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I managed to locate two clips of Villella dancing on TV shows--one is on You Tube dated 1969, when he danced for three minutes on the Perry Como Christmas show (type in Perry Commo and Hollywood Palace). The other is when he danced on The Odd Couple in 1973, fourth season, second episode, entitled, "Last Tango in Newark." The segment is not on You Tube but part of the DVD set of the comedy series.

Otherwise, we must make do with our memories.

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Thanks, garybruce. Here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6vjoxIdPfs

It's a wonderful segment, and even better -- I think -- if you replay it without the smaaltzy music (which has little do to with the choreography, anyway). I love Villella's opening: the handsome closeup followed by his graceful hand-miming of "dance." You definitely get a sense of VIllella's stage presence and charisma, qualities which grew over time. One of the things I remember is the way which, once he matured, he could hold your eye even when standing still and looking with concentration at his partner. It's one of the qualities which made him a much better Siegfried than people who never saw him in these roles might think.

:flowers: It was good to see even a clip of Kukla and Ollie at the beginning of the segment. Also -- PLEASE! -- stick around at the end for the Bacchus After-Shave commercial. First I thought it was some sort of Monty Python take-off. WAS there such a product? And was there ever a real ad campaign like this? :yahoo:

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White Star, a secondary label of Kultur Video released the following videocassete around 1994: A Trip To Christmas - The Bell Telephone Hour.

amazon has some VHS copies currently from secondary vendors as both 'new' and 'used' cassettes - on this 47 min. holiday progam, Villella and Violette Verdy dance an Ivanov-esque version of the pas de deux from THE NUTCRACKER - if mem. serves this video has been mentioned on BT before.

meanwhile here are 3 publicity stills from Villella's tv appearances.

the color one of Harlequin is captioned "CBS FESTIVAL OF THE LIVELY ARTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, Wednesday, April 10,1974, 3:30 - 4:30 PM, CNYT"

the black and white photo of Villella in the same costume w/ an unidentified dancer is uncaptioned.

the jocular quartet is captioned as shown and dates, as indicated, from '71.

post-848-1217514620_thumb.jpg

post-848-1217514628_thumb.jpg

post-848-1217514638_thumb.jpg

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White Star, a secondary label of Kultur Video released the following videocassete around 1994: A Trip To Christmas - The Bell Telephone Hour.

amazon has some VHS copies currently from secondary vendors as both 'new' and 'used' cassettes - on this 47 min. holiday progam, Villella and Violette Verdy dance an Ivanov-esque version of the pas de deux from THE NUTCRACKER - if mem. serves this video has been mentioned on BT before.

Thanks, rg!

garybruce, there is also "Man Who Dances," a 1968 television special, but as far as I can tell it's not available for sale.

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Villella is quite adamant that he does not want his videos to be released, ever. What's more frustrating is that he mentions a bunch of performances he danced in and/or produced on television. He won an Emmy for Harlequin, and I believe was producer for "Dance in America" for several years. If you ever see the "Midsummer's Night Dream" and watch his scherzo, you'll see that his privacy is our loss. His elevation, ballon, and almost Bournonville-like batterie (watch those entrechats!) reminds me almost of Yuri Soloviev, although they were obviously very different dancers temperamentally and with different training.

Villella also, incredibly, took 4 yrs off to go to college before finally joining the NYCB. By 1958 he was a soloist, by 1960 he was principal.

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i am in your debt Mme. Hermine - your post led me to search the NYPL dance cat. for possible credits for a '74 harlequin film w/ villella and VOILA here are the credits, and Wright's name! (there's no telling how closely villella might have kept to what balanchine arranged for him to do in HARLEQUINADE.)

Harlequin - A patchwork of love 1974.(50 min.) : sd., b&w.

Telecast by WCBS-TV on the CBS Lively Festival of the Arts for Young People, April 10, 1974. A Prodigal Production produced and directed by Gardner Compton.

Choreographed especially for television using various special effects.

Choreography: Edward Villella. Music: Gordon Lowe Harrell. Costumes: Lare Schultz. Lighting: Barne Stewart. Cast: Edward Villella (Harlequin), Rebecca Wright (Columbine), Dermot Burke (Scaramouche), Kay Hawtrey (Mother), with the corps de ballet from the National Ballet School of Canada.

