Footprints on Broadway: My Journey to the Feet of the Stars

By David W. Shaffer

FOOTPRINTS ON BROADWAY is a personal memoir of "a journey to the feet of the stars." During his thirty-six years with Capezio Dance as Director of Theatrical Sales and Fittings, David Shaffer fit cast members for hundreds of Broadway Shows, National Tours, as well as Regional and Community Theatres. His clients included many of the greatest performers and "stars" in the world of entertainment. In his book, David relates his personal story while sharing anecdotes of his experiences fitting these wonderful talents for their dance shoes and custom footwear for their performances.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9781438984643

David W. Shaffer

David W. Shaffer earned his B.A. in Theatre Arts at The University of Northern Colorado. He graduated a certified teacher and taught at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado for three years, while also directing a summer theatre program for high school students. With his wife Carol, David moved to New York City in 1973 to pursue a professional career acting and writing for the theatre. He took a "day job" with Capezio Dance where he quickly became Director of Theatrical Sales and Fittings. Two beautiful children were born to the Shaffer's and that "day job" became a thirty-six year career. Today, David is semi-retired but, writing again! His memoir is titled FOOTPRINTS ON BROADWAY.

Book preview

FOOTPRINTS ON

BROADWAY

My Journey to the Feet of the Stars

David W. Shaffer

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2009 David W. Shaffer. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/31/2024

ISBN: 978-1-4389-8462-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4389-8463-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4389-8464-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009912768

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

ON THE COVER

THE END OF AN ERA

Liza’s At The Palace

Capezio Shoe Thrower

Golden Globes

Understudies On Broadway

PAL JOEY Starring The Understudy

William Ivey Long

Atheism on a Roll

Capezio Print Ads

Thirty-Five Years At The Feet of the Stars

SOMETHING TO FALL BACK ON

MY ACTING CAREER, (including the Broadway debut!)

IT’S WHO YOU KNOW. . . .

A DREAM TRIP – 1971

A NEW JOB – 1973

GOOD NEWS

PTR

BACKSTAGE VISITS

DAY TRIPS

IF THE SHOE FITS….

A NEW ERA!

MOVING ON WITH PLANS….

MR. CAPEZIO

HELLO, PEARLIE!

DISCO FEVER

ROCKERZ!

STAR REPLACEMENTS

CELEBRITIES NOW AND THEN….

GET THEE TO THE WALDORF TOWERS!

POOR BETTE!

HINES AND HINES

LIZA

A VERY GOOD DAY

TRAVEL

THE CAT BEGAT

MIDLIFE CRISIS

LONDON

LONDON – PARIS

ITALY – GREECE

THE CAPEZIO FOUNDATION

JOURNAL ENTRY – APRIL 30, 1985

AUTOGRAPHS!

GALAS AND OPENINGS

THE FOOTPRINTS!

ASSISTANCE, PLEASE!

LIFE INTRUDES

LIFE INTRUDES…AGAIN…

REV UP THE PUTT-PUTT!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

THE END OF AN ERA

It was the end of an era! Winter 2009! For three and a half decades, costumers, designers, their assistants and shoppers, knew who to contact for professional needs at Capezio. Both Judy Weiss, well known as Director of Ballet, and David Shaffer, Director of Theatrical Sales and Fittings, earned their reputations in professional realms. Each logged thirty-five years of loyal service to dancers, choreographers and designers, both became experts in their respective fields; knowledgeable and respectful of products specifically designed for dancers. And both were uniquely identified with the manufacturer of those products they represented, namely, Capezio-Ballet Makers.

2009 was an era of terrible and frightening economic decline throughout the world and Capezio was not exempt from the trauma. Rumors flew rampantly! The company would be sold! The company would disband or be dismantled! The company’s value had shrunk by a third its net worth! It was hard to believe the stories one heard during the scariest months, but a sort of bloodbath ensued early in the New Year, 2009, when as many as fourteen loyal employees would be laid off on a single day. The total numbers let go rose to thirty or forty when in February the ax fell on both Judy and David.

Their jobs had been redefined over the preceding year so that when the ax did fall, it was a matter of eliminating these new positions. This, of course, gave the company a bit of protection regarding cause and any possible required retribution. These newly created positions were easily eliminated with no serious harm to the real necessities of the business. Clearly the jobs Judy and David had performed so successfully for over thirty-five years were not eliminated. But, Judy and David had been effectively removed from those positions for over a year when the new regime began its reign.

During the restructuring process that ensued, one of the new executives in charge was rumored to have said We don’t need any more divas like Judy and David. Wow! Or should I say ouch?

Divas! Now there’s a mixed revue! My Webster defines diva as a popular female singer; a prima donna; derived from the word divine; the lead female singer in an opera! Gracious! While Judy and David were a team, in no way did they ever comprise an operatic duo! And this is not their story per se. I’m David Shaffer and I could not be so presumptuous! This is merely my memoir of my career; my journey to the feet of the stars.

During my last year, that final phase in my service to Capezio, I worked as archivist and my duties were mostly collaborations with the Marketing division. But I had discussions with Capezio’s C.E.O., Paul Terlizzi, about various channels to which I might direct my energies. One idea he had was that I write a blog for the Capezio website. I looked forward to developing this plan and began creating articles that I might post on line when and if my Blog ever reached fruition. Here follows a few examples of my exercising.

