118 replies to this topic

[Tanny]

I spoke with Tanny at NYCB many times, also during performances at the Met when the Kirov visited. My best friend got Tanny (and her friend) tickets to see The Lion King, a b'way show she said she wanted very much to see. Heard that she loved it.

At NYCB this season, there is a most beautiful picture of Tanny in Nutcracker, the Dewdrop role. I saw it while I was at the theater last night. She certainly was gorgeous and very photogenic.

Hello sz, I am so glad to know you had spoken with my second cousin, Tanny and thrilled my heart to hear. How long have you known her? Are they still showing the picture of Tanny in theater in N.Y.C.? Actually, I am from Mobile, AL and I am hard of hearing (almost deaf) all my life. I would love to hear more about her the whole times you were with her. Please keep in touch. Thank you. Your best regards, Tanaquil

[Tanny]

I didn't know she does crossword puzzle constructor for the New York Times, do you have it?

No. It was from the 1970s or '80s. I ran a search on Amazon.com (results here) and within them was one of Le Clercq's puzzles, here. If you sign in, you can go to the puzzle on pg. 62.

While I am here, let me add that this board has a strict policy forbidding trading of videos. While trading photos is not explicitly banned, if they are items of value, the same principle would apply. I can only second bart's suggestion that you run an image search on your cousin's name.

Okay, thank you, Carbro.

[Tanny]

I spoke with Tanny at NYCB many times, also during performances at the Met when the Kirov visited. My best friend got Tanny (and her friend) tickets to see The Lion King, a b'way show she said she wanted very much to see. Heard that she loved it.

At NYCB this season, there is a most beautiful picture of Tanny in Nutcracker, the Dewdrop role. I saw it while I was at the theater last night. She certainly was gorgeous and very photogenic.

Hello sz, I am so glad to know you had spoken with my second cousin, Tanny and thrilled my heart to hear. How long have you known her? Are they still showing the picture of Tanny in theater in N.Y.C.? Actually, I am from Mobile, AL and I am hard of hearing (almost deaf) all my life. I would love to hear more about her the whole times you were with her. Please keep in touch. Thank you. Your best regards, Tanaquil

Dear sz, I am back here now. I just spoke with my son on the phone and he asked me a lot of questions about Tanaquil. I told him about the ballet talk, he really wants his daughter to get involve with ballet and the lord of the dance. I am thinking about taking them to NYC this coming summer if he have a big break on first week of July, we would like to tour the NYC Ballet to learn about our cousin. Is there a possible for you to meet us and talk with us about how wonderful Tanaquil was. We would love to hear from you. You can email me anytime. Thank you, Tanaquil

[lorenzoverlaine]

Here's a non-balletic, possible connection to Tanaquil L. that I found lately while researching an artist/poet of interest to me.

In the October, 1925 issue of the poetry magazine, Measure, are several by a Jacques LeClercq, who, in a footnote, is said also to have written under the name, Paul Tanaquil. The web says her father, Jacques, was "an intellectual," and I wonder if the poet was her dad. What do you think?

L.V.

[Tanny]

Here's a non-balletic, possible connection to Tanaquil L. that I found lately while researching an artist/poet of interest to me.

In the October, 1925 issue of the poetry magazine, Measure, are several by a Jacques LeClercq, who, in a footnote, is said also to have written under the name, Paul Tanaquil. The web says her father, Jacques, was "an intellectual," and I wonder if the poet was her dad. What do you think?

L.V.

Hello Lorenzo, I am surprise you have an issue of October 1925 poetry magazine. Yes, Jacques LeClercq was her real father. I would love to read his poetry, if you have time. Please keep in touch. Thank you.

[lorenzoverlaine]

I know her dad was named "Jacques," but can we be certain it's the same guy? The date makes that feasible, but I don't know anything conclusive; do you?
UNFORTUNATELY, I had the volumes via interlibrary loan and sent them back the other day! However, the I.L.L. librarian that found them for me is a good email chum, and I'm sure she can rustle up that issue again. If they come electronically, would it be outside the scope of ballettalk to post his poems here? If that's not acceptable, I could send them to whatever email or postal address you like. We're not talking about a lot of bytes. I'll make the loan request as soon as I quit here.

L.V.

[LiLing]

Tanny, and anyone else who might not have seen it, the documentary Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About, recently shown on PBS, has some wonderful footage of Tanaquil. It is coming out on DVD, and can be ordered through Amazon. (There is a link in the Robbins thread under The Heads Up forum.)

