JAZZED - Debra Levine

While I grew up a generation or two too late to enjoy the golden age of Hollywood movie musicals in their first run, I did grow up during the That's Entertainment! movie musicals revival period, when television stations were filling their time slots with these classic movies.

Whether it was West Side Story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, or something a bit older, like 42nd Street or Gold Diggers of 1945, I wanted to watch it. I had my favorite actors and my favorite dancers, and I got to recognize a lot of the names of the performers and creators working on these movies.

Which is how I recognized the name of Jack Cole, about whom this book is written.

Cole's name shows up on a number of movies I really enjoy, but I've never ranked as highly as high probably deserves, now that I've read more about him. His precision and fastidiousness to performance was legendary and it makes a great deal of sense that he would have had his small handful of dancers that he preferred to work with, because most dancers, even 'good' ones, probably could control their bodies the way he required them.

But like many perfectionists in the creative field, he could also be cruel to those who worked for him. Get something wrong and you were probably struck by something from his hands.

One of the more fascinating aspects of this biography is Cole's work with Marilyn Monroe. While he couldn't necessarily make her dance, he could teach her how to move, and her sultry, almost legendary performances likely have more to do with Cole's movements than Monroe's acting. And for whatever reason (perhaps because Marilyn Monroe was smart enough to recognize what Cole gave to her), she required he be hired for every movie she did.

Author Debra Levine has done an excellent job of research and presentation. The biography moves along at a nice pace - we get pertinent, interesting information but we don't get bogged down in minutiae.

As is often the case when I read a book like this, I come away with a long list of movies I want to watch and books I want to read that are related to the topic.

Looking for a good book? It's easy to get jazzed for Jazzed, a biography of dance icon Jack Cole, by Debra Levine.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

Jazzed: Jack Cole and Twentieth-Century American Dance

author: Debra Levine

publisher: University Press of Kentucky

ISBN: 9781985904552

hardcover, 384 pages

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