#jerome robbins

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Remembering Jerome Robbins (October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998)

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Montgomery Clift helped redefine masculinity in the movies of the 1950s. Rather than portray macho men like John Wayne, Clift showed that men can also be sensitive and caring.

He was a success on stage and Broadway, and waited until he was 26 years old before agreeing to make a movie— Red River (shot in 1946 but released in 1948). And he refused to sign a long-term contract because he didn’t want the studio to dictate which roles he could play.

You can learn the details about Clift’s career online— his four Oscar nominations, his friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, a horrible car accident that disfigured him, and his declining health that led to an early death at the age of 46.

Montgomery Clift hated the press intruding into his personal life.

"I learned that most writers don't need interviews to write about me. They seem to have their stories all written out beforehand."

So much of his life story wasn’t known until the late 1970s with a pair of biographies about the actor. Both revealed he was a homosexual, and emphasized that Clift’s brooding nature and early death were the result of being repressed all of his life.

In 2018, Robert Clift wrote and produced a documentary— “Making Montgomery Clift” (2018). Its aim was to present a more accurate picture of his uncle’s life. Contrary to the homophobic myths perpetuated in the bios, Robert conducted interviews with two of Monty’s former lovers who don’t remember him as morose, ashamed, or guilt-ridden. Jack Larson was interviewed on screen, sharing stories about his 4-year relationship with Clift. He recalls a funny, robust man— nothing like the suicidal man described in the book.

Clift’s own family knew Montgomery wasn’t heterosexual. His mother said she knew he was a homosexual at the age of 12. Monty’s brother (Brooks, Richard’s father) knew Monty wasn’t heterosexual but bisexual. And he didn’t feel guilty about it.

Richard even includes a comparison of one of the author’s original notes, alongside the print text. It shows the author had changed a report of Clift being arrested with “a young man” - but scratched out and changed to “a boy” - and even worse, in the published book it states Clift was a “pederast”. The author was clearly infusing her homophobia into the narrative.

Montgomery Clift had relationships with both men and women.

William LeMassena - a stage actor, he and Clift had a 3-year relationship in the mid-40s before Clift left for Hollywood. "Our affair was for me the most beautiful experience in my life."

Phyllis Thaxter - Clift met Phyllis in the early 1940s when they both worked on Broadway. Most of their friends had assumed they would eventually get married.

Jerome Robbins - Monty met dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins in the early 1940s when they both worked on Broadway. They became lovers but broke it off when Clift left for Hollywood in 1946.

Jack Larson - They met at the Warner lot in 1949 and had a 4-year relationship. Larson fondly recalled the day he and Monty had gone on an errand. The moment they were alone, Clift grabbed him and gave him a deep kiss.

Judy Balaban - Judy’s father (then president of Paramount Pictures) introduced her to Monty in 1951. They dated for several months. She said she was unaware Monty was bisexual until after they broke up.

Elizabeth Taylor - She costarred with Montgomery Clift in three films. They were rumored to be lovers as well. In 2000, while accepting an award for her efforts on behalf of the Gay community, she emphatically stated that Clift was gay and called him her closest friend and confidant.

Roddy McDowall - Elizabeth Taylor introduced Monty to Roddy in 1951 while they were filming A Place in the Sun. They had a relationship during the mid-1950s (concurrent with Monty’s relationship with Judy Balaban).

Truman Capote - They met in Italy in 1953 while Clift was filming “Indiscretion of an American Wife”. Capote was an uncredited screenwriter. They had a brief affair.

Libby Holman - A stage actress 16 years his senior. They met in the early 1950s and had a 10-year on-again, off-again relationship.

Lorenzo James - In Richard Clift’s documentary, Lorenzo was both Monty’s liver and caregiver during the final years of his life. (He declined to appear on camera.)

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Synchronized zing and sparkle.

From Dances at a Gathering

Ludmila Pagliero and Mathieu Ganio

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"Look at me, way up high, in the sky . . . I'm flying!"

Jerome Robbins and Mary Martin in rehearsal for the Peter Pan telecast in 1956 at NBC’s Brooklyn Studios. Watching them is Martin’s daughter, Heller Halliday, who was also in the 1954 Broadway production.

Photo: Bygone Broadway Instagram

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William Bracewell and Francesca Hayward in Dances at a Gathering (Royal Ballet, 2020)

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west side story (1961)

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Mira Nadon in Jerome Robbins's Dances at a Gathering, 2024.

Photo: Erin Baiano

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Jerome Robbins, October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998.

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From 1989: An interview with Agnes de Mille. She was something. As discussed, Amanda Vaill.

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James Grissom: "Tennessee [Williams] said you were impatient and abrupt with him."

Agnes de Mille: "I'm an impatient and abrupt woman. I'm impatient and abrupt with you, as I'm sure you've noticed."

James Grissom: "He claims you were not sympathetic to his worries about the waning of his talent."

