David Soren - Vera-Ellen: The Magic and the Mystery

Photo Credits

Guy Farris

Bill Dennington

Fred Maurer

Jo Alexander and Norwood City Schools

Bob Johnston

Michael Day

Dale Stedman

Photofest

National Screen Service 49-57

20th Century Fox 58-70

Warner Bros./MGM 71-120

Warner Bros. Television 122-129

Allied Artists/A.B. Pathe 162-167

Caren Roberts-Frenze contributed 66 photographs to the book and additional

personal memorabilia and stories for which we are most grateful.

Copyright 1999, 2003 David Soren

Cover Design/Layout Design: Susan Svehla

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication

may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owners or the publishers of the book.

ISBN 978-1887664813
ISBN 978-1644301302 (e-book)

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2007943780

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Printing by Luminary Press, an imprint of Midnight Marquee, Press, Inc. November 2003

First Paperback edition by Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., January 2008

Dedicated to the memory of
Vera-Ellen, our favorite
dancing star, with the hope
that she will receive at last
the appreciation and recognition
she so richly deserves

She was a real accomplished dancer, that girl.
Ballet, tap dancing, anything you wanted to do.

Fred Astaire

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without the help of many people. First and foremost is our crack research team of Meredith Banasiak and Bob Johnston. Meredith organized one-sixth of the material, conceived several chapters, wrote a preliminary text for them and made a trip to Norwood, Ohio to meet friends of Vera-Ellen and find additional resources. Bob tracked down Vera-Ellens gravesite, many photos and much information ranging from her will to the locating of Donald OConnor and her cousin, the late Fred Maurer. Additional assistance was provided by the keeper of one of the few Vera-Ellen websites on the Internet, Angela Boyko. Michael Day and Guy Farris provided information and visuals, and enthusiastic support for the project. On the Norwood home front we thank Jo Alexander of the Norwood City Schools for yearbook information and Katherine Ralstin Murphy for sharing some memories of her lifelong friendship with Vera-Ellen. For Vera-Ellens Broadway years we thank Jim Schlader. The Margaret Herrick Library provided microfiches and stills.

We are grateful also for the chance to talk to her very close friends A.C. Lyles and Marie Windsor, and her cousin Fred Maurer and his wife Toddy who provided photographs and insight into Vera-Ellens life. Betty Garrett, MGM star and co-star with Vera-Ellen in two films, and Nick Clooney of American Movie Classics also provided recollections. Val Guest, director, producer and screenwriter (he wrote Happy Go Lovely), also offered reminiscences. Thanks also to the National Film Information Service, Warner Bros. and agent Phil Gittelman for help with research and stills. Pamela and Rob Stackel, owners of Vera-Ellen and Alma Rohes Studio City home and Reverend David Palmquist of St. Pauls First Lutheran Church provided additional information. Dr. Nancy Eldredge provided enormous help in studying anorexia and bulimia nervosa. We would also like to thank John Eidswick and the good folks at Casa Video in Tucson for their kind assistance.

A.C. Lyles and Vera-Ellen in 1953

Thanks to my wife Noelle whose constant support these 33 years has made my whole life worthwhile. Thanks to my miniature golden retriever Angel without whose constant assistance I would have finished this manuscript much more quickly. And finally thank you to Vera-Ellen, whose artistry and genius have inspired me for over 40 years. I am so sorry I couldnt have done this for you sooner.

Foreword to the Second Edition

In 1999 when I finished writing this manuscript nobody wanted to publish it. McGraw-Hill reluctantly took it on as an educational paperback and ran off approximately 1,500 copies. I was grateful that they did, even though they left out several small sections of text and wouldnt advertise the book or even list it as one of their stock. Photo permissions were incredibly hard to obtain with costs running enormously high, so that McGraw-Hill ended up losing about $1,000 on the project.

Information about my favorite dancing star had also been hard to come by. I worked for four years aided only by Bob Johnston and my student Meredith Banasiak in trying to track down everything we could find, which wasnt as much as we had hoped. In the first edition, I made a number of errors, mostly due to the fact that the personal recollections of Vera-Ellens friends werent always accurate, but sometimes the mistakes were due to my own carelessness.

However the response to the first edition was amazing. We had urged McGraw-Hill to do a bigger print run, but they had never heard of her and didnt want to invest in a marginal project any further. Nonetheless, in no time at all, the book sold out its brief run and started to become a cult work, sometimes selling for over $200 a copy on E-Bay.

And then an even more wonderful thing happened. Vera-philes (i.e., Vera-Ellen fans) began to appear from everywhere on the Internet to offer help once they heard that a book had come out about their favorite star. Vera-Ellen devotees are not ordinary people. They love her and they are outraged that the powers in Hollywood did not allow her to leave us a greater body of work. They are equally outraged that critics and film historians, who govern what we read regarding classic films, have almost entirely allowed her to be forgotten. In no time at all I was deluged with a huge amount of new material. It took three years to sort and evaluate the accuracy of all this information and integrate it into the text. The result is the new edition, graciously and lovingly taken on by the wonderful folks at Midnight Marquee Press, Gary and Susan Svehla, my friends for over 35 years.

Tiny Vera-Ellen on the left at the Hesslers Dance Studio in 1934

Vera-Ellen admirer Terry Dennison of Hastings, Michigan has an enormous collection of Vera-Ellen memorabilia including a costume from The Belle of New York, wine and bar glasses, a tea set, her red crystal heart, a crystal candelabrum, brass trays and various examples of her film costumes. A fan since 1957, Terry has devoted a sizable portion of his life to making sure that Vera-Ellens artistic contributions will be appreciated for generations to come. Michael Day has maintained a website devoted to Vera-Ellen and has an extensive collection of paper memorabilia from her career, plus a detailed knowledge of her aviation and military connections which he has shared with us. Bill Dennington was not only a fan but also Vera-Ellens close friend and confidante in the last years of her life and graciously shared his reminiscences and beautiful photographs for this book; Bills vast knowledge of Vera-Ellens private feelings can be found expressed throughout these pages. Russ Decker, another longtime fan, sent us stacks of photocopies covering Vera-Ellens films. Clark Evans provided meticulous, detailed research of obscure performances and family genealogical details about which, until he unearthed them, we knew nothing. Caren Frenzel, a fan of Vera-Ellen since her teens, has collected memorabilia for years and corresponded intimately with many individuals who were important in Vera-Ellens life.