Vera-Ellen
hhttp://www.gorilla.net/~mikeday/veraellen/index.html
Note: The information for this section comes from David Soren�s Vera-Ellen The
Magic and the Mystery.
In 1936 Vera Ellen's dance studio employers took her to a dance teacher's
convention in New York City. Vera was intrigued by the opportunities for dance
education and employment in New York and wanted to return. Vera's mother Alma
apparently thought so too, but her father was reluctant. He relented when Alma
agreed to accompany Vera, and that she agree not to accept any employment in
establishments that served liquor. Vera Ellen auditioned for and then won a
competition on the "Major Bowes Amateur Hour". She then went on the road with
one of Bowes' touring companies, the "All Girl Unit". Alma accompanied Vera on
this tour. After the tour Vera Ellen enrolled in the Sonia Serva School of Dancing.
Alma took a secretarial job to pay for the lessons. Vera auditioned for a part in a
Broadway show but was rejected because of her small stature. As a result of this,
Vera Ellen embarked on a campaign to try to increase her height. At age sixteen
Vera Ellen was only four feet six inches tall (135 cm). and weighed just 76
pounds(37kg). She did begin to grow ,though, and by age twenty-one she had
reached her adult height of 5 feet 4 inches(160 cm). Vera Ellen believed all her life
that her growth was due entirely to the diet and exercise regime she followed in her
late teens, but the growth was more likely due to an overdue natural growth spurt.
During 1937, she was able to land a dancing job with the Ted Lewis band in 1937.
Just after her eighteenth birthday, Vera Ellen tried out for a spot in Billy Rose's
Casa Manana club show. Vera refused to audition for a chorus position though,
instead opting to audition for a specialty dance spot to the annoyance of Rose. She
did get the spot though. After the Casa Manana closed Vera Ellen went on to
Broadway.
Vera-Ellen�s Broadway Career
Note: The information for this section comes from David Soren�s Vera-Ellen The
magic and the Mystery.
In 1939 Vera Ellen auditioned for and got a part in the Jerome Kern and Oscar
Hammerstein II musical Very Warm For May. Also in the chorus was another
newcomer June Allyson. Vera Ellen then got a specialty dance part in the Rogers
and Hart musical Higher and Higher. The show was not a success, though, and
soon closed. Vera then went to work as a rockette. She only lasted two weeks as
her dancing was far too individualistic for that type of chorus work (she kept kicking
higher than the other girls). She got a part in another Broadway show Panama
Hattie with Ethyl Merman. She also renewed a friendship with another dancer who
had been in Higher and Higher, Robert Hightower. Panama Hattie ran for over a
year on Broadway and four months on the road. Vera Ellen then got a leading
dancer role in another Rogers and Hart musical By Jupiter which starred Ray
Bolger. Around this time Vera Ellen married Robert Hightower. By Jupiter also
marks the appearance of something else -- "the hyphen". Beginning with By Jupiter
Vera Ellen became Vera-Ellen. By Jupiter closed in 1942 when Ray Bolger left to
go overseas to entertain the troops. After the show's closing Vera-Ellen toured with
husband Hightower and his brothers in their dance company. During 1943 Vera-Ellen
began appearing in the revival of the Rogers and Hart musical A Connecticut
Yankee. In 1944 while appearing in A Connecticut Yankee Vera-Ellen was spotted
by film producer Samuel Goldwyn. He offered her a movie contract, and Vera-Ellen
left Broadway for Hollywood.
Vera-Ellen's Film Career
In Vera-Ellen The Magic and the Mystery David Soren summerized her career as follows:
"Vera-Ellen should have been one of Broadway and Hollywood's most enduring stars.
She was a fine dramatic and light comedic actress, and was considered by a number of
authorities to be the greatest all-around dancer of her generation. She could do tap,
toedancing, adagio, modern dance (formerly known as dramatic dancing), comic
dancing, partnered dancing, comic and dramatic acting, prop dancing, and advanced
acrobatics. She could also sing passably enough to be featured on Broadway and on
television. Her obsessive perfectionism was legendary; nobody worked harder on a
routine or accomplished it with greater attention to detail. With Vera-Ellen it was not only
each step that was perfect; the transitions front step to step were also flawless and
remarkably beautiful to observe. Like Fred Astaire, who admired her, she had the ability
to make each complex routine seem effortless, as if she were expressing herself
spontaneously."
"She excelled as a soloist but could also work to perfection with male partners. She
performed unmatched graceful and precise balletic duets with Astaire but also did jaunty
tapping or athletic ballets with Gene Kelly and herky jerky comic dancing with Ray
Bolger. She could handle dramatic roles or breezy musicals with equal case. She was
the girl next door, the girl you wanted to bring home to mother, even after she received
the Hollywood sex and glamour treatment at MGM. Her trademarks were a pencil thin
waist (18 inches), shapely legs, perfect posture, a turned up nose and the sweetest
smile in the Hollywood musical."
"Many famous dancers and actresses couldn't do half of what Vera-Ellen could do. Ann
Miller was her equal as a tap dancer but lacked her balletic grace, and her gymnastic
and partnered dancing skills. Ginger Rogers was a fine partnered dancer but extremely
limited as a solo dancer. Cyd Charisse was a graceful ballerina in solos or alluring and
technically superb in jazzy partnered ballets with Astaire but she was not a tapper or
gymnastic dancer. Eleanor Powell, usually considered the greatest all-around female
dancer of the screen, was the only performer whose skills in tap and gymnastics rivalled
or according to some exceeded those of Vera-Ellen, but even she could not approach
Vera-Ellen in balletic skills or overall grace of form. And Powell, a superb and highly
individualistic artist, was one of the worst partnered dancers ever. "
--David Soren, Vera-Ellen The Magic and the Mystery
Vera-Ellen never made a film in Hollywood where she was the top-billed star. Her movie career
spanned the years 1945 thru 1956 and she completed fourteen pictures. This seems rather short
compared to other Hollywood careers but her career in musicals was about average. Many of the
other musical actors had substantial careers outside musicals (see table below).
That Vera-Ellen accomplished as much as she did is remarkable because as David Soren
observed --
"It is amazing that Vera-Ellen was as successful as she was in the late forties and early
fifties because old Holywood was rapidly crumbling around her. Almost all the musical
stars were gone from [musical] films by the middle of the fifties.... Between 1943 and
1953 the number of musicals dropped from 65 to 38 and for those 38 the budgets had
fallen considerably. In 1963 only four were made."
--David Soren, Vera-Ellen The Magic and the Mystery
On the Town (1949, MGM)
with Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller, Betty Garrett, and Jules Munshin
One of the most popular musicals made. V-E unfortunately disappears for large chunks of the movie. Dance routines are nice but
do not show off her versatility. There are three routines in which V-E dances both modern ballets. V-E was under utilized in this
film
Vera-Ellen's Career After The Movies
As Vera-Ellen's film projects began to dwindle she began looking at other venues for
work. Of this time David Soren writes --
"So just as she had done with Goldwyn, she spent most of for time
with MGM on the shelf, letting time go by without being able to use her
prodigious talent. She spent a good deal of time at home slowly
redecorating the interior of her home or changing the paint scheme."
David Soren, Vera-Ellen The Magic and the Mystery
She made quite a number of Television appearances including The Perry Como
Show, Art Linkletter's `House Party, the Ford Theater production of The Man
Across The Hall, and on Washington Square with Ray Bolger.
Her final public performances seem to have been in Las Vegas in 1958. She
performed with John Brascia her dancing partner from White Christmas.