LIZA’S AT THE PALACE

In his review of Liza Minnelli in concert at the Palace Theatre on Broadway, Stephen Holden expresses a wish he had that was, during my career with Capezio, a reality I actually experienced. Mr. Holden opens his review with the following quote: I wish I had met Kay Thompson, the creative whirlwind who inspirits the second act of Liza Minnelli’s new show, Liza’s at the Palace…., or simply had the chance to sit at her feet and absorb her presence. Sitting at her feet, absorbing her presence was a privilege I enjoyed on several occasions.

I have written about these occasions in my memoir, Footprints on Broadway. I always knew how lucky I was to be sitting on that floor, at Kay’s feet, in her apartment on 57th Street, an apartment that had, prior to her tenancy been Liza’s. My visits to this address were usually to deliver and fit Kay in custom footwear we, at Capezio, had made for her.

Of course, we took care of business, but Kay was generous with her knowledge and shared many wonderful stories with me about her career at MGM. She told me about her work on such movies as THE HARVEY GIRLS, for which she did vocal arrangements, and MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, as well as her own appearance in FUNNY FACE. She’d talk openly and regale me with stories about her friendships with, Vincent Minnelli and Judy Garland, Liza’s parents.

One story I especially enjoyed was about a novelty piece Kay had created in collaboration with Roger Edens, whom she adored. The number was called The Great Lady Gives an Interview and it was created for Greer Garson to perform as part of a revue styled feature called ZIEGFELD FOLLIES. However, when Kay and Roger auditioned their creation for Ms. Garson, she declined to film the effort, breaking both their hearts. Kay was bereft at the loss and felt dejectedly, that that was that! But, Roger would not take defeat without a fight and he said, Judy can do this! Come on Kay! And they drove right out to the Minnelli home to audition the spoof and ultimately teach it to Judy Garland. The completed film, ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, was released in 1946, the year both Liza and I were born, and it features the Garland performance and it is a highlight in what was ultimately an MGM parade of stars.

CAPEZIO SHOE THROWER

The recent headline in which a reporter hurls his shoes at President G. W. Bush has caused me to reflect on that act and its impact. In Arabic culture the gesture is known to be a bitter insult to the target. Had the president not been so able a dodger, this may also have been a crime of physical injury adding to the insult. As reports have widened, the shoe thrower has become a sort of folk hero, with those admiring or enjoying his demonstration far outnumbering those who found the act appalling. I personally wonder how heroic he’d have been had he thrown his shoes at Saddam Hussein during a similar situation. Would he even have lived to become a folk hero?

President Bush shrugged it off with some philosophical comments about democracy affording protesters their due. In the growing wave of approval, I’ve even read reports of imitators at other public hearings, i.e. the recent MTA announcement proposing its austerity budget for 2009. If this trend continues, might we, in shoe manufacturing, anticipate a swell in demand for our product? In this economy, such news might be good news.

As I reminisce with shoe throwing on my mind, I recall an evening I sat in a Broadway Theatre, and a pair of large sized tap shoes, were thrown onto the stage from the darkened house, landing in a clatter. Performers on the stage, hoofers who had been tapping their toes off to the delight of the cheering audience attending the gala fundraiser, were surprised and froze in their dance steps, all staring at the shoes where they’d landed. I forget who the beneficiaries were that night, but the evening included a preview showing of the dance movie TAP. This live portion of the event featured cast members from the film and was ablaze with impromptu energy. Among the startled dancers on that stage, when those missiles landed, was Savion Glover.

The audiences cheering applause grew into bedlam as the thrower of those shoes climbed onto the apron of the stage; put on the shoes he’d thrown and joined the extraordinary talent pool for what became a challenge tap off. Creating the exciting climax for that altogether thrilling evening was Capezio shoe thrower, Gregory Hines.

GOLDEN GLOBES

The entertainment awards season is upon us! The Golden Globes have all been handed out and the telecast was, as usual, one of the more entertaining of the lot. Perhaps I feel they are more entertaining than say the Oscar telecast, in part because they stick to the purpose. They let the presentation of the awards, along with acceptance speeches, be the essence of the script. True, they include film clips, but those help us understand the nominations and how and why each made the list. And the lifetime achievement award, the C. B. DeMille, this year honored Stephen Speilberg and the supporting clips were numerous and fun to view. But, we were spared any big production numbers performing nominated songs out of context or an opening number designed to introduce a host, or group of hosts, for the evening. Instead, we heard a narrator’s voice introduce each presenter or pair of presenters and the show moved along with the presentations themselves, making up the production.

To its credit, The Golden Globes presents Best Picture Awards to both a best drama and a best comedy or musical. The Oscars have historically favored the more serious movies for its highest honor. There were several award years during the late 1950’s and mid ‘60’s when musicals dominated the best picture category. WEST SIDE STORY, MY FAIR LADY, GIGI, THE SOUND OF MUSIC and OLIVER! All big winners and each took the top award. But, by and large, the Oscar goes to the best drama. By the same token, during the era of those blockbuster musicals, there were, no doubt, several deserving dramas flattened by the steamroller effect of those mega musicals. So it’s fair that the category should be split. We already have separate special categories for animation, documentary and foreign film.

As usual, there were some odd, even inexplicable results, this year. One of the weirdest was the double win of actress, Kate Winslet. I haven’t seen either of her films and I don’t begrudge her either win. But several commentators pointed out the fact that she is the leading lady in both the films for which she was nominated. Yet, her win for THE READER was as supporting actress.

