Misplaced Pages

Joan McCracken: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 06:36, 2 January 2014 editSer Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Administrators6,319,341 edits add category using AWB← Previous edit Revision as of 18:06, 8 February 2014 edit undoCoretheapple (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers30,722 editsm →Early careerTag: Visual editNext edit →
(135 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Infobox person
'''Joan McCracken''' (December 31, 1917 – November 1, 1961) was an American dancer, actress, and comedian who became famous for her role as Sylvie ("The Girl Who Falls Down") in the original 1943 production of '']''. By age 11, she was studying dance with ]. She dropped out of high school to join Littlefield's ballet company. She was a student of ] in the first year of the ] (SAB).
| name = Joan McCracken
| image = Joan McCracken in Good News trailer.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = McCracken in ''Good News'' (1947)
| birth_name = Joan Hume McCracken
| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|12|31|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = ], ], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1961|11|01|1917|12|31|mf=yes}}
| death_place = ], U.S.
| death_cause = Heart attack (] complication)
| resting_place = Cremated
| nationality = American
| ethnicity =
| education = ]
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Dancer, actress, singer
| years_active = 1935–1958
| known_for =
| spouse = {{marriage|]|1939|1951}}<br>{{marriage|]|1952|1959}}
| children =
}}
'''Joan McCracken''' (December 31, 1917 – November 1, 1961) was an American dancer, actress, and comedian who became famous for her role as Sylvie ("The Girl Who Falls Down") in the original 1943 production of '']''.


McCracken, who was considered an innovator in combining dance with comedy, went on to other musical and dramatic roles on Broadway and early television. But her career was ultimately was cut short due to complications from her lifelong ].
The ]-born McCracken toured Europe and danced at ] as a ] before creating the role of Sylvie. By 1947, she was studying acting with ], ] alumnus and soon-to-be ] co-founder (along with fellow alumni ] and ]). That fall, at Lewis' invitation, McCracken would became one of the Studio's charter members.<ref>Sagolla, Lisa Jo </ref>


Earlier that year, she made a strong impression in the remake of '']'', with her portrayal of vivacious Babe Doolittle. Her number, "Pass That Peace Pipe", was a standout, but her movie career never took off. According to her biographer, she told ] about her reactions to her brother's death, and he "used her violent tantrum in the '']'' dressing room as the model for a scene in his popular novella '']''.<ref>Sagolla, p. 110</ref> She was noted for unconventional behavior and was one of the real-life persons counterparts to Holly Golightly in ]'s novella '']''.<ref>Sagolla, p. 110</ref>

==Early life==

'''Joan Hume McCracken''' was born in ] on December 31, 1917,<ref>Although many biographical sources during her lifetime gave her birth year as 1922, her biographer Lisa Jo Sagolla, author of ''The Girl Who Fell Down,'' found that McCracken systematically added five years to her age and went to elaborate lengths to conceal her birth year, and did not even disclose her age to her second husband, Bob Fosse</ref> the daughter of Mary Humes and Franklin T. McCracken, a prominent sportswriter at the '']'' who was the dean of Philadelphia golf writers and an authority on boxing. <ref>Sagolla, p. 10</ref>

By age 11, she was awarded a scholarship for acrobatic work at a Philadelphia gymnasium, and later studied dance with ]. She dropped out of ] in the tenth grade to study dance in New York with ] in the first year of the ] (SAB) in 1934.<ref>Sagolla, p. 24-26</ref>

==Career==
===Early career===
In 1935, McCracken returned to Philadelphia to join a ballet company being formed by Littlefield, originally called the Littlefield Ballet and, from 1936 onwards, also known as the Philadelphia Ballet. When the ballet company made its official debut in November 1935, McCracken was a principal soloist. In 1937 she went on a European tour with the company, in what was the first tour of an American ballet company in Europe. This put a strain on her health, because she had just been diagnosed with ], also known as "juvenile diabetes," which was difficult to control utilizing the medical technology at the time. McCracken kept her diabetes a secret throughout her life to prevent damage to her career. Her diabetes made her prone to fainting spells, sometimes during performances, as well as medical complications later in her life. <ref>Sagolla, pp. 29-33</ref>

