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The Making of Markova

~ A biography by Tina Sutton

The Making of Markova

Tag Archives: Rudolf Nureyev

The Television-ary Markova

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Tina Sutton in Uncategorized

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Albrecht, Alicia Markova, BBC, Ed Sullivan, Eric Johns, Erik Bruhn, Giselle, Harry Selfridge, Imogene Coca, James Starbuck, John Logie Baird, Les Sylphides, Margot Fonteyn, Max Liebman, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Rudolf Nureyev, Sid Caesar, The Dying Swan, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, TV pioneer, Woody Allen, Your Show of Shows

Markova rehearsing with choreographer James Starbuck for Your Show of Shows, 1953

Markova rehearsing with choreographer James Starbuck for Your Show of Shows, 1953

Sadly, the groundbreaking comedian Sid Caesar passed away last month. Reading the many tributes that followed, I was reminded of the fun I had in learning all about Alicia Markova’s appearances on Caesar’s must-see 1950s television variety program, Your Show of Shows, with Imogene Coca. Markova working with slapstick comedians – on TV? Yes indeed.

Comedienne Imogene Coca's ballet  parodies were a stitch.

Comedienne Imogene Coca’s ballet parodies were a stitch.

It was in 1952 when the program’s innovative producer Max Liebman approached “New York’s favorite ballerina,” as the papers called her. The already world-famous Markova was being wooed by many TV luminaries, including Ed Sullivan. But Your Show of Shows had one major advantage: their resident choreographer started his career in ballet. So in addition to staging weekly popular dance numbers, James Starbuck also parodied classical ballets dancing with Imogene Coca. Rather than poke fun at Markova’s beloved art, those skits actually engendered interest in ballet – hence Liebman’s invitation.

Markova was as elegant off-stage as on. Her hosting a comedy-variety show was inspired television.

Markova was as elegant off-stage as on. Her hosting a comedy-variety show was inspired television.

But Liebman had bigger plans for Markova than just dancing. From The Making of Markova:

Why not have Alicia Markova guest-host the show? No one had ever heard her speak! Audiences surely would assume Markova was Russian. Her clipped British accent would be the first surprise. And a ballerina delivering lines written by funnymen/show writers Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen? Intriguing to say the least. Liebman had a surprise coming himself. He had no idea Markova was blessed with such a phenomenal memory. After the dress rehearsal, she was able to deliver all of her lines without cue cards. And the show was live.

Markova performed Les Sylphides for an audience of 30,000,000!

Markova performed Les Sylphides for an audience of 30,000,000!

For her dance number, Markova chose the dreamy classical pas de deux from Les Sylphides and asked show choreographer James Starbuck to partner her. Though he was thrilled at the offer, NBC censors were a bit nervous. How would a man in tights play across America? As Dance Magazine later reported, “We presume Starbuck’s substitution of trousers for the white tights of ‘Sylphides’ was a concession to male America’s intolerance toward the accoutrements of classical ballet. (And don’t think he doesn’t know what he’s up against. Just visualize the audience – farmhands in North Dakota, miners in West Virginia, cowboys in Colorado – getting a view of the ‘Sylphides’ pas de deux for the first time!)”

Markova's televised Dying Swan brought tears to viewers eyes.

Markova’s televised Dying Swan brought tears to viewers eyes.

The magazine was wrong. Markova and Les Syplides were a huge hit in Middle America – so huge, in fact, that she was invited back throughout the season to dance other ballets. The lively snowflake scene from The Nutcracker was a natural choice for a popular comedy/musical program, but Markova’s achingly moving Dying Swan caught viewers off guard. Commented one newspaper, Starbuck’s “imaginative production of ‘The Dying Swan’ faded out on a close-up of the final convulsive flutter of Markova’s exquisite hands, a shot which brought tears to the eyes of many viewers.” . . .

“Fan mail poured in by the thousands,” reported one newspaper. Another added, Markova’s Your Show of Shows “fan mail was so huge, a special room was given over to it.” The charming and soft-spoken British ballerina was now an American sweetheart, and her instant – and widespread – popularity didn’t go unnoticed by other television networks.” 

CBS gave Markova her own series in 1953: thirteen 15-minute programs that combined her exquisite dancing with background information on each ballet explained by way of entertaining stories and anecdotes. Markova was clearly telegenic.

Television pioneers in the '50s. Markova had them beat by two decades!

Television pioneers in the ’50s. Markova had them beat by two decades!

