TitleInterview with Patricia Bowman, part 3 of 3
NamesBowman, Patricia (Interviewee)Veljkovic, Morag (Interviewer)
CollectionDance Audio Archive
Dates / OriginDate Created: 1979-01
Library locationsJerome Robbins Dance DivisionShelf locator: *MGZTO 7-522
TopicsChase, Lucia, 1897-1986Bowman, PatriciaLichine, DavidAmerican Ballet TheatreFille mal gardée (Choreographic work : Nijinska)Dying swan (Choreographic work : Fokine)Lady into fox (Choreographic work : Howard)Quintet (Choreographic work : Dolin)Dance in motion pictures, television, etc
GenresOral historiesInterviews
NotesContent: Title supplied by cataloger.Venue: Recorded by Morag Veljkovic January, 1979 Las Vegas (Nev.)Funding: The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Physical DescriptionAudiotape reelExtent: 6 audiotape reels (approximately 3 hr., 55 min.) : polyester; quarter-track; 7.5 ips; 7 in.Sound quality is good overall. Streaming files 1 and 4 are marred by "tape hiss."
DescriptionInterview with Patricia Bowman conducted by Morag Veljkovic for the oral history project of the Allied Arts Council, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in January, 1979, Part 3. Part 1 (November, 1978) and Part 2 (November 1978 - December 1978) are cataloged separately.
Streaming audio file 1 (approximately 41 minutes). Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about the reasons she was unhappy at Ballet Theatre [now American Ballet Theatre]; her return to the nightclub circuit; other ballet dancers including Vera Zorina and Lubov Roudenko, who also danced on the theater and nightclub circuit; her frequent change of agents during this period; [Bowman reads aloud from a review of her performance at the Copacabana nightclub]; Bowman speaks about her appearance, with Jacques Cartier, in a musical production of Cinderella; ballet shoes and the shape of her feet; performing at the [Belmond] Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); other performers from the United States performing in Rio de Janeiro at the time including Jack Cole; the outbreak of World War II [ends abruptly but continues on streaming audio file 2].
Streaming audio file 2 (approximately 54 minutes). Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about dancing in the President's birthday ball benefit performances, in 1938; her impressions of Eleanor Roosevelt; more on Ballet Theatre and Lucia Chase, including Mikhail Mordkin's exclusion in effect from the new company; the engagement of various choreographers including Michel Fokine, Eugene Loring, Bronislava Nijinska, Anton Dolin, Agnes de Mille, and Adolf Bolm; other principal dancers; the company's initial policy of last-minute casting and stirring up rivalry among the dancers; her experience with Nijinska's La fille mal gardée; Andrée Howard's Lady into fox; her impressions of Antony Tudor, Hugh Laing, and Eugene Loring; Anton Dolin as a partner; Nana Gollner; her memories of Nijinska; Agnes de Mille and her talent for comedy; Nora Kaye; Bowman's unhappiness with and resignation from the company; Anton Dolin's ballet Quintet including an opening night anecdote about Lucia Chase; Michel Fokine's The dying swan as danced by Maya Plisetskaya and (very briefly) Galina Ulanova; those aspects of the choreography Bowman found difficult to learn; Fokine's apparent lack of influence at Ballet Theatre.
Streaming audio file 3 (approximately 13 minutes). [Begins abruptly.] Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about the outbreak of World War II while on tour in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and their early return, by boat, to the United States [ends abruptly].
Streaming audio file 4 (approximately 39 minutes). Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about the great divide between ballet and modern dance in the 1940s and 1950s; her experience dancing in the musical Rhapsody including her partner George Zoritch; the elaborate sets and costumes; an anecdote about Barbara Karinska and her costume (for David Lichine's ballet within the musical); David Lichine, as a choreographer and as a director; problems with the show including several anecdotes; its short run in spite of the favorable audience reception; performing on the same program as Gypsy Rose Lee in Miami (Florida) including the censoring of the show; (briefly) Jack Cole; her work in opera-ballet including a poorly-received acrobatic dance in Aida choreographed by Ruth Page; how she came by her nickname, the Harp, at the Chicago Lyric Opera; her regular appearances at the Muni (St. Louis Municipal Opera); why she never had her own company [ends abruptly but continues on streaming audio file 5; the final approximate minute of this streaming file is reiterated in the first approximate first minute of streaming file 5].
Streaming audio file 5 (approximately 14 minutes). Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about the reasons she never started her own company; her impressions of George Balanchine; her work in television including The Patricia Bowman Show [in 1951, on CBS]; her decision to open her own school; teaching.
Streaming audio file 6 (approximately 45 minutes). Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about public recognition including several anecdotes; the 1953 show The Hippodrome of 1954; Michel Fokine's The dying swan as danced by Maya Plisetskaya and Galina Ulanova; dancers in the United States today including as compared with Russian dancers; reminiscences of some of her performances; the circumstances of how she came to marry Abbott Kaye and move to Las Vegas (Nevada); her thoughts on dance today including George Balanchine, American Ballet Theatre, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. [Interview ends at approximately 43:28 followed, beginning at approximately 43:30, Bowman's closing remarks and music.].
Type of ResourceSound recording
LanguagesEnglish
IdentifiersRLIN/OCLC: 999819847NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b21311339Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 3ce070f0-c7ff-0135-5c38-065b8ad39d63
Rights StatementThe copyright and related rights status of this item has been reviewed by The New York Public Library, but we were unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the item. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
Item timeline of events
-
-
-
-