In 1940, McCracken and her new husband ], also a dancer, moved to New York City. At first neither failed to obtain employment, and McCracken danced in ]'s ballet company. In 1941 she danced with the ballet company at ] in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, and later that year joined the Dance Players, formed by choreographer ], with ] as Loring's assistant and leading male dancer. <ref>Sagolla, pp. 50-57</ref>

===''Oklahoma!'' and Hollywood===

In 1942 McCracken and Dunphy both auditioned for ], who cast them in ensemble roles in her new musical ''Away We Go'', later titled '']''. The show went into rehearsals in early 1943. McCracken was cast in an anonymous dance role as Sylvie in the '']'' dance number, but became famous for taking a comic pratfall in the middle of the number. She became known as "The Girl Who Fell Down." Sources differ as to whether the role's distinctive fall was devised by McCracken or de Mille. <ref>Sagolla, pp. 69-73</ref>

As a result of her performance in ''Oklahoma!'', McCracken was given a movie contract by ]. She was in a specialty dance routine in '']'' (1944). McCracken was dismayed by the lack of professionalism that she observed at Warner Brothers, and the lack of guidance that she received from the choreographer, ]. In ''Hollywood Canteen'' she performed in a dance number called "Ballet in Jive," which received favorable critical attention. However, McCracken disliked the patronizing tone of the film, which treated servicemen as naive bumpkins, because her husband was serving in the Army and her younger brother, Buddy McCracken, was a lieutenant in the U.S. Marines.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 82-91</ref>

McCracken broke her Warner Brothers contract and went back to Broadway to star in the musical '']'', set in the early Twentieth Century, getting rave reviews for her performance, which combined comedy acting with dance. While not the highest-bill star in that show, her performance, especially of the song "Waiting for Tommora," enhanced her reputation as a comic performer. <ref>Sagolla, p. 108-110</ref>

===Broadway and television===
She subsequently appeared in '']'', which opened on Broadway in December 1945, winning positive reviews for her performance. The show itself received only lukewarm reviews, however, and her career was not helped by her starring role in that play.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 123-126</ref> After ''Billion Dollar Baby'' she was hired by ] to appear in the 1947 college musical '']'', starring ] and ]. She received good reviews playing the vivacious Babe Doolittle. Her song-and-dance number, "Pass That Peace Pipe", was a standout, but MGM did not renew her contract and her movie career never took off.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 138-152</ref> Author Jeanine Basinger observed in ''The Star Machine'', a study of MGM, that unlike ], who was being groomed for stardom by MGM at the same time, McCracken lacked "close-up appeal" and delivered her lines in the hard-edged, Broadway style, "reaching for that little old lady in the balcony." Unlike Reynolds, a show business novice, the Broadway veteran McCracken was "faux-fresh."<ref name="Star Machine">{{cite book | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=B4q1WWk9BggC&pg=PT205&dq=joan+mccracken&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gFH2Usy1JqSMyAHymoDgBA&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=joan%20mccracken&f=false | title=The Star Machine | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | author=Basinger, Jeanine | year=2007 | location=New York | pages=111}}</ref>

McCracken was had limited range as a singer, which prevented her from getting some Broadway parts. ] described her as a "small, yet powerful woman with a foghorn voice."<ref>Sagolla, p. 211</ref> She long yearned to become a serious actress, and in 1947 she began studying acting with ], ] alumnus and soon-to-be ] co-founder (along with fellow alumni ] and ]). That fall, at Lewis' invitation, McCracken would became one of the Studio's charter members. In December 1947 she appeared in the New York production of ]'s play '']'', starring ] in the title role and directed by ], playing Galileo's daughter Virginia.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 152-154</ref> She also studied acting with ] and ] at the ]. <ref name="Tribune-1953">{{cite news | title=44th St. Home to Joan McCracken | work=New York Herald Tribune | date=19-July-1953 | accessdate=7 February 2014 | author=Ormsbee, Helen | pages=D2}}</ref><ref>Sagolla, pp. 152-154</ref>