[carbro]

If they come electronically, would it be outside the scope of ballettalk to post his poems here?

No, I think many readers (self included) would welcome a link on this thread to Mr. LeClercq's poem(s).

Thanks, Lorenzo.

[lorenzoverlaine]

I emailed my librarian friend, but I believe it's Spring vacation at that university. She's VERY capable, though, and it's just a matter of time until I post them here.
Best wishes,

L.V.

[leonid]

Here's a non-balletic, possible connection to Tanaquil L. that I found lately while researching an artist/poet of interest to me.

In the October, 1925 issue of the poetry magazine, Measure, are several by a Jacques LeClercq, who, in a footnote, is said also to have written under the name, Paul Tanaquil. The web says her father, Jacques, was "an intellectual," and I wonder if the poet was her dad. What do you think?

L.V.

Hello Lorenzo, I am surprise you have an issue of October 1925 poetry magazine. Yes, Jacques LeClercq was her real father. I would love to read his poetry, if you have time. Please keep in touch. Thank you.

Jaques Le Clerc was I know, a well known translator of famous poems by French, German and Greek poets.

But himself a poet,
I did not know,
But in recall,
It must be so.

[lorenzoverlaine]

Dear friends,

My wonderful librarian found a Paul Tanaquil poem, but it was different from the one I remembered, so she’s retrieving that one, too, and I’ll post it when it comes.

I’d hoped to include the pdf images of the mag cover, title page, etc., but I don’t see how to do that here, so I’m just typing the text. This was on p. 10 of The Measure, A Journal of Poetry, number 47, January, 1925.

“Over a Dead Poet

There was in him no factual trace of sin,
Here was a child, a subtly wayward one at that,
Lacking all sense of appropriate discipline,
Loving color and contour, despising the dull, the flat.

If he were forced at times to be cruelly clever,
He wrapped his sword-point in lint lest blood fall on the ground,
He was both too strong and too weak completely to sever
Evil from good, he was too versatile to be profound.

He never wore dirty collars by choice nor adopted loud socks,
He loathed the arid sham, the melancholy middle-class tie,
Here was no daring aphorism, no disturbing paradox,
R.I.P. Life did rather well in letting him die.
Paul Tanaquil”


In the Contributors section, there is this;

“ ‘Paul Tanaquil’ has recently returned from Europe to teach in the department of Romance Languages at Columbia University.”

The fact that the journal put the name in quotes shows that it recognized this as a nom de plume.

Hope this is interesting, Tanny and others.

Happy weekend,

L.V.

[leonid]

Jacques George Clemenceau Le Clercq, American Poet and Translator(1898 – 19720) wrote poetry under the name of Paul Tanaquil.

If you check out Amazon there are two books of poems of his available and if you don’t mind downloading a whole book of poems, you can at
http://www.archive.o...dlrich_djvu.txt

[lorenzoverlaine]

Here is the other Le Clercq poem from Measure, October, 1925, p.6.

HENRY
In his compositions he sought
The bizarre. How very banal
His present decomposition!

ROBERT
He insulted God
Nor ever forgave God
For forgiving him. God!

CLAUDIA
She was no poetess,
But Sappho alone
Could aptly mourn
Claudia’s passing.

EUGENE
Dead? Nonsense!
He sailed to Paradise
To study mystic technic
From the Holy Ghost.

GORDON
Tread softly: here is the bigamist!
Ghosts of three fat women
Haunt his dreams.

PHILIP
Eminently methodic,
Dependable, regular –
Suddenly your heart stopped,
But your watch went tic-tic …

VIOLET
She loved to dance,
She hated to dance
With me. Let her dance
Now.

Jacques Le Clercq
(“Paul Tanaquil”)


In the Contributors section is this. “Paul Tanaquil, as most of us know well, is one of the more interesting of the young poets, who can write either with lyrical music or with satiric brevity. What most of us did not know, however, is that “Paul Tanaquil” was a pen name for Jacques Le Clercq.”

[carbro]

A friend recently sent me this link. It's not well organized -- you'd be hard pressed to create a halfway accurate timeline from the essay -- and I wonder about some of the facts, but I'm just passing it on, as some of the nuggets, for whatever they're worth, are interesting.

[chiapuris]

carbro, anyone who can write about Le Clercq (as has Barry Katz):

"…..a long-limbed grace, …musicality, and a certain comic, witty streak that lept off the stage to engage audiences…" has written something right and true.

I remember her as such in Metamorphoses.