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Villella is quite adamant that he does not want his videos to be released, ever.

That's interesting. Has he said why?

What's more frustrating is that he mentions a bunch of performances he danced in and/or produced on television. He won an Emmy for Harlequin, and I believe was producer for "Dance in America" for several years.

He introduced the Balanchine ballets on "Dance in America" with scripts written, if I'm not mistaken, by Arlene Croce.

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yes, EV did read the introductions written by Croce to set up the CHOREOGARPHY BY BALANCHINE (DANCE IN AMERICA) series, none of which were included in the commercial releases of the programs, which is why any number of videophiles with off-the-air copies hung onto those cassettes as well as acquiring the subsequently marketed tapes and discs.

i don't know that EV has ever fully explained his reasons for keeping video images of him off the market, etc.

as many have remarked, his refusal to allow anything of him included in the 1984, 2-part Balanchine video biography makes it seem as if he played no part in the history of Balanchine's ballet.

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on a related note regarding Villella and Verdy, if mem. serves someone on BT recalled a pirate? vid./film of RUBIES with EV and VV. i hadn't ever heard of this casting in the history of JEWELS but had no way to say for certain that it hadn't sometime taken place. when VV was at the walter reade over the weekend for a screening of VIOLETTE ET MR. B, i took the opportunity to ask her if she'd ever danced RUBIES (w/ EV or anyone else for that matter) and she said, no, she hadn't.

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i don't know that EV has ever fully explained his reasons for keeping video images of him off the market, etc.

So does that mean that any dancer can do that? I asked in the other thread what the legalities are, because I would not have thought that any performers of any kind would have the power to control the evolution of their television appearances. It does seem unfair to the other dancers, unless they don't want them shown either, but I would have thought production people would have the power on these matters. Thanks in advance.

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as many have remarked, his refusal to allow anything of him included in the 1984, 2-part Balanchine video biography makes it seem as if he played no part in the history of Balanchine's ballet.

Ironic, considering that if Balanchine ever had a male "muse," it was Villella, in the sense that Balanchine created many ballets catered to Villella's specific talents. But you'd never know it from any of the commercially released Balanchine.

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regarding the legalities, i'm no expert, but i do know from past experiences with ballet videos, that the participant in any video/film entity that doesn't already have future release rights in place needs to sign-off on any further use, etc. and when these individuals choose not to sign, as one gathers suzanne farrell did w/ her appearance in the ALLEGRO BRILLANTE or as patricia mcbride did w/ respect to her performance in the RUBIES pdd(both originally part of CHOREOGRAPHY BY BALANCHINE programs), then further release is not possible.

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It’s his right. Considering the poor quality of some of those old television tapes, I can understand his feelings. Sometimes the camera does lie. Perhaps he would prefer his dancing be remembered as it was onstage at his best, and in contemporary accounts.

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It can't be bad quality in all cases, because he went to the Walter Reade and let a more-then-usually select audience see it anyway. It certainly seems if it can be shown in a theater, re-mastered, it could be shown in a DVD, and canbelto has already said how good he looks in MND, so maybe he'll make exception for this one. But even the theater showing goes back to 2004. Someone did mention it might go to DVD, but I don't know if Villella's desire to suppress all of these means this one can't either. I wonder how this Little Drummer Boy one managed to sneak through, though. I can't imagine he wanted that, and with that easily available, the policy is a pretty strange sort of vanity--because even that one is worth looking at, and yet as a number, it couldn't be more corny. I'm sure many of the others are not.

Mel, do you know anything further about this (that isn't too insider) beyond what rg has told us?

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It can't be bad quality in all cases, because he went to the Walter Reade and let a more-then-usually select audience see it anyway. It certainly seems if it can be shown in a theater, re-mastered, it could be shown in a DVD, and canbelto has already said how good he looks in MND, so maybe he'll make exception for this one. But even the theater showing goes back to 2004. Someone did mention it might go to DVD, but I don't know if Villella's desire to suppress all of these means this one can't either. I wonder how this Little Drummer Boy one managed to sneak through, though. I can't imagine he wanted that, and with that easily available, the policy is a pretty strange sort of vanity--because even that one is worth looking at, and yet as a number, it couldn't be more corny. I'm sure many of the others are not.

