Gwen Verdon: A Life on Stage and Screen (19 page)

She herself felt that the high point of doing the show was going home at night because it was so exhausting. She didn’t know it when she was on stage but by the end of the evening she was just dead.
Redhead
may have been the most difficult show to perform in terms of acting, singing and dancing, but she was thirty-five when that opened. Verdon found that there was a big difference between what her body could do at thirty-five and what it could do at forty-one. It must not have escaped her notice that many of the chorus dancers were teenage girls, which made her feel even older. Perhaps by comparing herself to these girls, she felt obsolescent. Verdon was also afraid that the show would be her last, and once commented to a reporter backstage that she hoped that all the fuses would blow so that she wouldn’t have to perform.

She made her first of six guest appearances on NBC’s
The Merv Griffin Show
on an episode broadcast on March 29, 1966. On April 3, 1966, in New York, Verdon appeared as the mystery guest on the episode of
What’s My Line?
which was broadcast on May 15. On April 4, the
New York Times
reported that Verdon had asked the owners of the Palace that the 301 seats in the unused gallery be made available at no charge to servicemen and drama and dance students. Joe Nederlander reported that he was all for it and that the seat covers would be removed and that section of the house would be spruced up so that arrangements could be made by the next week. On April 5, Verdon rode an elephant called Sweet Charity. It was part of the benefit held at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Madison Square Garden to help the French Hospital.

On April 17, 1966, the
New York Times
reported that it would be Chita Rivera and not Verdon who would be taking the show to London. A date was not given for the opening though rehearsals were set to take place in December 1966 or January 1967 depending on the availability of Fosse. On April 29, 1966, Verdon was to attend the Bedside Network of the Veterans Hospital Radio and Television Guild’s 18th anniversary ball at the Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom. (She was one of the vice chairman of the ball.) The proceeds were to help the network continue to bring leading professional entertainers to Veterans Administration hospitals. Verdon also helped to arrange a benefit gala on June 8, 1966, at the Society of Illustrators with proceeds going to the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health. Sponsored by the women’s division of the Center, it would include a discotheque, buffet and an exhibition of contemporary illustrations. On July 31, 1966, Verdon was honored by the dance teachers’ organization, the Dance Masters of America, at the teachers’ annual ball at the Statler Hilton Hotel. She received a plaque in recognition of her contribution to the art of the dance.

Verdon was a guest on the NBC
Late Show
hosted by Sammy Davis, Jr., which was broadcast on August 5, 1966. On August 17 she was a guest of host Bob Newhart on the show. The
New York Times
reported on August 29 that Verdon made her second guest appearance on
The Merv Griffin Show
. However, according to other sources, the same guest stars actually appeared on the show on July 20, 1967. There is a clip on YouTube of Verdon on the show with Adam West and Burt Ward being interviewed about
Batman
, and it is dated September 1, 1966. Verdon says that the
Batman
television series is educational for children and cites the examples of how they look before crossing the road and clean their teeth. She is wearing a white lace dress with spaghetti straps and a white ribbon in her hair.

On September 25, 1966, Verdon modelled a white crepe Geoffrey Beene dress with big ruffles around the neck for a fashion show ballet produced by the American Ballet Theatre Company and the Fashion Designers of America. The event was held at the St. James Theatre. The proceeds were applied to the matching fund grant made to the Ballet Theatre in 1965 by the National Council of the Arts and were to be used for increased salaries for the company and a new four-act production of
Swan Lake
.

