BY PAUL SCHINDLER | The Museum of Modern Art, in a retrospective created by the museum’s film curator Dave Kehr and dance critic Deborah Levine, is presenting “All That Jack (Cole),” a look at the career of one of Hollywood’s most influential choreographers.
In a film career that ran from 1945 until 1960, Cole (1911-1974) choreographed musicals at Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century-Fox, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and worked with stars from Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable to Mitzi Gaynor, Marilyn Monroe (six times), and Gwen Verdon, for whom he played the role of mentor in her early career. The retrospective title’s nod to the hit 1979 musical “All That Jazz” — in which Verdon starred and her husband, Bob Fosse, directed — reflects the curators’ perspective on the key role Cole played in influencing leading theatrical and film choreographers who followed, including not only Fosse, but also Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, and Alvin Ailey.
“Cole’s most widely known credential was his innovation in and codification of American jazz dance,” writes Levine. “Starting in the 1930s, with heavy borrowings from African- American popular dance, he crafted jazz for his nightclub act and then transferred it first to the screen, and later to the Broadway stage.”
Screenings in the retrospective include:
MEET ME AFTER THE SHOW
Jan. 28, 4 p.m.; Jan. 29, 7 p.m.
Richard Sale’s 1951 remake of “Twentieth Century,” with music by Jule Styne and Leo Robin, starred Macdonald Carey as a swaggering Broadway producer and Betty Grable as the Miami chorus girl he discovers and makes a star. The cast also includes Gwen Verdon, Eddie Albert, and Rory Calhoun. Glenn Loney, author of “Unsung Genius: The Passion of Dancer-Choreographer Jack Cole” appears at the Jan. 28 screening, and choreographer Mia Michaels introduces the Jan. 29 screening.
TARS AND SPARS
Jan. 30, 7 p.m.
Alfred E. Green’s 1946 World War II comedy that somehow merges dance and the horrors of global conflict, with a tip of the hat to America’s ally the Soviet Union, in the dancing of Marc Platt. The film also stars Alfred Drake, Janet Blair, Jeff Donnell, and the film debut of funnyman Sid Caesar. Eddy Friedfeld, co-author with Caesar of “Caesar’s Hours, My Life in Comedy,” introduces the film.
KISMET
Feb. 1, 4 p.m.
Vincente Minnelli’s 1955 film was based on the Tony-winning best musical of the year before, and Cole choreographed both. “Kismet” stars Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, and Vic Damone, with an appearance in the chorus by Barrie Chase, who went on to four television appearances over the next dozen years as Fred Astaire’s dancing partner. Kehr and Levine point to “Not Since Nineveh” and “Rahadlakam” as dance highlights of the film. John (Lypsinka) Epperson leads a post-screening discussion.
GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES
Feb. 1, 7 p.m.
This 1953 classic, directed by Howard Hawks, starred Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe in a gal buddy film where Cole and Verdon worked hard to make two non-dancers shine, in the process creating one of the best known scenes in film musicals when Monroe sings “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
GILDA
Feb. 3, 7 p.m.
Charles Vidor’s 1946 film, with music by Doris Fisher and Allan Roberts and uncredited choreography by Jack Cole, stars Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, and George Macready and has Hayworth singing “Put the Blame on Mame” and later moving to the rumba beat of “Amado Mio.”
LET’S MAKE LOVE
Feb. 4, 4 p.m.
George Cukor’s 1960 musical comedy was the sixth and final collaboration between Cole and Marilyn Monroe, in a romantic tale also starring Yves Montand (introduced to her as she sings “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”) and Tony Randall. Choreographer Wayne Cilento introduces the film.
DESIGNING WOMAN
Feb. 4, 7 p.m.
Vincente Minnelli’s 1957 romantic comedy stars Lauren Bacall as a successful designer, who is married to sportswriter Gregory Peck. Dolores Gray provides the dancing, and Jack Cole appears as her choreographer. Choreographer Wayne Cilento introduces the film.