In today’s fractured world of endless programming options, it’s hard to imagine a weekly audience of 30,000,000 viewers! As the New York Times reported in Sid Caesar’s obituary, “from 1950 to 1954, he and his co-stars on the live 90-minute comedy-variety extravaganza ‘Your Show of Shows’ dominated the Saturday night viewing habits of millions of Americans. In New York, a group of Broadway theater owners tried to persuade NBC to switch the show to the middle of the week because, they said, it was ruining their Saturday business.” And from another Times piece, “Mr. Caesar was part of a group of men and women, few of them left now, who tend to have the phrase ‘TV pioneer’ attached to their names.”

TV studios were so small in 1932 that Markova had to choose ballets like the polka in Facade with little side to side movement.

TV studios were so small in 1932 that Markova had to choose ballets like Facade’s polka with little side to side movement.

Amazingly, Markova was also a TV pioneer, and two decades before Caesar and Coca! In 1932, the 21-year-old British ballet star became the first ballerina – and one of the first performers – ever to appear on the small screen. Both experimental and rudimentary, the newfangled “mass” medium was looked down upon by the high-toned ballet world, but Markova thought differently. She immediately recognized the power of television to reach new audiences, and literally jumped at the chance to work with Scotsman inventor John Logie Baird as he perfected his “televisor” transmissions in London. (The Baird television website is truly fascinating.) I recounted the story of how Baird and Markova made television history together in a former post you might find interesting. (Hint: the wildly promotional retailer Harry Selfridge was involved.) Markova’s early experience in the workings of television and camera angles for dance later became invaluable in America where she was asked to consult to the up-and-coming major networks

As British dance writer Eric Johns described Markova’s pioneering television efforts: “Way, way back in the almost prehistoric early thirties and the days of low definition experimental television, the flickering screens revealed the graceful figure of a dancer, one of the really great names in ballet – Alicia Markova. . . . If an international award were instituted for the most televised ballerina in the world, it would be won outright by Alicia Markova. Her pioneering has done so much to make the art of ballet, previously considered too high-brow for the masses, one of the most popular features of present day television programmes.

Markova became so associated with TV appearances in the US, that a scene of her dancing was featured in in ad for Farnsworth televisions

Markova became so associated with TV appearances in the US, that a scene of her dancing was featured in in ad for Farnsworth televisions in 1946.

“Her first experience of dancing in front of a camera was about 25 years ago in an experimental television studio in Portland-place, when she had to make up with dead white face, black lips and purple eyelids. Since then, she has televised in more countries than any other dancer. [In Rio De Janeiro she won an “Oscar” as the most outstanding personality on television.]

“Markova has become the most travelled ballerina in history, having flown hundreds of thousands of miles to fulfill engagements all over the world. She can only accept a fraction of the invitations she receives to dance in widely scattered cities on all six continents. That is why she is so enthusiastic about the boon of television. . . . she has always looked upon television as the greatest advertising medium the theatre has ever had. She considers it can perform the same function as a well-devised trailer at the cinema by attracting more and more people to the box office to pay to see plays, ballets and operas, of which they have already caught a glimpse on their screens at home.

In the early years of TV, Markova was asked to instruct camera men on the best angles to capture ballet.

In the early years of TV, Markova was asked to instruct camera men on the best angles to capture the ethereality of ballet.

” . . .Televised ballet, in Markova’s opinion, should be something more than a motion picture version of a stage performance. It opens a new field for imaginative choreographers, some of whom may decide to specialize in the new medium. . . . The television audience has the advantage of being in a position to appreciate the subtle details of hands, feet, and facial expression, which are lost in the theatre, except to the comparatively few people sitting very close to the stage.

Markova often addressed biers directly prior to performance on TV.

Markova often introduced her televised performances, enhancing viewers’ understanding and enjoyment of ballet.

“Whenever possible, Markova likes to speak to viewers before she dances, if only to say something about the particular ballet they are about to see. She has received thousands of appreciative letters from people who have enjoyed the programme all the more after listening to her words of guidance. Viewers get the impression of slipping into her dressing-room just before the curtain goes up and this close personal link makes them the ballerina’s friends for life. Afterwards they are all the more likely to go and see her dancing at a theatre whenever the opportunity comes their way.”