This result reminded me of the year The Tony Awards presented their Best Supporting Actress award to Rita Moreno for her performance in THE RITZ. During her acceptance speech, Ms. Moreno announced that she was the leading lady at THE RITZ and that whoever really was the best Supporting Actress that season had been robbed! Like Ms. Winslet at the Golden Globes, Ms. Moreno kept her trophy.

UNDERSTUDIES ON BROADWAY

During a recent matinee performance I attended, I overheard a lady exclaim to her companion, This cast must have been hit by the flu! Just look at all these little papers they’ve shoved in our Playbills. There must be seven or eight understudies on at this performance!

I evaluated the stash of announcements in my own Playbill, which I always try to preserve by inserting them into the spine of the booklet, between the staples. There were, indeed, a host of understudies announced by these little inserted pages. But, it did not really suggest an epidemic among the cast members. True, one of the principle roles was being covered by an understudy, but the absence of that player had triggered a domino effect in the cast. Actor A was, indeed, being replaced by understudy B, but that understudy was a regular in the cast in a lesser role. Consequently, there began this shifting of roles. The role usually played by B would be played by C which vacated C’s regular spot and D would cover it and so on until we had this fistful of notes handed us by the usher along with our Playbill.

The obvious reason for all this shuffling is, undoubtedly, payroll. Certain roles are deemed more important and the actor playing each by predetermined value is compensated accordingly. So it is likely that an important performers absence is reason to celebrate among the ranks as each is given bonus pay for stepping up to a better role. It may also be that the better exposure is reason enough for an actor to want to cover or understudy roles other than his or her own as regularly cast.

I would note that I’ve often seen understudies take over lead roles at performances I’ve attended and I’ve rarely felt cheated. The talent pool on Broadway is just astonishing. I’ve never joined disgruntled patrons storming the box office for refunds or exchanges when an understudy is announced. I remind myself that I may be about to witness the defining moment in a future stars’ career. Remember, Shirley MacLaine was the understudy in THE PAJAMA GAME! There may be many people who’d say Carol Haney who? But few wouldn’t know her understudy!

PAL JOEY Starring The UnderstudY

The Rodgers and Hart musical, PAL JOEY has a troubled history. The most frequently quoted theory expounds the belief that sweet water cannot be drawn from a sour well. But the show is filled with sweet elements not the least of which is its wonderful score, including the standards, ‘Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, and I Could Write a Book."

The original production made a star of Gene Kelly although it took his film career to really certify that fact. When the movie version was finally made, the hoofer heel of the original had morphed into a crooner heel and the role went to Frank Sinatra. The score was embellished with additional Rogers and Hart classics borrowed from other of their shows and adding charm to the film was a new location making San Francisco a sort of co-star in the venture.

Over the years various revivals of the stage version have been attempted including one starring Lena Horn with Clifton Davis in the title role. Hopes of making it to Broadway were never realized. But in 1976 Circle in the Square produced a revival on Broadway that really captured our interest and imaginations at Capezio. The leading lady was to be Eleanor Parker, whose reputation for sultry glamour was cinched with her performance in the blockbuster movie version of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. The title role was once again cast with a dancer and this was the cause of all that buzz and excitement at Capezio. That dancer to be the new PAL JOEY was ballet star, Edward Villella!

Of course, we supplied shoes for this new production and I might add the side note that among the chorines I had the pleasure of fitting in dance shoes was pre-television fame, an unknown Marilu Henner.

Excitement built around the sensational wardrobe to be displayed by Ms. Parker during her performance, but most curiosity centered on Villella in his musical theatre turn as the heel.

At some point during early previews the dancing star invited his mentor Jerome Robbins to see and evaluate his work in the production. Whatever those notes contained, the upshot was that Villella chose to escape the project before critics could have their say.

And to our grave disappointment at Capezio, Mr. Villella left the show to his understudy, Christopher Chadman, an able, sometimes featured chorus boy, but one seriously challenged by the task before him. Eleonor Parker decided her career would not benefit from starring opposite a relatively unknown understudy and she joined Villella in his exit. The very capable Joan Copeland stepped in and together with Chadman starred in a disappointing 73 performances.

This week I will attend a matinee performance of the latest Broadway revival of PAL JOEY. Stockard Channing will be on hand along with Martha Plimpton but their co-star in the title role, originally JERSEY BOYS Tony winner, Christian Hoff, suffered a foot injury during an early preview performance and left the production permanently. When the critics finally got their look, the show starred former understudy, Matthew Risch!

WILLIAM IVEY LONG

I saw PAL JOEY this week and during the intermission, I encountered its costume designer, William Ivey Long. I’ve known William since he graduated Yale and began his New York career. An early assignment for him was to spruce up the costumes for a Twyla Tharp ballet called Percussion, which had originally been designed by Santo Loquasto. My memory of the situation was that Santo was unavailable, possibly away on location with a Woody Allen movie as he often was during this period. Unable to oversee his own work, a break was awarded William, that youngster from Yale.

Among the changes that were necessary was a change in the footwear. We, at Capezio, had originally made Russian styled boots for the three dancers in the piece, but time and budget would prevent our recreating those for this revival. This issue created the occasion of my first meetings with William. We worked out the shoe order between us while becoming friendly. We both liked to dish about the business. During this early project, I had no clue how talented William would soon prove himself to be. But the original production of the Broadway musical, NINE, was soon to follow. That huge success told the tale! William Ivey Long was a talent to watch and appreciate. He won the Tony award for that early effort and he was still so young!

