Name the dancers, the ballet, the occasion

[rg]

can you identify the dancers? the characters? the ballet? the choreography? the occasion?

the could be posed in a moment taken from the choreography of the ballet for which they are costumed, or just a fancy of the unidentified photographer's, or the dancers themselves.

this print has no captioning other than the word 'ballet' written on the back, but i have good idea about what's being shown, tho' i can't answer w/ any certainty if the pose is actually from the ballet's 'text' or not.

[bart]

I'll disqualify myself because I've seen this unforgettable photo before. They certainly went in for elaborate costuming in those days! Is that a blindfold she's wearing?

[Mel Johnson]

Haven't seen the pic before, but it sure looks like the costume for the Queen of Hearts in Balanchine's "Card Game", 1937, for the American Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House.

[rg]

i didn't think this would be a tough nut to crack,; indeed, this photo does document THE CARD PARTY.

the designs, include the wig on the Queen of Hearts, and what you see is not a blindfold but the roll of her pageboy hairstyle.

[bart]

Nancy Reynolds reproduces this photo on p. 51 of Reportory in Review. Full title: The Card Party: Ballet in Three Deals, first danced (at the Met) by Balanchine's American Ballet Ensemble on the same program as the premiere of Balanchine's Apollon Musagete. Costumes were by Irene Sharaff.

The photo depicts William Dollar as the Joker and Annabelle Lyon as the Queen of Hearts.

[rg]

thanks, i hadn't realized this was an illustration in REPERTORY AND REVIEW but now i do.

also i see a photographer's name, one not known to me before.

[Mel Johnson]

When Balanchine revived this work for NYCB, Todd Bolender was the Joker, and Janet Reed, the Queen of Hearts. Sharaff reworked the costumes, particularly in regard to proportion. Bolender was dressed much more like a traditional jester; Dollar must have been dangerous to be next to if he had to do any fast turns.

[bart]

Dollar must have been dangerous to be next to if he had to do any fast turns.

He had more than fast turns, apparently. According to Reynolds:

As the Joker, Dollar, who had acorbatic training, had a variation in which he did a roll-over onto his belly, slowlyl came up, then did pirouettes, bent back, and again rolled over.

His costume makes me think of something that Kurt Seligmann might have designed for The Four Temperaments -- if 4T's had a fifth section called "Fey and Manic."

[rg]

somewhere, i can't recall if it was in print or in paraphrase, Balanchine is reported to have hailed Dollar in Melancholic of THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS, as having been more or less incomparable: "like rubber" was the choreographer's complimentary comment on the originator of this part.

[rg]

a scan of a grouping from POKER GAME, as the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo was then billing THE CARD PARTY; the publicity photo was apparently run on Oct. 15, 1940 in a NY daily paper.

the caption from the paper reads:

"Ballet poker is more entertaining than accurate. Here the Joker pops up to help four aces beat four Queens (as though the aces needed him)."

wonder what sort of caption might be given such a photo in today's dailies, doubt it would read like this one.

apparently the Joker - now re-costumed (i prefer Dollar's for all its fly-away bits) - is Frederic Franklin.

the other dancers, are, according to my guesses since no one is identified on the photo itself, as follows:

N. Krassovska - Q of diamonds

A. Danilova - Q of spades (wonder if Balanchine was winking this casting in the direction of Tchaikovsky's opera?)

A. Markova - Q of hearts

M. Mladova - Q of clubs

I. Youskevitch - J of hearts

[atm711]

somewhere, i can't recall if it was in print or in paraphrase, Balanchine is reported to have hailed Dollar in Melancholic of THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS, as having been more or less incomparable: "like rubber" was the choreographer's complimentary comment on the originator of this part.

This is so true! I saw Dollar in the part at the first performance; he was like rubber; but at the time I attributed it to the fact that he was not as strong technically as other dancers -- and after seeing Bart Cook I held on to this opinion.