Research Catalog

Interview with William Bales

Title: Interview with William Bales [sound recording].
Author: Bales, William, 1910-1990.
Publication: 1971.

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Not available - Please for assistance.	reel 10	Audio	Use in library	*MGZTC 3-949 [sound cassette] reel 10	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Request Appointment Not available - Please for assistance.	reel 9	Audio	Use in library	*MGZTC 3-949 [sound cassette] reel 9	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	discs 1-2	Audio	Use in library	*MGZTL 4-949 no. 9-10 discs 1-2	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

Details

Additional Authors

Description

2 sound discs (ca. 134 min.) : digital; (4 3/4 in.)

Summary

Disc 1 (ca. 61 min.). William Bales speaks with Selma Jeanne Cohen about Doris Humphrey including an anecdote about the Humphrey-Weidman Company on tour that illustrated Humphrey's sangfroid; her work Decade; her comments on his work Es mujer and on being a choreographer; an anecdote about her teaching composition; the problems with the way technique was taught at the Humphrey-Weidman studio, including Charles Weidman's weak technique and Humphrey's focus on composition in her classes; Bales reads aloud from and comments on programs and similar materials; a performance anecdote about Humphrey's New dance; briefly, Charles Weidman; anecdotes about classes with José Limón and Charles Weidman, including their using class to work on Weidman's work about Paul Bunyan [American saga]; reasons Bales left the Humphrey-Weidman Company [ends abruptly].
Disc 2 (ca. 73 min.). [Begins abruptly.]. William Bales speaks with Selma Jeanne Cohen about Doris Humphrey including Humphrey's femininity; her relationship with her husband, Charles Francis Woodford; Humphrey's choreography as deficient in the expression of emotional passion, in particular as compared to Martha Graham's work; Humphrey's work Theatre piece including a performance anecdote that illustrated her strong will; Eleanor King's Theatre Dance Company; Bales looks through and comments on materials relating to Humphrey and the Humphrey-Weidman Company, including Humphrey's nervousness about her work American holiday; touring in the U.S. including life on the train; Pauline Lawrence and her relationship with Humphrey; the good experience Jo Van Fleet (Bales' wife) had working with Humphrey; Humphrey's working with José Limón on his dancing and the influence this had on his subsequent work; anecdote about Limón and a performance in Boulder, Colo.; Limón's activities after the dissolution of the Humphrey-Weidman Company; Humphrey's working with Limón after her retirement from dancing including her contribution to his success.

Subjects

Note

Interview with William Bales conducted by Selma Jeanne Cohen on April 16, 1971 in New York City. This interview was conducted as part of the research for the completion by Cohen of Humphrey's autobiography: Doris Humphrey: an artist first (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1972).
Sound quality overall ranges from good to fair. There is some distortion in Bales' voice but it is almost always intelligible. Cohen's voice is soft and at times unintelligible. There are also occasional gaps and extraneous noise.

Funding (note)

Preservation was funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

System Details (note)

Transferred from 2 sound cassettes (ca. 134 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded in 1971) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Source (note)

Selma Jeanne Cohen.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-949 no. 9-10

OCLC

84618430

Author

Bales, William, 1910-1990. Interviewee

Title

Interview with William Bales [sound recording].

Imprint

1971.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

System Details

Transferred from 2 sound cassettes (ca. 134 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded in 1971) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Local Note

Former call number: *MGZTC 3-949 no. 9-10

Former archival original: *MGZTCO 3-949 no. 9-10

Source

Gift. Selma Jeanne Cohen.

Added Author

Cohen, Selma Jeanne, 1920-2005. Interviewer

Selma Jeanne Cohen. Donor

National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

Oral history archive.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-949 no. 9-10

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