In 1949, she appeared in the Broadway production of the ] play ''The Big Knife'', a fierce indictment of Hollywood. The play was directed by ] and starred ] as a film star who is being blackmailed by a studio boss for killing a child during a car accident some years earlier. The studio covered up the incident at the time and is using that as leverage on the Garfield character. McCracken played a ], Dixie Evans, who was involved in the incident and is threatening to talk about it. Her acting in the non-dancing role was praised by critics, with ] of ''The New York Times'' calling it an "inventive performance of real quality."<ref name="Times-knife">{{cite news | url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F1EF93959157A93C4A91788D85F4D8485F9 | title='THE BIG KNIFE'; If Hollywood Has Not Helped Odets It Has Apparently Done Him No Harm | work=The New York Times | date=6 March 1949 | accessdate=8 February 2014 | author=Atkinson, Brooks}}</ref>

Her next role was not as helpful to her career. She appeared in the 1950 musical comedy ''Dance Me a Song'', which turned out to be a flop even though it was choreographed by ], who had won acclaim for ''Oklahoma!'' a few years earlier. As one of the play's principal stars, she appeared in several scenes. But the choreography was ravaged by critics, as was the play, and reviews of her performance were mixed.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 186-191</ref>

McCracken starred with ], a veteran Broadway actor, in the play ''Angel in the Pawnshop'', in a 1950 tour and on Broadway in 1951. She played a young woman seeking to escape her marriage from a homicidal thief, in a pawnshop owned by Dowling's character. While in the pawnshop she puts on old clothing and fantasizes that she is living in happier times. Although she engaged in some choreographed dancing during the play, it was a straight dramatic role. While the play was being prepared for Broadway, in October 1950, she appeared on television in the premiere of the '']'', playing Essie in '']''. At that time, McCracken gave an interview disparaging television, which might have hurt her career. Reviews for ''Angel in the Pawnshop'' were negative, and she received mixed reviews for her performance.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 186-191</ref>

She went on to appear in '']'', a Broadway revival adapted from the 1904 ] play. She starred in the title role in a touring company production in 1951, succeeding ]. The play was not a musical, and was different from the subsequent version starring ] a few years later, but had five songs by Leonard Bernstein. Captain Hook was played by ]. ''Peter Pan'' was her favorite acting role.<ref name="Tribune-1953"/><ref>Sagolla, pp. 193-197</ref>

In 1952 she appeared in one of the first television ], ''Claudia: The Story of a Marriage'', based on a film series in which the title role was played by ]. McCracken played opposite Broadway actor ]. <ref>Sagolla, pp. 199-201</ref>

McCracken next appeared on Broadway in the 1953 ] musical '']''. The choreography was by ], who had worked with McCracken on ''Good News''. The play was meant to show what it was like to be backstage during the run of a hit Broadway show, and she performed opposite ] in the "show within a show." Although her performance received good reviews, the play did not, and it did little to help her career. <ref>Sagolla, pp. 206-210</ref>

===Decline===

Her worsening health, and the lack of success of her most recent Broadway plays took a toll on her career, despite the favorable notices for her performance in ''The Big Knife'' and ''Peter Pan''. As her health declined she found that her dancing ability was affected, and by the mid-1950s, as her marriage to ] disintegrated, a heart condition caused by her diabetes made it impossible for her to dance. She suffered a severe heart attack in 1955, followed by a possible second attack, and then developed pneumonia which required an extended stay in the hospital. She hid the severity of her health problems, but some details became public.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 228-229</ref>

Although she appeared on television and in dramatic roles, her career petered out in the late 1950s, as complications from her diabetes made it increasingly difficult for her to work. Her final stage appearance was in a 1958 ] production of ]'s 1934 play, '']'', appearing alongside ] and ].<ref name="Times obit">{{cite web | title=Joan McCracken Is Dead at 38; Dancer Appeared in 'Oklahoma!': Became Famous Overnight as 'Girl Who Falls Down'--Also Was Seen in Films | publisher=The New York Times | date=2 November 1961 | accessdate=6 February 2014 | pages=37}}</ref>