Verdon returned to
The Ed Sullivan Show
for her second appearance, which was broadcast on October 2, 1966. Sullivan says in his introduction that down through the years he has aged considerably trying to lasso her for his show. In the show she performs “I’m a Brass Band” and with the Company dancers. The number begins in a filmic way with an extreme closeup of Verdon’s face so that we can see her powder-blue eyes. It then cuts to a long shot of her in spotlight. She wears the Charity signature black dress covered with a blue coat with pink interior lining, black high boots, and a black ribbon in her hair. Lights come up on a set which has a blue backlight and an archway with a banner which reads “Charity Is in Love” with the wording surrounded by colored heart shapes. Verdon removes the coat which she throws around as she sings before tossing it off-stage. She is joined by the male dancers and the backlighting changes to orange. Verdon claps her hands and the sound of a cymbal is heard and the music changes to a faster tempo. She is joined at different times by two dancers, or four, or all the dancers, as they appear behind her and follow her around as she dances. The dancers also sing the song to Verdon, and the number ends with her being handed back her blue coat and a suitcase by hands off-stage. The orange lighting changes back to the blue and she holds the coat over her shoulder. Verdon then presents the suitcase which has “Almost Married” written on it on the edge of the stage, which she hides behind as she finishes singing the song.

Verdon was back on
The Merv Griffin Show
on October 13, 1966. On November 13 she was one of the entertainers at the annual dinner dance of the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association at the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria. Besides research into Tay-Sachs and other diseases, the agency supported a 17-bed children’s ward at the Brooklyn Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital. On December 2 she was on the dance committee for the Champagne Supper at the Rainbow Room arranged in aid of hemophiliacs. She returned to
The Merv Griffin Show
on November 22.

Fosse said that it was when he went to California to work on the film version of
Sweet Charity
that the marriage to Verdon became strained. His alleged philandering was one thing, presumably something she could tolerate while he remained based in New York, even when he was required to go out of town for show tryouts. But Fosse said that when he wanted to work away, that things changed. No doubt the strain increased when it was decided that Verdon was not be cast in the film.

Joseph E. Levine had purchased the film rights to
Sweet Charity
following its stage premiere. It was to be produced by Universal Studios, where the head man Lew Wasserman wanted Shirley MacLaine to play the title role. Fosse wanted Verdon for the film and rallied for her. It was reported in Bernard F. Dick’s book,
City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures
that Verdon was originally considered for the film with Jack Lemmon playing Oscar to ensure a box office name. However, this idea was vetoed by Universal who wanted MacLaine because of her box office value. She had just made the successful comic crime thriller
Gambit
(1966) for Universal. She was also known as a musical-comedy star because of the film version of
Can-Can
though that film had been a box office flop. The issue of age also presumably came into play. Although Charity’s age in the stage show was not made specific, MacLaine was nine years younger than Verdon. And perhaps George Abbott’s refusal to give Verdon closeups in the film of
Damn Yankees
was weighed against the idea that MacLaine was considered more camera-friendly. Wasserman set Ross Hunter to oversee the new film and MacLaine was signed. It was she who asked for Fosse to direct (the actress claimed that Wasserman didn’t know who he was). MacLaine also claimed that Verdon didn’t wish to play the part. Fosse did not get along with Hunter, who wanted to change the look of the show and sanitize the character of Charity. An example was that he didn’t want her to say “Up yours.” MacLaine supported Fosse and convinced Wasserman to let Hunter go. He was replaced by Robert Arthur.

Fosse wanted Verdon to work on the film. He asked her how she felt about MacLaine’s casting, and his wife told him that it was fine. This was perhaps Verdon’s greatest test of generosity, and she supported Fosse because she felt that the property was one that he had instigated. The film could only be made with a successful movie star, which Verdon knew she wasn’t. She also knew that if Fosse passed on the film because of Verdon, that someone else would do it. She agreed to join her husband in Hollywood after the show closed on Broadway on July 15, 1967.

Verdon was on the dance committee for a champagne supper dance and midnight auction held at the Rainbow Room on December 2, 1966, to benefit the National Hemophilia Foundation. She returned for her third
Ed Sullivan Show
appearance (March 5 1967). Verdon performed “If My Friends Could See Me Now” with James Luisi from
Sweet Charity
. She plays the scene with Vittorio Vidal that leads to the song, wearing the Charity black dress, stockings and black shoes. The set is Vittorio’s bedroom. Verdon’s singing is interrupted by the two exits and entrances of Vittorio as he brings her his popping top hat and cane. She scores a laugh by straightening up the bed when he returns and catches her jumping on it. At the end of the song, Vittorio (Luisi) returns and kisses Verdon’s hand.