Agnes de Mille: "He was absolutely correct. I have no patience for people who seek approval for their existences. People who want you to remind them that they've done good work and should continue. It is not for me to decide. It is not for anyone to decide. I think we must all know ourselves and what we are and what we can do. I'm sure I told the same thing to Tennessee.

"I was a failure as a classical ballerina. I did not have the equipment. I think I had the temperament. I know I had the desire, but desire cannot transmit to the feet and the legs what it is they should do to become a dancer. I was not born with the rudiments of ballet. But I learned. I worked. I found a way to be useful, and I was often very good, and more often than not, merely good. You think I'm happy with that? On some deep level? I'm not. I wanted to be great. I'm not great.

"Martha Graham and Jerome Robbins are great. They are geniuses. I forgive them everything, even when they are merely good or very good. No one is a genius every day or every time they try to do something, but there is genius within what they've done. I am not a genius, so I've taken some tough criticism, even recently, which I probably deserve. But I don't complain. I don't stop. I hated that Tennessee felt that the approval of others was keeping him from working. Only Tennessee kept Tennessee from working.

"Tennessee was a genius. I believe that. I don't think the theatre could have grown if he hadn't decided to work within it. I absolutely believe that, and I told him that, and he wanted a pat on the back and some sweet talk with some wine that he mattered. This is nonsense. See, I'm abrupt. I'm also right. A genius can only be stopped by himself, and that is what Tennessee did. He silenced himself. And God, we needed him. We needed him to keep writing and trying. He was a genius."--Agnes de Mille/Interview with James Grissom/1989

Photograph of Agnes de Mille by Jack Mitchell, 1992.

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WEST SIDE STORY | Tony and Maria during "Somewhere"

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Creative team for the Broadway musical "West Side Story" (L-R): Composer Leonard Bernstein, playwright Arthur Laurents, choreographer Jerome Robbins (seated), costume designer Irene Sharaff, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, producer Robert Griffith and prod.asst. Sylvia Drulie. (1957)

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A quiet moment

Clip from Dances at a Gathering

Mathieu Ganio

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Above: Sandra Church, Jack Klugman, Lane Bradbury, Ethel Merman, and Peg Murray in Gypsy.

Gypsy, the musical based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, opened at the newly-refurbished Broadway Theater on May 21, 1959. It had a book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and music by Jule Styne. Originally, Sondheim had been slated to write the music as well as the lyrics, but Ethel Merman was nervous about entrusting the whole thing to such a young man (he was 29). Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed it.

Despite the title, the star of this show is Gypsy's mother, Rose Hovick, the stage mother to end all stage mothers. Often described as monstrous, she ruthlessly pushes her two young daughters into vaudeville, spotlighting the pretty blonde, June. But vaudeville is dying, and the girls are eventually forced into doing their act in burlesque theaters. It is there that one of the dancers persuades Louise, the "plain" brunette daughter, to consider striptease. She blossoms, of course, and becomes the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Her sister runs away and becomes the actress June Havoc.

Above: left, Jacqueline Mayro as Baby June (doing split) and Karen Moore as Baby Louise (Uncle Sam). Right, Sandra Church as the adult Gypsy and Ethel Merman as her mother.

The score is chock full of what would become standards: "Let Me Entertain You," "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "You Gotta Get a Gimmick," among others, as well as the most exciting overture in all musical theater. But the crowning musical achievement was the show's final song, "Rose's Turn," which one critic described as a "quick-mix of aria, stomp, anthem, hymn, recitative, shout, [and] wail." It's also the essence of the integrated musical number.

Above: Ethel Merman and Maria Karnilova.. Right, Jack Klugman and Merman.

Gypsy is often mentioned when the question of Best Musical Ever Made comes up. In addition to a film and a television version, it has been revived on Broadway four times; it would have been five if not for Covid. The 2015 West End production, starring Imelda Staunton as a stunning Rose, was supposed to have transferred. But the production is available to watch on DVD.

All photos: Friedman-Abeles via the NYPL. Click/tap on each one to enlarge.

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Alexa Maxwell and Chun Wai Chan

Alexa Maxwell and Chun Wai Chan 陈镇威, “The Cage”, choreo by Jerome Robbins, music by Igor Stravinsky Игорь Стравинский, costume by Ruth Sobotka, set by Jean Rosenthal. As part of the program All Stravinsky (“Danses Concertantes”, “The Cage” by Jerome Robbins, “Concertino” by Jerome Robbins and “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” by George Balanchine), New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, New York City, USA.

Source and more info at: New York City Ballet Website New York City Ballet on Twitter New York City Ballet on Tik Tok New York City Ballet on You Tube New York City Ballet on Facebook New York City Ballet on Instagram

Photographer Erin Baiano Website Photographer Erin Baiano on Tumblr Photographer Erin Baiano on Instagram

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