==Personal life== ==Personal life==
She was married to ], whom she divorced on March 6, 1951, and then to dancer and choreographer ] from December 1952 to 1959.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 192, 204</ref>


McCracken was described by her biographer as a "bohemian" free spirit and uninhibited, and at times like to behave outrageously. In one meeting with MGM vocal coach ], she removed her blouse and bra to become "more comfortable."<ref>Sagolla, p. 131, 145</ref>
McCracken was diagnosed in her teens with ]. Reliable treatment for the disease was not yet available, and her career was severely hampered as a result, despite her conscientiousness with regard to her condition. Through luck and determination, she persevered better than most; but long-term complications inevitably set in, and inherited heart problems (both of her parents died of heart attacks in their early 40s) damaged her health further, forcing her to turn down numerous offers of work. She died in her sleep, of a heart attack, in 1961 on ], age 43.

She met ], then a dancer with the Littlefield company, in 1937. They married in 1939 and separated after Dunphy's service during World War II, during which McCracken had an affair with French composer ]. Dunphy was devastated by the infidelity and blamed it for his change in sexual orientation. He adopted a gay lifestyle, became romantically involved with ], and he and McCracken were divorced in 1951. Dunphy remained Capote's partner until his death in 1984.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 139-141</ref>

McCracken met dancer and choreographer ] while both were appearing in ''Dance Me a Song'', in which she had a starring role and he was a specialty dancer. She was married to him from December 1952 to 1959. She worked actively to advance his career and encouraged his work as a choreographer. Her intervention with producer ] led to his first major job as a choreographer, in '']''.<ref>Sagolla, pp. 217-219</ref> They divorced as her health worsened, and as Fosse, who was serially unfaithful during their marriage, left McCracken for ].<ref>Sagolla, pp. 224-225</ref>
Later in life she was in a relationship with actor Marc Adams, and spent large amounts of time at her beach house in ] on ] <ref>Sagolla, pp. 192, 204</ref>

McCracken died in her sleep, from a heart attack brought on by her diabetes, on November 1, 1961. She was cremated. Her ashes, which were given to mother, were subsequently lost.<ref>Sagolla, p. 268</ref>

==Legacy==
During her lifetime, McCracken was mainly known for her pixieish stage and screen persona, and for what the '']'' described as her "overnight" success as a comic dancer in ''Oklahoma!'' The ''Times ''described her as "an enchanting new talent with a flair for puckish comedy." <ref name="Times obit"/> But her influence on musical comedy and other performers was considerable. ] said that McCracken had "a sense of 'in your face' comedy years before it was fashionable. . . and she possessed a generosity about other people's talent." <ref>Sagolla, pp. 211-212</ref>

In her biography of McCracken, ''The Girl Who Fell Down'', dance critic Mary Jo Sagolla says that McCracken is little remembered today, and not widely appreciated for her influence on Fosse, and for her efforts to encourage him to move from dance to choreography. Even though her career went into a sharp decline in the 1950s due to her diabetes, she directly influenced the career of MacLaine as well as Fosse, and was a pioneer in combining comedy and dance.<ref>Sagolla, pp.5-8</ref>

McCracken was one of the real-life counterparts of Holly Golightly in ]'s popular novella '']''. While playing in ''Bloomer Girl'' in October 1944, she received the War Department telegram telling her of the death of her brother, Buddy McCracken,a month earlier during particularly vicious ]. She reacted violently when she heared the news, tearing up her dressing room. McCracken told Capote of the incident, and he used it in the novella, which was set in the 1940s. In the book, Holly Golightly has a violent outburst in reaction to her brother's death during Army service overseas. Golightly is shown singing songs from ''Oklahoma!'', accompanying herself on a guitar, and owning ''The Baseball Guide'', which was edited by McCracken's uncle James Isaminger.<ref>Sagolla, p. 110</ref>