During our brief visit at PAL JOEY, now some thirty years later, I, of course, praised William for his magnificent work on this current production and I congratulated him for the recent announcement that he would receive this year’s TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Lifetime Achievement in costume design. He thanked me but added, I think I’m really too young for this.

The Sharaff Award is also presented to a Young Master each year but William’s achievements were way beyond the description for that honor even before the awards were first conceived. The awards have only been presented since 1993 when Ms. Sharaff was, herself, the honoree.

Dear William, may I say that you are, indeed, too young for the designation, Lifetime Achievement. Your wealth of talent and achievement certainly warrants the honor, but I’m sure no one believes you are anywhere near through.

ATHEISM ON A ROLL

I just read a report in The New York Times about double-decker busses in London sporting signs with slogans that have won favor and support from Atheists. One bus pictured with the Times article has a banner with the following quote: There probably is no God – So stop worrying – Relax and enjoy your life.

My personal faith is not shaken and I do enjoy life. But I sometimes wonder how long before we, in New York City, may see such slogans displayed on our own mass transit. Then news of a tragic event, especially when that sometimes terrorist Mother Nature wreaks havoc on our planet with quakes, tornados, hurricanes, and floods, my mind and thoughts may swirl with confusion, until I see her other side in those flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la!.

CAPEZIO PRINT ADS

I’ve been called on to help with many Capezio promotions and advertisements over the years. I was instrumental in getting endorsements from Liza Minnelli, Gregory Hines and Savion Glover among many others. Capezio has had seasons of themed ads including such slogans as You’re a Star in Capezio, I’d Rather Be Dancing. Get Serious. The Best Bodies in the Dance World Wear Capezio. Many of these were used extensively, with different models in different settings. One of my favorite ads for which I helped secure the endorsement and the photograph bore a simple message. The photo shows Andrea McArdle as Annie, wearing her black patent Capezio’s, of course, and dancing with Daddy Warbucks. The copy read simply: Annie Wears Capezio.

I proposed we do a series of these ads following this same simple format. We’d been given a great photo autographed by Will Ferrell. Dressed in his full ELF costume, he thanks us for the shoes with their distinctive curled up toes. And I thought now there’s an ad! That photo together with the simple copy: ELF wears Capezio! And from there my mind ran rampantly onward as I gazed at the marquee for WICKED across the street from my office at 51st and Broadway. Witches wear Capezio! or in THE WIZ Dorothy wears Capezio! or The Tin Man wears Capezio Lions wear Capezio, Rockettes wear Capezio, A CHORUS LINE wears Capezio, DREAMGIRLS wear Capezio, SOPHISTICATED LADIES wear Capezio, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA wear Capezio, A Rockin’ Hamlet wears Capezio, KINGS wear Capezio, (See Denzel Washington as Richard III.) CINDERELLA wears Capezio." (Even her glass slipper is Capezio!) Rock Stars wear Capezio,( i.e. Mick Jagger, Todd Rudgren, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson!) Superstars wear Capezio, (i.e. Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler, Carol Channing, Angela Lansbury, Linda Ronstadt, Chita Rivera, Gwen Verdon.) And thanks to Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS wear Capezio, and for all that, again with gratitude to Sir Andrew, even Jesus wears Capezio. . . .

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AT THE FEET OF THE STARS

On the occasion of my thirty-fifth anniversary with Capezio, I was asked by the marketing division to write a page or two detailing some of the experiences I’d had over the years which they could use in a press release to certain retail trade papers and publications related to our business. Here follows the article I submitted at that time.

As I reflect on the thirty-five years I’ve worked for Capezio, I’m taken back to the circumstances that brought me to New York. I’d been teaching theatre at Arapaho Community College in Littleton, Colorado and directing a Summer Theatre for high school students in my hometown, Greeley, while pursuing my main goal, writing plays and musicals. I was blessed with productions of several works I’d written, and I was acting in local Community and Dinner Theatres in Denver. Among my trusted friends and mentors I was encouraged with some insisting there’s nothing wrong with being a big fish in a little pond. But, most confidants maintained I needed to take my product to market, and that meant New York City. I finally summoned the courage to relocate following a glamorous holiday to the Big Apple, which exposed me to Broadway in a theatre going spree that included most of the major hits as well as Off Broadway and free Shakespeare in the Park. New York Theatre was beyond compare and I was dazzled! How to earn a living was the challenge. Married and desirous of having a family with children, I took my so called day job at Capezio.

Within weeks, I was heading the Theatrical division, fitting shoes for Broadway shows, meeting celebrities the likes of Liza Minnelli and continuing my glutinous passion seeing almost everything on Broadway, including galas and opening nights. My job eventually earned me the title, Director of Theatrical Sales and Fittings and the years flew by till that day job became my career!

I’ve traveled to fit shows in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and I caught up to touring shows with whom I had established accounts, seeing performances all over the country as an added perk, sometimes planning family vacations to coincide with National Tour schedules. These bonuses have afforded me visits to San Francisco, Washington D.C., Arizona Theatre Co., The Santa Fe Opera, Nashville, Memphis, Denver, New Haven, Hershey Park, Disneyworld, Dollywood and London! On one breathtaking Wednesday, I flew to Boston to see a matinee of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and returned to New York in time to attend the opening night of Angela Lansbury in her return to Broadway as MAME.