The glorious Margot Fonteyn as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, 1950

The glorious Margot Fonteyn as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, 1950

This week the BBC is airing several feature programs on British ballet, including rare excerpts of the magnificent Margot Fonteyn in a 1959 production of The Sleeping Beauty. Five years earlier, in 1955, the BBC presented another sensational performance: Alicia Markova dancing her legendary Giselle for the first time on television. Her partner was a young, relatively unknown Danish dancer named Erik Bruhn. Earlier that year, Markova had personally selected Bruhn as her Albrecht for a stellar season ender for Ballet Theatre (today’s American Ballet Theatre) in New York. 

Dubbed “The Matinee that Made History,” the unexpected pairing of the 44-year-old Markova and 26-year-old Bruhn electrified audiences. As John Martin wrote in the New York Times: “It may well be a date to write down in the history books, for it was as if the greatest Giselle of today were handing over a sacred trust to what is probably their greatest Albrecht of tomorrow.” Markova had just two days to coach Bruhn, who had never performed the role before. He later said her patience, advice, shared work process and confidence in him proved invaluable.

Markova and Erik Bruhn in a BBC production of Giselle, 1955

Markova and Erik Bruhn in a BBC production of Giselle, Act II (1955)

The Markova/Bruhn partnership was a sensation as they performed to sold-out houses throughout Europe. When the BBC aired the full second act of their Giselle on September 12, 1955, millions of viewers tuned in. As a London newspaper reported the next day: “Markova’s ballet a spell-binder: Television added no tricks, no close-ups and no camera juggling to the performance of Alicia Markova in the second act of ‘Giselle’ last night. The cameras were focused statically upon a single woodland setting and added only exquisite lighting to the beauty of Markova’s dancing. Television left Markova and her Danish partner, Erik Bruhn, to cast a spell of enchantment with only their dancing, and Markova, a picture of fluorescent grace in the woodland shadows, gave us the most spell-binding ballet to be seen on the screen for many a month.”

Markova and Bruhn were magical in Giselle

On and off stage, Markova was impossible to hold still.

As I wrote in The Making of Markova: A similar delirium swept the ballet world when Margot Fonteyn first danced with Rudolf Nureyev seven years later. But while that magical partnership lasted seventeen years, Markova disappeared from Bruhn’s life as quickly as she had materialized – just like Giselle. Markova was thrilled at having played a part in helping to launch what would become a brilliant career for Bruhn, and was delighted to dance with him again in the future, but now it was time to move on.

She had new worlds to conquer.

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Tulles of the Trade: lifting the veil on ballet costume design

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Tina Sutton in Uncategorized

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Alexander McQueen, Alicia Markova, Anna Pavlova, ballet costumes, ballet fashion, British ballet, de Young Museum, Giambattista Valli, Leonide Massine, Madame Manya, Marie Rambert, Rambert's Ballet Club, Rudolf Nureyev, Sarah Kaufman, Stanley Judson, tutu construction

Markova considered the right tulle as important as toe shoes

Markova considered the right tulle as important as toe shoes

In the close to 10 years I’ve been writing about fashion trends for The Boston Globe, I don’t think a year has gone by without a runway show influenced by the ballet. Those dreamy gossamer fabrics and figure-enhancing silhouettes are catnip to both designers and the their amply-funded clientele.

While researching The Making of Markova, I learned a great deal about the fascinating intricacies of ballet costumes. To enraptured audiences, the legendary ballerina seemed to float effortlessly in the air – her tutu as featherweight as the dancer herself. That combination of otherworldliness, fragility, and seductive transparency – now you see flesh, now you don’t! – has inspired countless fashion interpretations over the years, from breathlessly romantic to rather scandalously modern.

Fall 2013 is no exception. Numerous collections incorporate ballet design elements in show-stopping evening wear, with corset tops, short flounces, veiled headpieces, transparent armlets, and multi-tiered pouf skirts plentiful.

Markova as the Sugar Plum Fairy

Markova as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker Suite, 1950

Tutu-like couture. Giambattista Valli, Fall 2013

Tutu-like couture. Giambattista Valli, Fall 2013

Ballet-inspired fashion Alexander McQueen Fall 2013

Ballet-inspired fashion. Alexander McQueen, Fall 2013

Markova as the otherworldly spirit of Giselle (1939)

Markova as the otherworldly spirit of Giselle (1939)

But as costly and elaborate as those designer gowns may be, they pale in comparison to the complexity of classical ballet costumes. First is the issue of fabric choice. A form-fitting corset of lustrous satin might look magnificent but can also cause a ballerina to slip from her partners hands during a lift. Markova sometimes had two different tops made for the same skirt (at her own expense, I might add): shiny satin for important press photos, and a matte version to perform in. Textured silk taffeta can present a different problem, especially in a layered full skirt. Markova laughingly remembered a corps of taffeta-clad ballerinas rustling so loudly that they could no longer hear their music cues! And then there’s ornamentation. Every sequin, silk flower, and bead needs to be hand-sewn and carefully fastened tight. If one were to fall on the stage during a performance, a dancer could easily slip and injure her foot.