In Bob Fosse's autobiographical film '']'' (1979), one of the characters is a death angel, Angelique, played by ], who has McCracken's personality traits and is dressed as McCracken was in her final stage appearance, ''The Infernal Machine''.<ref>Sagolla, p. 7, 258</ref>


==Credits== ==Credits==
Line 20: Line 102:
* '']'', 1951 * '']'', 1951
* '']'', 1953–54 * '']'', 1953–54

===Films===
* '']'' (1944)
* '']'' (1947)

===Television===
* ''Actor's Studio'' ("Night Club", 1948)
* ''Great Catherine'' (1948)
* '']'' ("'']''," 1950)
* '']'' (1952)
* ''The Revlon Mirror Theater'' ("White Night"; 1953)
* '']'', Episode #6.46 (1953)

===Off-Broadway===
* '']'' (1958)


==Notes== ==Notes==
{{reflist}} {{reflist|3}}


==References== ==References==
* {{cite book|first=Lisa Jo|last=Sagolla|year=2003|title=The Girl Who Fell Down|publisher=Northeastern University|isbn=1-55553-573-9}} * {{cite book|first=Lisa Jo|last=Sagolla|year=2003|title=The Girl Who Fell Down|publisher=Northeastern University Press|isbn=1-55553-573-9}}


==External links== ==External links==
Line 55: Line 152:
] ]
] ]
]
]
]
]

Revision as of 18:06, 8 February 2014

Joan McCracken
File:Joan McCracken in Good News trailer.jpgMcCracken in Good News (1947)
BornJoan Hume McCracken
(1917-12-31)December 31, 1917
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedNovember 1, 1961(1961-11-01) (aged 43)
New York, New York, U.S.
Cause of deathHeart attack (diabetes complication)
Resting placeCremated
NationalityAmerican
EducationWest Philadelphia High School
Occupation(s)Dancer, actress, singer
Years active1935–1958
Spouse(s) Jack Dunphy ​(m. 1939⁠–⁠1951)​
Bob Fosse ​(m. 1952⁠–⁠1959)​

Joan McCracken (December 31, 1917 – November 1, 1961) was an American dancer, actress, and comedian who became famous for her role as Sylvie ("The Girl Who Falls Down") in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!.

McCracken, who was considered an innovator in combining dance with comedy, went on to other musical and dramatic roles on Broadway and early television. But her career was ultimately was cut short due to complications from her lifelong diabetes.

She was noted for unconventional behavior and was one of the real-life persons counterparts to Holly Golightly in Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Early life

Joan Hume McCracken was born in Philadelphia on December 31, 1917, the daughter of Mary Humes and Franklin T. McCracken, a prominent sportswriter at the Philadelphia Public Ledger who was the dean of Philadelphia golf writers and an authority on boxing.

By age 11, she was awarded a scholarship for acrobatic work at a Philadelphia gymnasium, and later studied dance with Catherine Littlefield. She dropped out of West Philadelphia High School in the tenth grade to study dance in New York with George Balanchine in the first year of the School of American Ballet (SAB) in 1934.

Career

Early career

In 1935, McCracken returned to Philadelphia to join a ballet company being formed by Littlefield, originally called the Littlefield Ballet and, from 1936 onwards, also known as the Philadelphia Ballet. When the ballet company made its official debut in November 1935, McCracken was a principal soloist. In 1937 she went on a European tour with the company, in what was the first tour of an American ballet company in Europe. This put a strain on her health, because she had just been diagnosed with Type I diabetes, also known as "juvenile diabetes," which was difficult to control utilizing the medical technology at the time. McCracken kept her diabetes a secret throughout her life to prevent damage to her career. Her diabetes made her prone to fainting spells, sometimes during performances, as well as medical complications later in her life.

