Mel Johnson

We should be on the lookout for Gresham's Law of Ballet here: Merely acceptable ideas tend to drive out great ideas. The plethora of Swan Lakes serve as examples.

But it's worth considering that in the early 20s, Italian meant Cecchetti straight from the Old Man Himself, and French meant Leo Staats. Not the same things anymore, anywhere.

What he seems to be doing is profil perdu the hard way, with the head angled upstage and slightly back. You lose the eyes because of the painted-on domino mask.

ANCIENT URBAN LEGEND OF BALLET DEPT.: They feared that taking a cold or cool drink might produce "water heaves" from the shock of the cool fluid hitting the hot tissue. Largely nonsense.

It is never stated, either in the ballet's libretto, or the original Perrault tale, but it must have had something to do with wisdom. A tradition of Russian baby- and childhood is to be given a birthday party where the baby or child is lain or seated under a lilac bush. In Russian tradition, the lilac is a symbol for wisdom.

Nana, it's involved with some 50 separate states, but in NY, for example, the State may be entitled to an inheritance tax if the estate is over a certain amount, somewhere around £350,000 right now, if I'm not mistaken. Other states don't have any inheritance tax. It's as if Duchy of Norfolk, for example, had an inheritance tax as well as the Crown (for those who decided to die in said Duchy). I love the creative accounting used in appraising the value of the ballets!

Nana, most US States and the Federal government have a similar setup, as most of our law is inherited from the English system, with the exception of Louisiana, where the framework is the Code Napoléon.

Not as off-topic as you might think, Nana. The Taras/Cage "Symphony in C" is a similar complication. In one case, I was seeking a particular piece of personal property which had been given to a Colonel. In my research, I found that he had willed it to another officer, but that was a case where all the people in the will had been Killed In Action at the Battle of Gettysburg, PA (or at least had died as a consequence thereof in hospital shortly thereafter). The will was interesting, in that the court ordered that two living witnesses had to make positive identification of each signature to the will and supply exemplars for comparison. It made for a lot of witnesses, but in the course of research, I discovered that the presentation of the object had not been made to the Colonel, but instead to the State of New York, so it was never his anyway, but I found it. It was a flag, and its staff was clearly marked by the donor that it was given to the regiment, not the Colonel personally. I arranged for the flag to be returned to state custody and sent immediately to a textile conservation laboratory , to save it from any further deterioration. All parties involved were well satisfied with the resolution.

One reason why a "centralized entity" is counseled, but not actually required, in American wills is the access to that entity by a surrogate or other court having jurisdiction over the estate. They also like, but again, do not require, that witnesses live within about 50 miles of one another, for the same reason. I found this out when making my own first will (at age 23!) when I was in the Air Force. Later on, as a researcher, I found several examples of that system breaking down completely in military members' wills when all those named in the wills, testators, executors, witnesses, and beneficiaries all died within days of one another. Now, THERE would have been some interesting cases to watch going through probate!

Bookman's Price Index is a good reference found in many libraries, and gives prices for recent sales of many different kinds of books, with autograph copies usually leading the prices.

As I understand it, from Lavinia Williams, who was a member of the First Negro Ballet Company in 1937, he came to the US in the twenties, and never went back. The Nazis had negligible power during the mid-20s, thanks to the Beer Hall Putsch, when their leaders were all thrown in jail, including Hitler, and from about 1927-1933, when they took nearly total power, they were of only middling status. They couldn't have forced Austrians back into Austria, even if they wanted!

Did von Grona have any contact with post-1933 Germany? He returned to Germany shortly before he died, but I think that was it! Once he left, he was gone!

And then there's the Monogram 1934 Girl of the Limberlost, where the music Elnora plays on her violin is....

There was a Harry Asmus back in the Victor Herbert era (190xs-191xs), but I believe he was a comedian. Anyway, this young man looks VERY young, and I was never confident of the 1934 proposed birthyear for Asmus the dancer. It would have made him 12 when he came into Show Boat. He would have been 15 when Jackie Gleason's revue Along Fifth Avenue opened, and he was assistant stage manager for that, AND danced "I Love Love in New York" with Marian Horosko. Additionally, there's some strange re-naming that went on with the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. The original El Capitan was a legitimate theater venue in the movie capital, but it foundered in 1941 and became a Paramount property and was renamed. El Capitan went to another theater which eventually became a TV studio. Much of a puzzlement.

You're right, I confused the 1901 Swan with the 1902 Don Q. Probably the 1920 Swan entered into my confusion as well. Incidentally, the Don Q was where Petipa said, "Will somebody tell that young feller I ain't dead yet?"

For the six swans version of the four swans and the three big swans version of the two big swans, see Alexander Gorsky's 1902 staging of the ballet, et seq.

In biology, we see it a lot. Parallel development quite aside from environment. The octopus' eye is vey like the human eye, but they have traveled independently from the original phototropic spot on Euglenoids, for example. Ballet, one side of the socialist/capitalist line or the other, will display quite the same characteristics as people develop, but theory proves insufficent to explain it all.

Excellent sleuthing, rg. Ellison-White was a Chautauqua booking agency which also toured opera companies and road shows of Broadway musicals. (see Recollections of the Chautauqua and Lyceum Circuits, Raymond F. DaBoll). Oregon was part of its territory. J.K. Gill was a significant stationers' chain in the whole northwest, but its flagship store was in Portland. (It folded in 1999) Preponderance of the evidence....

A thought about the no-Vaganova program note - Mordkin would have known Gorski personally, but Vaganova was a good three generations removed from "his crowd". He wouldn't have known much about her work, he having left Russia permanently after the October Revolution. It may simply be a case of "mention your friends, you never know when they might need work."

How very sad. Condolences to his friends and family. May he have eternal rest, May light everlasting shine upon him.

Nonetheless, a hopeful sign that they're holding "Sylvia" in reserve, able to "go up" with minimum tsouris. Jack, I'd like to see them pull off "Valse-Fantasie", and still more I'd like them to do "Valse-Scherzo", if they have a proper Diana Adams cognate. But, Jack, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" isn't German. It's Yiddish, and by Sholom Secunda, one of the most prolific composers of the Yiddish tradition of the Lower East Side!

"Sylvia", though, is good to see, and shows a slightly earlier take on the grand pas de deux form by Balanchine. Glad it's not being lost.

And I can recall her in "Faun" back at City Center, with Robert Maiorano, of all people. This casting had the fingerprints of Robbins himself all over it.

They all, left and right alike, also do it to achieve a favorable balance come tax time.

Jermaine, this board doesn't do homework either.