I’ve worked with most of the major Broadway musicals produced since 1973. Highlights have included: NO, NO, NANETTE, IRENE, PIPPIN, THE WIZ, 42nd STREET, CATS and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA while one great revival era brought back OKLAHOMA!, BRIGADOON, THE KING AND I, GUYS AND DOLLS, THE MUSIC MAN, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, CAROUSEL, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM. Movies have included THE WIZ, ELF and A CHORUS LINE. The original production of the latter musical is especially dear to me having been involved from its inception at the Public Theatre throughout its transfer to Broadway and its fifteen year, record breaking run. The triumphant return of A CHORUS LINE to Broadway last year was a sentimental highpoint for me as Capezio once again, made all those finale shoes, bringing my career full circle.

I haven’t realized all the personal goals I’d dreamed for myself when I came to New York thirty-five years ago, but with Capezio, I’ve lived the life I wanted to live.

SOMETHING TO FALL BACK ON

My dad wanted to be a shoe salesman. He was a hard working meat cutter his whole career, save a brief period when he sold Knapp shoes door to door. He loved doing that. But, he and others in my family believed he could not earn a sufficient income with his shoe sales alone. It was suggested he might find a job in a regular retail shop, but he believed in the brand he represented. In those years, Knapp sold their shoes, exclusively, door to door, rather like Avon cosmetics. So the venture remained more a hobby for him, although I know he dreamed of going full time and earning his living, supporting his family, selling Knapp shoes.

I wanted to be a playwright. At various times in my youth, I also wanted to be an actor, director, and composer. I played around with all of these and had some amateur successes with each of them. But, I was also raised to be practical and so I armed myself with a teaching degree, just to have something to fall back on. What I ultimately fell back on was Capezio. At every juncture of frustration, always when I was ready to return to teaching, Capezio would come through with a deal that exceeded any offer I might have. So I’ve had a career as a shoe salesman. Granted, there were theatrical connections and perks with selling Capezio that kept me on the job.

I prepared to be a teacher, got certified in my home state of Colorado and felt armed with something I could fall back on. Yet, teaching was never my major means of support. It’s too bad, in a way, because I truly enjoyed teaching. And I especially enjoyed directing all those student productions!

Writing has never earned me much money, either, but when my dreams eluded me, although prepared to be a teacher, I fell back on Capezio. For like my dad, I always felt I had to take the best financial deal for my family. But ironically, dad, I’ve come close to realizing one of your dreams.

MY ACTING CAREER,

(including the Broadway debut!)

The earliest recollection I have of appearing on stage in costume was during a first grade, PTA sponsored production and the costume I wore was my very own bedtime pajamas! How embarrassing! I was one of maybe, twenty little tikes, subjected to this nightmare. The humiliating pageant included performances by each grade and class section in my elementary school, Maplewood, in Greeley, Colorado. The program began with the smallest children, my class, and progressed variety show fashion, culminating with offerings prepared by the sixth grade students, which I viewed from the wings in wide-eyed awe. Those big kids were amazing! Behind Castle Walls in Old Mexico! featured swaggering young people playing ranchers and their girlfriends all of whom sang while dancing and earned loud rounds of applause from the audience, mostly parents, of course! But, thrilling for the cast, yet, my own appearance in this spectacle was torture, for me.

The preparation for these follies had gone on for weeks and weeks as all of us in the first grade learned the sweet little step slide dance during gym class, in which we boys were paired with girls by height. In that endeavor, each couple had a reasonable height ratio, but most pairs still had girls towering over their male partners. It’s interesting how that phenomena changes around eighth grade. Even girls we thought were giants suddenly shrink! But, even though shorter than my partner, I loved doing our little dance and I thought I was really good at it. I should certainly have been chosen to appear on stage with any one of the young ladies I’d practiced with as my partner. But when the couples were chosen and separated out from the whole class to be the dancers who would demonstrate this newly learned skill in public, I was not chosen! I was heartbroken, but where could I turn for sympathy? My own mother turned a deaf ear!

The performance was an unqualified smash! The girls were dressed in bright green crepe paper skirts and white blouses and the boys in short pants and white shirts wore huge bow ties made of the same green crepe paper as the girl’s skirts. I envied these chosen kids so much when I saw them in dress rehearsal that I made myself a bow tie like the ones the boys got to wear, and I wore it around my house for days following the gala premier.

I was not eliminated from the performance, however. I just didn’t get to dance! I, along with the other kids not chosen to dance in the show, was taught a song to sing called I’ve Got the Mumps! We were lined up across the apron of the stage to sing this sad ballad, all about the miseries of being ill preventing playtime with friends. We actually appeared in front of the green velvet house curtain, which seemed to make our performance something that preceded the real show! Following our song, that massive, heavy, curtain would open to reveal the dancers in their wonderful green and white costumes! Toe heel, toe heel, slide, slide, slide.

We openers, were dressed in our pajamas with cloth diapers tied under out chins and knotted on top of our heads, leaving the ends flapping like great long rabbit ears. I thought we looked ridiculous as we sang I’ve got the mumps! Of course, we caused a riot of laughter and applause in the audience, and why not? I’d have thought it hysterical, myself, had I not been among those up for ridicule. We weren’t even afforded the modesty of a bathrobe! When it was all over, already dressed for bed, I found my parents and clung to my mother’s skirt as we exited the crowded auditorium. Many people offered warm smiling praise as we made our way to our car and I would bury my face in mom’s skirt when both she and dad urged me to say thank you! I was miserable all right and not from the mumps! I just wanted to get out of there. Was it here I decided to hate school? Every spring I would sweat out the final report card, afraid I’d be held back. I’d feel so relieved to be promoted with merely average grades.