Not just the Little Drummer Boy but the segment from The Odd Couple, which I'll see this week when I receive Year Four of the comedy series (the episode is called Last Tango in Newark). If memory serves, he does a solo lasting 3-5 minutes.

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It can't be bad quality in all cases, because he went to the Walter Reade and let a more-then-usually select audience see it anyway. It certainly seems if it can be shown in a theater, re-mastered, it could be shown in a DVD, and canbelto has already said how good he looks in MND, so maybe he'll make exception for this one.

He's great in Man Who Dances too, and he obviously allowed himself to be filmed for that. So 'tis a puzzlement.

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He's great in Man Who Dances too, and he obviously allowed himself to be filmed for that. So 'tis a puzzlement.

Thanks for mentioning this, I just found that NPYL has one single old VHS left, and so I will be able to watch this. I'm looking forward to finally seeing him in Rubies, even if just in excerpts.

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there is also this film, noted below in the NYPL cat. which was shown once or twice on tv, but certainly not lately:

Ballet with Edward Villella 1970. 27 min. sd. color.

(Introduction to the performing arts).

Written and narrated by Edward Villella. Choreography: George Balanchine.

Summary: An introduction to ballet, demonstrated by Edward Villella, Patricia McBride and other artists of the New York City Ballet.

PARTIAL CONTENTS.--Tchaikovsky pas de deux excerpt, Villella and McBride.--Pantomimic scene from Act II of Giselle, Villella as Albrecht; music by Adolphe Adam.--Solo from Apollo, Villella; music by Igor Stravinsky.--Excerpt from the Rubies section of Jewels, McBride, Villella, and artists of the New York City Ballet; music by Igor Stravinsky.

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there is also this film, noted below in the NYPL cat. which was shown once or twice on tv, but certainly not lately:

Ballet with Edward Villella 1970. 27 min. sd. color.

(Introduction to the performing arts).

Written and narrated by Edward Villella. Choreography: George Balanchine.

Summary: An introduction to ballet, demonstrated by Edward Villella, Patricia McBride and other artists of the New York City Ballet.

PARTIAL CONTENTS.--Tchaikovsky pas de deux excerpt, Villella and McBride.--Pantomimic scene from Act II of Giselle, Villella as Albrecht; music by Adolphe Adam.--Solo from Apollo, Villella; music by Igor Stravinsky.--Excerpt from the Rubies section of Jewels, McBride, Villella, and artists of the New York City Ballet; music by Igor Stravinsky.

Aha, that got my hopes up, but the copies aren't reservable. Maybe eBay has it, I can have it watched there if not.

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i've not known any copy of BALLET WITH EDWARD VILLELLA to ever be on the market, so it's doubtful anything will be on ebay, etc.

i'm unclear on what 'reserable' means to the NYPL dance coll. procedures.

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i've not known any copy of BALLET WITH EDWARD VILLELLA to ever be on the market, so it's doubtful anything will be on ebay, etc.

i'm unclear on what 'reserable' means to the NYPL dance coll. procedures.

rg--are you talking about the reference and special Lincoln Center collections? I just was talking about general circulation that I can look up on 'LEO', and that said they had 2 copies Reservable Copies 0. Oh, now I looked back and it is not even a vhs, this one, but rather 2 film reels, which I guess you can go over there and watch, but they're not circulating, as I had thought on just quickly looking at first. Man Who Dances does have one circulating copy.

No, here is what it looks like:

Performing Arts Library - Circulating Collections Y M16 1142 B LPA Young Adult Film 2nd Floor Reserve Film & Video Collection 16MM Film Transfer/Rotation

Performing Arts Library - Circulating Collections Y M16 1142 B LPA Young Adult Film 2nd Floor Reserve Film & Video Collection 16MM Film Transfer/Rotation

So circulating, but for schools or going over there, etc.

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