipient of many awards for lifetime achievement, he was named a Commander of the British Empire in 2004. He had a phenomenal memory, able to recall minute details of works that had not been performed in decades, and it served him well as he became increasingly in demand to stage of revivals. In 2002, the Cincinnati Art Museum presented an exhibition of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo scenery and costume designs, and as part of the festivities the Cincinnati Ballet offered a program supervised by Mr. Franklin. It included long-unseen works from the Ballet Russe repertory, among them excerpts from Frederick Ashton’s witty “Devil’s Holiday” and a movement from Massine’s “Seventh Symphony,” a monumental depiction of the creation of the world. Two years later, Mr. Franklin and Johanna Bernstein Wilt, the Cincinnati company’s ballet mistress, staged three movements of that ballet aided by bits of notation, archival films and Mr. Franklin’s memory. In addition to Mr. Ausman, Mr. Franklin is survived by a brother, John; a niece, Pamela Hayes Brookfield; and his nephews, John, Tim and Peter Franklin and Neil Hayes. Although Mr. Franklin enjoyed the bursts of applause for his performances late in life, he also seemed surprised by them. When, at 86, he entered the stage as Friar Laurence in a Ballet Theater production of “Romeo and Juliet” in New York, he received “such a lovely lot of applause that the ballet flew out of my head,” he told The Guardian. “I could only remember that I was supposed to kneel down,” he added, “so I just knelt and waited until Romeo came and got me up.”