In the car, my parents continued the praise and my dad even proclaimed we were the biggest hit of the whole performance. But, I wanted to dance! My mother consoled me with what may have been the simple truth. The kids who did the dance were chosen because they couldn’t carry a tune! You have a nice voice and can sing! So, thought I, be the one who can do a crummy job and you may be chosen to do it!

Other than singing with the school chorus in concert performances at Christmas time and again in the spring, I did not appear on stage with any notoriety again until I was in the fifth grade. Now one of the big kids, myself, I was eligible to be in the operetta! (Wow! Remember Behind Castle Walls in Old Mexico?) I auditioned and I got the part! The musical was called Christmas Fun in ’91. I played Gustav, the head cook in a wealthy household. Each time I appeared, I was accompanied by two other household servants, Jeeves, the English Butler, played by my best friend, and Marie, the French Maid. A running gag built throughout the play as each time we appeared, the formally attired butler, white tie and tails like Fred Astaire’s, rented from a costume house in Denver (!), bowed to his mistress, Your wish, Madam? The French Maid curtsied and chimed in Oui, oui, Madam! followed by my own Swedish Chef in thick accent, You’ve been ‘vaant’ something? As I brushed clouds of flour off a rolling pin, our little trio stopped the show! And I was smitten as an actor!

The next year, in sixth grade, I auditioned again. This time I was cast as one of the leads in a Christmas operetta titled He Said He Was Santa. I had the title role but, in the interests of sharing the wealth, I was actually double cast as Santa. I played the role only in Act One, during which I sang two solos while another sixth grader from the class across the hall, was cast in the same role for the Second Act. He also had a solo to sing, but only one, so I felt I had the bigger and better share of the wealth. Still, how this was going to work was a great mystery to me. Our voices didn’t sound at all alike! Mine was already beginning to change, although past the cracking stage, while his was still a very clear soprano. But, when we were all made up, with quizzical, arching eyebrows painted on and the full white Santa beard glued in place with spirit gum, we looked remarkably alike. We looked so much alike when fully costumed and made-up, that my best friend’s mom said she didn’t realize I’d been replaced in the second act until the other boy started to sing. She added that I had the better voice, by far, sounding so deep and mature. By now, I was really smitten!

In Junior High School I played the lead in a One Act play titled Spring Daze. My character was a precocious teenager somewhat older than I was, but a classmate had the even more challenging task of playing my dad! We both thought it was weird, but we also enjoyed the rollicking response we got from the audience. It was a clever little play and I knew I was the star! I had all the best lines! Everyone else just cued my zingers!

I appeared in the annual Spring Musical Revue two of the three years I was a student at Heath Junior High. In the first, I joined the boy’s chorus for a fully staged version of There Is Nothin’ like a Dame, from SOUTH PACIFIC. Some of the school’s gymnastic team was recruited giving the staging real excitement. Taking a cue from the movie, I painted my T-shirt with large red letters, the name Buzz across my chest. That nickname stuck with me for a few years, as some of my classmates took it up when addressing me following that performance. I enjoyed having a nickname even if I had promoted it for myself.

The second year our boy’s chorus sported trench coats and brimmed felt hats to sing Brush Up Your Shakespeare, from KISS ME, KATE. Our music director had seen KISS ME, KATE on Broadway! He told a story about the performance he attended in which the lead actress playing Kate sang I Hate Men, while sitting at a rustic table and for emphasis, she slammed a beer mug onto the table with such force, it broke and pieces flew into the audience. (I would one day witness a similar accident while watching John Cunningham as John Adams in 1776 on Broadway, break his prop cane while hitting the floor with it in his own emphatic gesture and pieces of the cane flew toward the audience.)

Eager to be grown up, I was happy to finally make it to High School, but as a tenth grader, found myself, once again one of the little guys. Still, I auditioned for the fall production which was an English farce titled See How They Run. Greeley High School always did three major productions per year with the winter staging being a full scale musical. Fall and spring productions were straight plays and the available roles were usually few. So the more serious drama students had the upper hand in getting cast. Certainly, no one expected to be cast in one of these limited opportunity productions while only a tenth grader. The competition for roles was always very high and the musical often had double or even triple casting of principle roles just to give more students a chance to perform. (It also provided the production some understudy insurance.) When this occurred, each lead would alternate, playing only one or two performances. Popularity contests would ensue as fellow cast members would decide who was best in any particular role and they’d make sure their own parents and friends attended that person’s performance. This cliquish competition had little impact on audience attendance, really, as the musical was always a sellout. I once had very disgruntled neighbors who couldn’t believe I was unable to secure them tickets to see one of these performances. "You can’t get us in, your own next door neighbors?" But, I really couldn’t help them. We were Sold Out!

Shock waves rippled throughout the student body when, as a sophomore, I was cast my very first quarter in SEE HOW THEY RUN. Only one junior made the cut and his role was actually smaller than my own. He and I became very close friends as all seniors, who would graduate in the spring, played all the remaining roles in the cast of only nine characters. I played the Reverend Arthur Humphrey, a collared Episcopalian minister who doesn’t appear till the third act. But, by the time he does enter, the farcical situation is so well established that almost every line he speaks garners huge, riotous laughs from the audience as they know all sorts of things of which my character is innocently unaware. I actually stopped the show twice in this role! I was no longer merely smitten with the acting bug. I was hooked!