There are 34 yards of fabric in this ethereal ballet skirt.  Markova and Anton Dolin in Gislle.

This ballet skirt required 34 yards of fabric! Markova with Anton Dolin in Giselle.

But most complicated of all is proper tutu construction, truly an architectural marvel. There are 34 yards of net in each traditional ballet skirt like the one at left, and 18 yards in a short tutu. For each skirt, Madame Manya, Markova’s longtime costume designer (and Anna Pavlova’s before her), created nine different layers of tarlatan (a kind of muslin) topped with several more of diaphanous tulle. In between, a crinoline hoop was carefully hidden between the folds to give the skirt body without stiffness. Before the days of beautiful man-made materials, the fabric costs for ballet costumes could be exorbitant and beyond the budget of fledgling companies. That was the case when Markova pioneered British ballet in the early 1930s, dancing at one of the first London-based companies, the Ballet Club.

Budget fabrics lack ethereality. Markova, left In Foyer de Danse, )Ballet Club (1932

Budget fabrics lacked an ethereality on stage, said Markova, seen here at left in Frederick Ashton’s Foyer de Danse at the fledgling British company Ballet Club (1932)

Its founder was ex-Ballets Russes dancer/teacher Marie Rambert, who formed a combined school and performing troupe. One of Rambert’s money-saving tricks was to buy the cheapest tarlatan material she could find for the tutu underskirts, and then add just a single top layer of fine tulle. That might have fooled the audience, but the under layers itched the dancers like crazy!

Markova lamented that cheap fabrics cheated the audience, as they took away from the magical, dreamlike quality of ballet. Whenever she could afford it, she used her own money to buy quality fabrics so her costumes would look more luxurious and ethereal. In the early days, she hand-sewed the elaborate skirts herself (a talent she quickly mastered), later turning to experts like Manya when her salary improved. After Markova became famous – and well-paid – she insisted upon buying beautifully-made costumes for other dancers as well, as she once did for an entire ballet company in financial trouble.

Léonide Massine masked his problematic bowed legs with pants or knickers

Léonide Massine masked his problematic bowed legs with pants or knickers

While Markova’s main concern with costuming was to create a transportive illusion for the audience, many male soloists were driven more by personal vanity. The inventive dancer/choreographer Léonide Massine was bowlegged, not ideal for a male ballet star. Given that Massine’s strength was not in classical roles, but rather in showy character-driven parts (which he often created for himself), he was able to avoid second-skin tights, opting instead for camouflaging knickers and pants.

Rudolf Nureyev had his costume jackets cut short to make his muscular legs look longer

Rudolf Nureyev had his costume jackets cut short to make his muscular legs look longer

On the other hand (or foot), there was absolutely nothing wrong with the legs of Rudolf Nureyev, considered one of the greatest male ballet dancers of the 20th century. Many of the celebrated star’s costumes were recently on view at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

Rudolf Nureyev's costumes  (de Young Museum in San Francisco)

Nureyev’s regal costume bodices (de Young Museum in San Francisco)

“He made it [ballet] sexier and more electrifying,” wrote Sarah Kaufman of the Washington Post in her review of the de Young Museum exhibit Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance. “Nureyev’s costumes could have been a fantasy king’s couture, made to measure for an extraordinary slim waist and broad shoulders in silk, velvet and lace. As Cary Grant was with his suits and shirts – sending them back for fractional faults – so was the sharp-eyed ballet star with his stage attire.”

Markova and partner Stanley Judson in The Nutcracker, 1934

Markova and partner Stanley Judson in The Nutcracker, 1934

Russian-dance inspired Paris couture Alexis Mabille, Fall 2013

Russian-dance inspired Paris couture Alexis Mabille, Fall 2013

Interestingly, the elaborate ballet costumes of male soloists (see Markova’s partner Stanley Judson above left) also inspired Paris couture fashions this fall. The outfit, however, was for a woman.

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