In 1940, McCracken and her new husband Jack Dunphy, also a dancer, moved to New York City. At first neither failed to obtain employment, and McCracken danced in Radio City Music Hall's ballet company. In 1941 she danced with the ballet company at Jacob's Pillow in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, and later that year joined the Dance Players, formed by choreographer Eugene Loring, with Michael Kidd as Loring's assistant and leading male dancer.

Oklahoma! and Hollywood

In 1942 McCracken and Dunphy both auditioned for Agnes de Mille, who cast them in ensemble roles in her new musical Away We Go, later titled Oklahoma!. The show went into rehearsals in early 1943. McCracken was cast in an anonymous dance role as Sylvie in the Many a New Day dance number, but became famous for taking a comic pratfall in the middle of the number. She became known as "The Girl Who Fell Down." Sources differ as to whether the role's distinctive fall was devised by McCracken or de Mille.

As a result of her performance in Oklahoma!, McCracken was given a movie contract by Warner Brothers. She was in a specialty dance routine in Hollywood Canteen (1944). McCracken was dismayed by the lack of professionalism that she observed at Warner Brothers, and the lack of guidance that she received from the choreographer, LeRoy Prinz. In Hollywood Canteen she performed in a dance number called "Ballet in Jive," which received favorable critical attention. However, McCracken disliked the patronizing tone of the film, which treated servicemen as naive bumpkins, because her husband was serving in the Army and her younger brother, Buddy McCracken, was a lieutenant in the U.S. Marines.

McCracken broke her Warner Brothers contract and went back to Broadway to star in the musical Bloomer Girl, set in the early Twentieth Century, getting rave reviews for her performance, which combined comedy acting with dance. While not the highest-bill star in that show, her performance, especially of the song "Waiting for Tommora," enhanced her reputation as a comic performer.

Broadway and television

She subsequently appeared in Billion Dollar Baby, which opened on Broadway in December 1945, winning positive reviews for her performance. The show itself received only lukewarm reviews, however, and her career was not helped by her starring role in that play. After Billion Dollar Baby she was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to appear in the 1947 college musical Good News, starring Peter Lawford and June Allyson. She received good reviews playing the vivacious Babe Doolittle. Her song-and-dance number, "Pass That Peace Pipe", was a standout, but MGM did not renew her contract and her movie career never took off. Author Jeanine Basinger observed in The Star Machine, a study of MGM, that unlike Debbie Reynolds, who was being groomed for stardom by MGM at the same time, McCracken lacked "close-up appeal" and delivered her lines in the hard-edged, Broadway style, "reaching for that little old lady in the balcony." Unlike Reynolds, a show business novice, the Broadway veteran McCracken was "faux-fresh."

McCracken was had limited range as a singer, which prevented her from getting some Broadway parts. Shirley MacLaine described her as a "small, yet powerful woman with a foghorn voice." She long yearned to become a serious actress, and in 1947 she began studying acting with Bobby Lewis, Group Theatre alumnus and soon-to-be Actors Studio co-founder (along with fellow alumni Elia Kazan and Cheryl Crawford). That fall, at Lewis' invitation, McCracken would became one of the Studio's charter members. In December 1947 she appeared in the New York production of Bertolt Brecht's play Galileo, starring Charles Laughton in the title role and directed by Joseph Losey, playing Galileo's daughter Virginia. She also studied acting with Sanford Meisner and Herbert Berghof at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

In 1949, she appeared in the Broadway production of the Clifford Odets play The Big Knife, a fierce indictment of Hollywood. The play was directed by Lee Strasberg and starred John Garfield as a film star who is being blackmailed by a studio boss for killing a child during a car accident some years earlier. The studio covered up the incident at the time and is using that as leverage on the Garfield character. McCracken played a call girl, Dixie Evans, who was involved in the incident and is threatening to talk about it. Her acting in the non-dancing role was praised by critics, with Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times calling it an "inventive performance of real quality."

Her next role was not as helpful to her career. She appeared in the 1950 musical comedy Dance Me a Song, which turned out to be a flop even though it was choreographed by Agnes de Mille, who had won acclaim for Oklahoma! a few years earlier. As one of the play's principal stars, she appeared in several scenes. But the choreography was ravaged by critics, as was the play, and reviews of her performance were mixed.