Winter brought OKLAHOMA! Cast as Fred, I had a few lines and some solo parts to sing in the title songs’ verse, and I was also in the dancing chorus! I danced in the dream ballet, Laurey Makes Up Her Mind, and the Act Two opening barn dance, The Farmer and the Cowman.

I had wanted desperately to play Will Parker and I gave a very good audition for it. The director had even told me, on the sly, that I’d given the best audition she’d heard for the role. I thought I had it in the bag and was mortified when the casting was actually posted a couple days later. Word had gotten out that I’d had the brilliant accompanist transpose Kansas City, which he did on the spot, to a key down a third from the key in which it was written. Did I expect the entire orchestration would be transposed for me? My mentor, director, took me aside to warn me before the casting was announced. And she explained the issue the music people had with my vocal range. I wished I’d been offered a second try to sing in the correct key, but it was really too late. And after all, I was only a sophomore, and would have several more chances to play important roles before I graduated. In fact, I did play good roles in every show staged over the next three years, save one, but more about that will follow later.

In the spring we did THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH and I played Mr. Fitzpatrick, the stage manager. It was not a great role, but I gave it my all and I loved being in with my new circle of friends. We were the drama students! Many of our rank were popular class clowns. This Thornton Wilder classic was a very ambitious choice for high school production and our beloved director, Ruth Kline, steered us to victory at the All State High School drama competition, held at the University of Colorado, in Boulder. Our production won the trophy! Our school was All State Champions in Basketball, such a frequent occurrence it was nearly ordained! But, now, also in drama, which was a first! And I was a part of that victory which gave me a sense of school pride, a new sensation for me, being on the winning team.

During the fall of my junior year, Ruth Kline had chosen CHARLEY’S AUNT as the first production. Rumor had it that one of my friends, a natural comedian in the classroom and hallways, whom we all called Rosie, derived from his last name, Rosentrator, was a shoo-in for the lead. I read the script and chose Jack Chesney as the role I’d go after. Somehow, Mrs. Kline did not seem too impressed with my reading for that role and I was devastated! She called me at home that night and asked what had gone wrong at the try-outs. She had conferred with some of my friends, who knew I was depressed and I leveled with her. I wanted to play Jack! My really good friend, the one who, as a junior had appeared with me in SEE HOW THEY RUN, was a perfect Charley and everyone knew it! That sort of left Jack, didn’t it? Don’t you like ‘Babs? Lord Fancourt Babberly is the lead role in Charley’s Aunt and it’s he who impersonates the aunt so the other college chums, Jack and Charley, can have their dates with a proper chaperone on hand. A silence fell between this wonderful director, whom I worshiped, and me. Babs? Everyone knows Rosie is playing Babs! Rosie! Why do you think that? "Everyone thinks that! I don’t! And I’m casting this play!"

Rosie played the butler and was given many wonderful moments worthy of his skills as a clown, including an interpolated song, in which he waltzed with a push broom during an olio act. It was a clever production and we were all given interpolated songs to sing as olio acts. I played Lord Fancourt Baberly, Charley’s Aunt, and my song was actually included within the third act, devised really as an 11:00 O’clock number. The song, It Was My Last Cigar, during which I was allowed to light up and smoke a real cigar, stinking up the entire auditorium, much to my classmates delight, was sung while sneaking a smoke break, while still dressed in full drag as the aunt. How shocking for the young female characters in the play when they catch Charley’s aunt smoking!

I gained great confidence as an actor playing CHARLEY’S AUNT as well as a new bad habit, which I’d years later, struggle to quit! Smoking was a standard part of the image for Thespians in those years. Too late, we learn, smoking is that old friend who turns on us!

The winter musical was SOUTH PACIFIC and I fancied myself as Luther Billis. For sure, Mrs. Kline agreed with my aspirations, but the directorial responsibilities were not to be hers, but rather reassigned, through circumstances beyond anyone’s control. The new director had someone else in mind for Billis. I, along with many others in my circle of friends, believed there was something political involved in the choice, but I was cast as Captain Bracket. This, while disappointing at the time, eventually led to my creating one of my finest characterizations. Playing Bracket was a much more challenging stretch for me as an actor and I received some of my finest reviews for the performance. Playing Billis would have been a breeze, following my work in Charley’s Aunt, up to and including the comic appearance in drag for the Honey Bun number. But, to this day, I feel lucky to have had the outcome that was.

Come spring, Ruth Kline was back in her capacity as director. She took on ROMEO AND JULIET and cast me as Mercutio! With this challenging project, our school again placed high at the All State Drama Festival in Boulder at CU. I was, personally, being touted for my versatility as an actor. I was elected president of the Thespian Troupe and my life was high flying; my head in the clouds. I fully expected to be accepted by one of the better Theatre Schools in the country following graduation.

My senior year brought a crashing set back for me, personally, as I became entangled in a political disaster involving the teacher, Mr. Girault, being opposed by most of the Thespians, of which I was President. Now, director of the plays, Doc, (we all called him that even though he still hadn’t completed the French requirement to earn his degree,) selected a project for the fall production that a clear majority of the Thespians and other interested drama students were determined to boycott. The play was to be a mostly danced ballet with narration of the classic, SLEEPING BEAUTY.

