Research Catalog

Interview with Patricia Bowman.

Title
Interview with Patricia Bowman. Part 1 of 3, 1978
Author
Bowman, Patricia
Publication
1978

Available Online

NYPL Digital Collections

Details

Additional Authors
Veljkovic, Morag
Description
4 streaming audio files (approximately 2 hours): digital
Summary
  • Streaming audio file 1 (approximately 41 minutes). [Music.] Morag Veljkovic introduces Patricia Bowman; Bowman speaks about her early dance training and performances; moving to New York with her mother and appearing in George White's Scandals in 1925; the state of ballet in the United States at the time; studying with Michel Fokine including her audition; some of the other performers in Scandals; Nicholas Daks; performing at the Roxy Theatre; her ballroom dance partnership with Tony de Marco including an anecdote about her ballet solo at the Palace Theatre; working with Leonide Massine as a choreographer and a dancer at the Roxy Theatre [ends abruptly but continues on streaming audio file 2].
  • Streaming audio file 2 (approximately 26 minutes). Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about dancing with Leonide Massine at the Roxy Theatre, including how publications like Variety described such performances at the time; some of her roles including a scenario she performed with Agnes de Mille; an anecdote about Roxy [Samuel L. Rothafel]; some observations and anecdotes about her red hair; her salary at the Roxy Theatre; the price of her classes with Michel Fokine; Fokine's Les sylphides including how dancers have changed the choreography to make it easier; dancing with Erik Bruhn in Les sylphides at a Ballet Theatre [now American Ballet Theatre] gala performance.
  • Streaming audio file 3 (approximately 37 minutes). Morag Veljkovic speaks about Patricia Bowman's emergence as a star ballerina at the Roxy Theatre; Patricia Bowman speaks about her and Leonide Massine's guest engagements at the Palace Theatre and in Philadelphia; her singing on radio programs for the Roxy; the public's lack of understanding of the conventions of male ballet dancers; Massine as a person; Edgar Degas and his depiction of ballerinas from the Paris Opéra Ballet [Opéra de Paris ballet]; her grandmother's initial opposition to her appearing on the stage; Fokine's visit to the Roxy Theatre to see Massine; Fokine's creation of the works The Persian angel and Tennis, for Bowman; learning The dying swan; Anna Pavlova; Fokine's choreographic process; touring; studying ballet while on vacation in Europe; her experience taking class with Lubov Egorova and at the Mary Wigman school; meeting her future husband, Abbott Kaye [ends abruptly but continues on streaming audio file 4].
  • Streaming audio file 4 (approximately 13 minutes). Patricia Bowman speaks with Morag Veljkovic about the opening of Radio City Music Hall; some of the performers who appeared at the opening including Martha Graham, Harald Kreutzberg, and Ray Bolger; the enormous size of the Radio City Music Hall stage; Vincente Minnelli; her reasons for joining the Ziegfield Follies; Fanny Brice as compared to Barbra Streisand in Funny girl [ends abruptly].
Donor/Sponsor
Gift of Patricia Bowman.
Subject
  • Fokine, Michel, 1880-1942
  • Massine, Leonide, 1896-1979
  • Bowman, Patricia > Interviews
  • Roxy Theatre (New York, N.Y.)
  • Radio City Music Hall (New York, N.Y.)
  • Persian angel (Choreographic work : Fokin)
  • Tennis (Choreographic work : Fokin)
  • Ziegfeld follies
  • World War, 1939-1945 > Dance and the war
  • Audiotapes > Bowman, P
Genre/Form
  • Sound recordings.
  • Oral histories.
Note
  • For transcript of interview see *MGZMT 5-522.
  • Interview with Patricia Bowman conducted by Morag Veljkovic for the oral history project of the Allied Arts Council, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in November, 1978, Part 1. Part 2 (November-December, 1978) and Part 3 (January 1979) are cataloged separately.
  • Title supplied by cataloger.
  • Sound quality is good overall.
Access (note)
  • Access only on site at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center
Funding (note)
  • The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Call Number
*MGZTO 7-522
OCLC
184951056
Author
Bowman, Patricia, interviewee.
Title
Interview with Patricia Bowman. Part 1 of 3, 1978
Imprint
1978
Type of Content
spoken word
Type of Medium
audio
Type of Carrier
online resource
Digital File Characteristics
audio file
Restricted Access
Access only on site at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center
Event
Recorded by Morag Veljkovic November, 1978 Las Vegas (Nev.)
Funding
The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Original Version
Original format: four sound reels (approximately 2 hours); polyester; quarter-track; 7.5 ips; 7 in.; transferred to wav file and streaming file format in 2015: myd_mgzto7522_v01f01_sc, myd_mgzto7522_v02f01_sc, myd_mgzto7522_v03f01_sc, and myd_mgzto7522_v04f01_sc.
Local Note
Former call number: *MGZT 7-522
Connect to:
NYPL Digital Collections
Added Author
Veljkovic, Morag, interviewer.
Research Call Number
*MGZTO 7-522
View in Legacy Catalog