McCracken starred with Eddie Dowling, a veteran Broadway actor, in the play Angel in the Pawnshop, in a 1950 tour and on Broadway in 1951. She played a young woman seeking to escape her marriage from a homicidal thief, in a pawnshop owned by Dowling's character. While in the pawnshop she puts on old clothing and fantasizes that she is living in happier times. Although she engaged in some choreographed dancing during the play, it was a straight dramatic role. While the play was being prepared for Broadway, in October 1950, she appeared on television in the premiere of the Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, playing Essie in You Can't Take it With You. At that time, McCracken gave an interview disparaging television, which might have hurt her career. Reviews for Angel in the Pawnshop were negative, and she received mixed reviews for her performance.

She went on to appear in Peter Pan, a Broadway revival adapted from the 1904 J.M. Barrie play. She starred in the title role in a touring company production in 1951, succeeding Jean Arthur. The play was not a musical, and was different from the subsequent version starring Mary Martin a few years later, but had five songs by Leonard Bernstein. Captain Hook was played by Boris Karloff. Peter Pan was her favorite acting role.

In 1952 she appeared in one of the first television situation comedies, Claudia: The Story of a Marriage, based on a film series in which the title role was played by Dorothy McGuire. McCracken played opposite Broadway actor Hugh Reilly.

McCracken next appeared on Broadway in the 1953 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Me and Juliet. The choreography was by Robert Alton, who had worked with McCracken on Good News. The play was meant to show what it was like to be backstage during the run of a hit Broadway show, and she performed opposite Ray Walston in the "show within a show." Although her performance received good reviews, the play did not, and it did little to help her career.

Decline

Her worsening health, and the lack of success of her most recent Broadway plays took a toll on her career, despite the favorable notices for her performance in The Big Knife and Peter Pan. As her health declined she found that her dancing ability was affected, and by the mid-1950s, as her marriage to Bob Fosse disintegrated, a heart condition caused by her diabetes made it impossible for her to dance. She suffered a severe heart attack in 1955, followed by a possible second attack, and then developed pneumonia which required an extended stay in the hospital. She hid the severity of her health problems, but some details became public.

Although she appeared on television and in dramatic roles, her career petered out in the late 1950s, as complications from her diabetes made it increasingly difficult for her to work. Her final stage appearance was in a 1958 off-Broadway production of Jean Cocteau's 1934 play, The Infernal Machine, appearing alongside John Kerr and June Havoc.

Personal life

McCracken was described by her biographer as a "bohemian" free spirit and uninhibited, and at times like to behave outrageously. In one meeting with MGM vocal coach Kay Thompson, she removed her blouse and bra to become "more comfortable."

She met Jack Dunphy, then a dancer with the Littlefield company, in 1937. They married in 1939 and separated after Dunphy's service during World War II, during which McCracken had an affair with French composer Rudi Revil. Dunphy was devastated by the infidelity and blamed it for his change in sexual orientation. He adopted a gay lifestyle, became romantically involved with Truman Capote, and he and McCracken were divorced in 1951. Dunphy remained Capote's partner until his death in 1984.

McCracken met dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse while both were appearing in Dance Me a Song, in which she had a starring role and he was a specialty dancer. She was married to him from December 1952 to 1959. She worked actively to advance his career and encouraged his work as a choreographer. Her intervention with producer George Abbott led to his first major job as a choreographer, in The Pajama Game. They divorced as her health worsened, and as Fosse, who was serially unfaithful during their marriage, left McCracken for Gwen Verdon.

Later in life she was in a relationship with actor Marc Adams, and spent large amounts of time at her beach house in The Pines on Fire Island, New York

McCracken died in her sleep, from a heart attack brought on by her diabetes, on November 1, 1961. She was cremated. Her ashes, which were given to mother, were subsequently lost.