I could have been that narrator! Ironically, Doc told me in a private conversation, he had planned the role of the narrator with me in mind. He explained I’d have been seated in an oversized, fantasy rocking chair downstage right, with a huge story book on my lap, and opening it, I’d read the entire text while the action unfolded, through a dreamlike scrim, on the stage behind me. Following the collapse of our relationship as teacher and prized senior student, the narrator became a pretty girl wearing a pretty gown, seated in the center of a large flower, blooming down stage right, with a magic wand in hand, surrounded by petals and glitter.

Unfortunately, not many among our ranks had been trained for ballet nor did they consider themselves to be dancers. Many felt they were being robbed of the opportunity as drama students to work on or even act in a play. Mr. Girault was a trained dancer and he had even studied in New York. His concept for SLEEPING BEAUTY would, he maintained, offer many students a new stretch in their experience and he promised to devise movement that most of us could tackle and conquer easily. Today, I understand his plan and its wisdom. But the rank and file, those members who’d elected me their president, was not having it!

Doc had been established as head of theatre in our school long before I entered as a sophomore. He had taken a sabbatical to work on his Doctorate at Denver University the year I entered as a sophomore. Ruth Kline had been brought in to replace him for that year he was off. Her success, including the All State Championship for THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, OKLAHOMA! (The first full scale Book musical presented as previous years had always been variety shows,) and with SEE HOW THEY RUN added, the sum of her popular successes prompted administration to offer her continued employment along with the returning, Doc. He had not successfully completed his work on his doctorate and welcomed the lighter load made possible by Ruth’s return along with him, sharing responsibilities in the classroom and with the productions. Ruth would direct while Doc would be technical director, designing sets and lighting. Ruth would continue her work with costumes, with which she had a special affinity, and direct the plays while they both would carry full course loads as speech and drama teachers. What lucky kids we were! The arrangement ranked our high school in a league with many colleges!

When SOUTH PACIFIC had gone into production, Doc pleaded with Ruth to let him direct it. There was a prevailing belief that he felt the need to reclaim his mantel as head of the department. He was supposed to be the technical director, responsible for sets and lighting. Ruth would do all the costuming and direct the plays. That was the plan. But, she couldn’t refuse him when he asked so desperately, she said. The job was his in the first place, and she was merely the substitute in the plan. She protested only that she could not do all the tech stuff, while he took over the director’s chores, and he said she didn’t have to, he’d do it all. She’d only have to help with costumes. So that’s what happened to my playing Luther Billis in SOUTH PACIFIC.

Now, I’m a senior, the Big Kid at last, and my beloved Ruth has opted out of the plan altogether. She relocated with her husband, Charles Kline, himself a Doctor of Theatre Arts, first to Drake University in Iowa and later to Plattsburgh, New York where he was the head of Theatre Departments. I was left, in my last year of High School, as President of Thespians, but with an unpleasant student revolt over the proposed fall production, SLEEPING BEAUTY. It was my misfortune to chair the meeting at which the rebels staged their protest. In the end, I was summoned to the principal’s office, accused of insubordination, and stripped of my office as President. My mother tried to defend me and pleaded my case in a phone call to the principal, but she was plowed under his bullying manner and words which warned: David is lucky he’s not being expelled! I still feel the pain of this whole episode whenever I recall it, and even now, as I write about it, all these years later, I’m carried back to my painful beginnings as an actor, when, on the stage of my elementary school, I stood naked in my pajamas and sang, I’ve got the mumps! That fall, my senior year, I was taking some lumps!

Eventually all the roles in SLEEPING BEAUTY were filled with cowed rebel Thespians frightened by the example of my sacrifice. One of them even accepted and played the new version of the Narrator, while I sat in the audience at every single performance. Many parents of the cast expressed their sympathy and shock at my not being somewhere on the stage! And what could I say? I’m not really a dancer, or maybe, I’ve got the mumps.

It was truly a low point in my life, but I recovered with the help of many encouraging allies. Ruth Kline gave me the pep talk of a lifetime via mail, in answer to my whiny letter to her. She included the mundane gift of a pocket dictionary, which had been her own in college. I treasure it still, along with its inscription to me, and back then, I stiff upper lipped and went to work on the stage crew, painting flats and gelling lights for SLEEPING BEAUTY. And by the end of the year I’d earned the necessary points to be reinstated as a new member of Thespians with several additional stars to hang on my pin. Members are considered highly advanced if one earns four stars over three years. I have seven hanging on the chain between my Thespian pin and its guard. It’s not even proper to wear them all at once. But, I earned them albeit through two, separate, qualifying memberships.

The musical my senior year was BRIGADOON and I picked up the tattered threads of my acting career with Andrew McLaren, father of the leading lady. I was touted for my Scottish accent and happy to be back on stage! That spring, Doc, in solo charge once again, chose ANDROCLES AND THE LION and our troupe again qualified for the competition in Boulder, where I received accolades for my Caesar.

The regular run of the play was experimental in that Doc decided to play it as a repertory company. To wit, we had four different cast lists. One was listed for opening night while the second and third performances shuffled the cast with the same people, all switching roles. I was the opening night Caesar, but was cast as the Captain for the second performance, a matinee, and as the Editor for the third performance that night. The fourth cast was the one to perform at the State Festival in Boulder and it was mostly the same list as opening night so I played Caesar. All in all it was great experience. And I had a lark changing my hair color and style for each character. I played Caesar with maroon-red hair. I played the Captain with my hair sprayed black. The third performance was on the evening following that matinee and I added clown white streaks to the black and trained my hair into a wild, spiky, punk style, years before it would become a fad. The All State Festival was days later and I’d been shampooed and