It’s a Saturday night sometime in the mid-1960s. A young mother and her four children sit before the black and white television. Supplied with popcorn and Kool-Aid, they are ready to watch the upcoming movie. It’s an exciting time, these nights when Dad’s at work, and Mom and the kids gather together in the dark, anticipating something new and wondrous. Tonight, the movie is a musical. Musicals are Mom’s favorite, and so too are they beloved by the oldest daughter.
She might be eight; she might be ten. Whatever her age, she has experienced musical movies all her life — from The Music Man to Yankee Doodle Dandy; State Fair to Oklahoma. She is not prepared, however, for tonight’s show. This one’s different — this one is full of the Devil, baseball, and, most importantly, the sexy dance stylings of Gwen Verdon. Tonight, the movie is a 1958 film adaptation of the Faustian Broadway hit, Damn Yankees — and when Gwen as “Lola” sings, Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets, you know Lola’s gonna get it! No one who can dance like that could be refused…
The healing powers of dance
The dancer and actress who has remained burned in my memory as the delightful Devil’s minion, Lola, suffered from a crippling illness as a child. Some reports conclude that it was rickets, which is a Vitamin D deficiency. Most biographers claim that she had suffered a bout with polio, which was prevalent during that time.
Gwen’s legs were bent and twisted, she was knock-kneed and pigeon-toed, and she limped. She had to wear orthopedic boots and leg braces in order to walk. Other children, cruel as they can be, called her “gimpy.”
Gwenyth Evelyn Verdon was born on January 16, 1925. She was the only child in a “show biz” family who emigrated from England. Her father Joseph worked at MGM Studios as an electrician, doing lighting for films like the Tarzan series. Her mother Gertrude was a dancer and veteran of vaudeville. With a background like that, it was inevitable that her mother would look into dance as a therapeutic device.
Gwen began dancing at the age of three. Ballet began to strengthen her legs and improve her carriage. In three short years, Gwen was performing — as a tap dancer! She studied many types of dance and excelled in ballroom dance, Balinese dance, flamenco, and jazz. To top it all off, she studied juggling to bring something new and interesting to her performances.
It seems likely that no one would have believed that this little red-haired girl with the twisted walk could ever become a talented dancer. If Gwen ever felt bad that the children called her names, she certainly had the proverbial last laugh.
“I never thought my dances sexy. I suppose that’s because I see myself with my face washed, and to me I look like a rabbit.” ~ Gwen Verdon
From single mom to Broadway star
When she was a teen, Gwen studied under a ballet master named Ernest Belcher. While she was still a high school student, Gwen was cast in a version of Show Boat, but like many youngsters, she didn’t finish the job. As teenage girls will often do, she eloped at age seventeen with an older tabloid reporter named James Henaghan. After just five years, Gwen was a divorcee with a child. She left her son Jimmy with her parents and went off in pursuit of a show business career.
In the 1940s Gwen began her career in Los Angeles nightclubs and landed some minor dancing roles in films. Those early films credited her as Gwyneth Verdon. After these small parts, choreographer and “temperamental genius” Jack Cole hired Gwen as his assistant.
While working for Cole, Gwen taught dance techniques to actresses like Lana Turner and Betty Grable for their roles in various films. She even taught Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell for the iconic film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Eventually, Cole decided to cast Gwen in a show called Alive and Kicking. Gwen hoped it was her big dance break. Sadly, the show was a flop. Disappointed, she resigned herself to being a dance teacher and single mother.
In 1953, another chance to perform came when choreographer Michael Kidd offered her a part in the Cole Porter musical Can Can. This was the show Gwen was waiting for! It was her shining debut on the road to becoming a legendary Broadway star. Her performance earned her the first of four Tony Awards. She would go on to receive Tonys for her work in Damn Yankees, New Girl in Town, and Redhead. All of these plays were choreographed by a talented man by the name of Bob Fosse.
The Broadway version of Damn Yankees ran 1, 019 performances. In the film version, Verdon and Fosse danced together to the snappy Who’s Got the Pain? This was the dance number that made young me sit up and take notice. Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse worked so well together that many in the industry came to refer to Gwen as “Fosse’s muse.” The two collaborated in the 1966 Broadway show Sweet Charity, which became a cult favorite, and was later made into a film with another great dancer, Shirley MacLaine, as Charity.
The dancing threesome
Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse worked so well together that they were married in 1960. It was her second marriage and his third. They had one daughter together. Fosse, however, was a chain-smoking womanizer, and the two were legally separated in 1975.
In spite of the separation, they remained “One of Broadway’s greatest partnerships,” and continued to work closely together. They collaborated on the original Broadway version of Chicago, which Gwen starred in as 20-year-old Roxie Hart, a murderess. She was 50 at the time. They also worked together on the musical Dancin’ as well as Fosse’s semi-autobiographical film, All That Jazz.
Even though they were legally separated, Gwen and Bob remained married until Fosse’s death. Fosse’s live-in mistress, Ann Reinking, was a dancer who Gwen worked closely with on various projects. Gwen and Ann built an unlikely friendship based on mutual respect and admiration. At one point, Gwen even taught Ann’s musical theatre classes.
While Gwen was not Bob’s live-in wife after 1975, she was the one who joined him to attend the opening of the 1987 revival of Sweet Charity. As they made their way toward the theatre, Bob suffered a fatal heart attack. Despite whatever differences they encountered as a married couple, they remained “One of Broadway’s greatest partnerships” until the end, for it was in Gwen Verdon’s arms that Bob Fosse passed away.
The night the lights went out on Broadway
After Fosse’s death, Gwen continued to work in film and television, earning three Emmy nominations. She was the Artistic Director and consultant for Fosse: A Celebration In Dance And Song, which opened in January of 1999. She provided advice for several Fosse/Verdon show revivals, taught theatre dance to the Beijing Ballet Company in the People’s Republic of China, and continued to teach dance and musical theatre through 1999. She earned multiple Lifetime Achievement Awards from the industry, and in 1998 she won the National Medal of Arts.
Two years later, on October 18, 2000, at the age of 75, Gwen Verdon died in her sleep of natural causes. She was visiting her daughter, dancer Nicole Fosse Greiner, in Woodstock, New York.
Verdon’s dance style was affected by her early years in leg braces. Her style was her own and was copied by Fosse and others. Her hip swivels were both unique and provocative. Small movements, wrist flicks and head snaps, tiny gestures, or a slightly jutting hip when performed by Gwen Verdon could convey huge emotion. It was something she and Bob Fosse had in common — subtleties of movement that wrested emotional response from the audience.
Few dancers have the ability to fill in a moment of stillness with as much feeling as did Gwen Verdon. She was a multi-talented woman who had the respect of her peers and the love of her fans. Gwen was famous for her sexy dance style, her comedic timing, and her level of professionalism. She overcame adversity to become one of America’s most beloved Broadway stars. Her work continues to inspire dancers everywhere.
On the day Gwen Verdon died, the lights on Broadway were dimmed in her honor.
Resources
Some of these sources were retrieved in about 2003, when I wrote the first version of this story for my Jazz Dance class. Many of them may no longer exist.
Damn Yankees, 1958. Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen. Warner Brothers, Hollywood, CA.
Nota Bene: I recently watched Damn Yankees, and my admiration for the talents of Gwen Verdon was re-awakened. I remembered the paper I had written for my Jazz Dance class at Arizona State University. This article is an enhanced and reorganized version of that paper.
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