On April 14, 1967, she attended the 19th Anniversary Ball for Bedside Network at the New York Hilton Hotel. She was co-chairman of the dinner dance. On June 22 she underwent emergency surgery for a cyst at the New York Hospital, which ended her run in
Sweet Charity
on stage. It was reported in the
New York Times
on October 13, 1968, that Verdon had turned down the title role in the Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ play
The Seven Descents of Myrtle
to be with Fosse in California. Myrtle was a sometime prostitute and former showgirl, who has recently married a tubercular neurotic youth who is an impotent transvestite overly attached to the memory of his late mother. She dwells in a fantasy world of romantic illusions and takes up with her husband’s multi-racial half-brother. Williams had suggested Verdon for the part; it would have been her straight play debut. But producer David Merrick could not wait for her to become free, and Estelle Parsons was cast instead. The play, directed by Jose Quintero, opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 27, 1968, and ran for only twenty-nine performances.

Rehearsals had begun with MacLaine in the fall of 1967 in advance of Verdon’s arrival. Fosse worked with Sonja Haney as his assistant. Verdon brought Nicole with her to California and joined Fosse in a rented house in Westwood, close to the ocean that they loved. Although the couple was sharing a home, Fosse was seen at the Universal Studios commissary with a girlfriend. Verdon was said to have been a distant presence when she attended rehearsals, hovering without meddling, like a mother at a school dance. Occasionally she would do barre work in an empty studio by herself. Verdon could also be seen whispering in Fosse’s ear.

Some were surprised at how she could keep up such a congenial attitude under the circumstances. John McMartin, who was retained for the part of Oscar for the film, said that he felt Verdon’s heart must have been broken over MacLaine’s casting. The moves were her moves, but he found her stoic. Chita Rivera, who was cast as Nickie, commented that the fact that Verdon was there at all blew her away, but dancers do what they have to do. Verdon did it for Jack Cole and for Fosse, and Rivera sensed no resentment coming from her. Verdon just did the job. That was her point of view in work and in love. Lee Roy Reams, another member of the stage show cast in the film, commented that it was horrid to watch Verdon showing MacLaine the choreography. He felt that MacLaine was wonderful but after seeing Verdon do it, anything else was an imitation. Others may have thought that being Fosse’s dramaturge and ubiquitous assistant was a sad and selfless position for her to take but she thought it was a good deal for her, considering the alternative.

One evening Richard Kiley and his wife Pat Ferrier came to dinner. Ferrier had danced with Verdon in
Damn Yankees
and
Redhead
, and Verdon confessed to her friend her fears of growing older. She admitted that it wasn’t age or death that worried her as much as the idea of her dancing coming to an end. Verdon had sacrificed her career somewhat by going into semi-retirement to have Nicole, and now the biological clock was running out on her. She felt that she had passed her peak now just as Fosse was reaching his. Naturally the situation was complicated by the fact of Verdon being his wife, but she also saw herself as the guardian of his style, its oldest representative and its most expert practitioner. She knew more about Fosse’s work than anyone else and was an unbeatable back catalogue for him, which made her essential even after her body gave out. He used Verdon with Haney to watch the dancers so that he was freed up to focus on the camera.

Verdon taught all Charity’s routines to MacLaine. They became very good friends. According to MacLaine, it wasn’t in Verdon’s nature to be competitive; she attributed this to the idea that dancers were a special breed. MacLaine said that among the things that Verdon taught her were secrets of how to balance steps with breaths, and tricks with hats. However Fosse said that it was MacLaine’s idea to add a hat trick from “Steam Heat” to “If My Friends Could See Me Now” that wasn’t in the original choreography. This was evidence that MacLaine was not just to be a carbon copy of Verdon’s performance. MacLaine said that Verdon also brought her several photos of people she thought the screen character should look like. Verdon’s contribution to the film also included dubbing the dances of Sammy Davis, Jr. With his gold jewelry hung on her, she shook to get the sound of all those chains. She said this was done to save money.