Legacy

During her lifetime, McCracken was mainly known for her pixieish stage and screen persona, and for what the New York Times described as her "overnight" success as a comic dancer in Oklahoma! The Times described her as "an enchanting new talent with a flair for puckish comedy." But her influence on musical comedy and other performers was considerable. Shirley MacLaine said that McCracken had "a sense of 'in your face' comedy years before it was fashionable. . . and she possessed a generosity about other people's talent."

In her biography of McCracken, The Girl Who Fell Down, dance critic Mary Jo Sagolla says that McCracken is little remembered today, and not widely appreciated for her influence on Fosse, and for her efforts to encourage him to move from dance to choreography. Even though her career went into a sharp decline in the 1950s due to her diabetes, she directly influenced the career of MacLaine as well as Fosse, and was a pioneer in combining comedy and dance.

McCracken was one of the real-life counterparts of Holly Golightly in Truman Capote's popular novella Breakfast at Tiffany's. While playing in Bloomer Girl in October 1944, she received the War Department telegram telling her of the death of her brother, Buddy McCracken,a month earlier during particularly vicious combat on the Pacific island of Peleliu. She reacted violently when she heared the news, tearing up her dressing room. McCracken told Capote of the incident, and he used it in the novella, which was set in the 1940s. In the book, Holly Golightly has a violent outburst in reaction to her brother's death during Army service overseas. Golightly is shown singing songs from Oklahoma!, accompanying herself on a guitar, and owning The Baseball Guide, which was edited by McCracken's uncle James Isaminger.

In Bob Fosse's autobiographical film All That Jazz (1979), one of the characters is a death angel, Angelique, played by Jessica Lang, who has McCracken's personality traits and is dressed as McCracken was in her final stage appearance, The Infernal Machine.

Credits

Broadway

Films

Television

Off-Broadway

Notes

  1. Sagolla, p. 110
  2. Although many biographical sources during her lifetime gave her birth year as 1922, her biographer Lisa Jo Sagolla, author of The Girl Who Fell Down, found that McCracken systematically added five years to her age and went to elaborate lengths to conceal her birth year, and did not even disclose her age to her second husband, Bob Fosse
  3. Sagolla, p. 10
  4. Sagolla, p. 24-26
  5. Sagolla, pp. 29-33
  6. Sagolla, pp. 50-57
  7. Sagolla, pp. 69-73
  8. Sagolla, pp. 82-91
  9. Sagolla, p. 108-110
  10. Sagolla, pp. 123-126
  11. Sagolla, pp. 138-152
  12. Basinger, Jeanine (2007). The Star Machine. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 111.
  13. Sagolla, p. 211
  14. Sagolla, pp. 152-154
  15. ^ Ormsbee, Helen (19-July-1953). "44th St. Home to Joan McCracken". New York Herald Tribune. pp. D2. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. Sagolla, pp. 152-154
  17. Atkinson, Brooks (6 March 1949). "'THE BIG KNIFE'; If Hollywood Has Not Helped Odets It Has Apparently Done Him No Harm". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  18. Sagolla, pp. 186-191
  19. Sagolla, pp. 186-191
  20. Sagolla, pp. 193-197
  21. Sagolla, pp. 199-201
  22. Sagolla, pp. 206-210
  23. Sagolla, pp. 228-229
  24. ^ "Joan McCracken Is Dead at 38; Dancer Appeared in 'Oklahoma!': Became Famous Overnight as 'Girl Who Falls Down'--Also Was Seen in Films". The New York Times. 2 November 1961. p. 37. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  25. Sagolla, p. 131, 145
  26. Sagolla, pp. 139-141
  27. Sagolla, pp. 217-219
  28. Sagolla, pp. 224-225
  29. Sagolla, pp. 192, 204
  30. Sagolla, p. 268
  31. Sagolla, pp. 211-212
  32. Sagolla, pp.5-8
  33. Sagolla, p. 110
  34. Sagolla, p. 7, 258

References

  • Sagolla, Lisa Jo (2003). The Girl Who Fell Down. Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-573-9.

External links

Template:Persondata

Categories: