Research Catalog

Interviews with Bertram Ross

Title: Interviews with Bertram Ross [sound recording]
Author: Ross, Bertram, 1920-2003.
Publication: 1974-1987.

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Status	Vol/Date	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Not available - Please for assistance.	reel 5	Audio	Restricted use	*MGZTC 3-1635 [sound cassette] reel 5	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Request Appointment Not available - Please for assistance.	reel 4	Audio	Restricted use	*MGZTC 3-1635 [sound cassette] reel 4	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Request Appointment Not available - Please for assistance.	reel 3	Audio	Restricted use	*MGZTC 3-1635 [sound cassette] reel 3	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Request Appointment Not available - Please for assistance.	reel 2	Audio	Restricted use	*MGZTC 3-1635 [sound cassette] reel 2	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance
Request Appointment Not available - Please for assistance.	reel 1	Audio	Restricted use	*MGZTC 3-1635 [sound cassette] reel 1	Performing Arts Research Collections - Dance

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Description

5 sound cassettes (4 hr., 12 min.)

Summary

Cassette 1 (60 min.). Recorded May 23, 1974. Side 1. Mr. Ross discusses Don McDonagh's book on Graham and its errors; being a fantasy lover for Graham; improvising work in the rehearsal studio; Graham refusing to work without a score; his sarcastic humor with Graham; Erick Hawkins being used by Graham; relationship with Louis Horst; the impact of Graham's alcoholism on her company members; Ron Protas; Graham's paranoia; being phased out of the company -- Side 2. Incident of anti-semitism at Lake Placid and Protas' role in it; confronting Protas; Graham's Night journey; 'Geordie' Graham; growing up in New York; seeing his first Graham performance; Graham's selfishness; Protas' ambitions to take over the company.
Cassette 2 (47 min.). Recorded October 2, 1987. Side 1. Mr. Ross discusses the emotional blackmail between Graham and her sister 'Geordie'; Graham's flirtatiousness; Geordie heckling Graham during a lecture; Geordie and Martha Graham's relationship; a screaming incident at New York's City Center during Graham's drinking days; Graham's company today; Graham adjusting her works for different theaters; Graham's Seraphic dialogue and Canticle; Helen Keller visiting Graham's school; Graham's Clytemnestra; Graham telling Pearl Lang to be more vulgar; how Graham dismissed dancers she didn't like; Graham's appetite for reading; Graham's marriage to Erick Hawkins; Ron Protas; Graham's erratic rehearsal schedules; Graham's changing technique -- Side 2. Graham being told she had to stop dancing.
Cassette 3 (60 min.). Recorded November 21, 1983. Side 1. Mr. Ross discusses Graham entrusting her works to Linda Hodes; Graham changing her choreography out of boredom; Graham's Seraphic dialogue; Graham as costume designer; Mrs. Wickes [Frances G. Wickes]; Graham's meeting with Carl Jung; first joining the Graham company in 1949; Graham's knee injury; Erick Hawkins; his own early roles with Graham -- Side 2. Graham indirectly criticizing other company members; the breakup with Hawkins; Ron Protas' forging Graham's letters; Graham's paranoia; Graham's alcoholism; his running the school with Mary Hinkson during Graham's illness; Graham phoning him at all hours; 1973 Lake Placid season.
Cassette 4 (25 min.). Recorded November 21, 1983. Mr. Ross discusses 1973 Lake Placid anti-semitism incident; Protas forging accounts and forcing John Houseman to resign as chairman of the board; Protas giving drugs to Graham; his own relationship with Graham; resigning from the company.
Cassette 5 (70 min.). Recorded March 20, 1987; participants were Mr. Ross, Ms. de Mille, Mary Hinkson, and Ethel Winter. Side 1. Mr. Ross discusses Protas' sending him hate mail under Graham's name; Graham refusing a Noguchi set for Diversion of angels and Balanchine using it for Orpheus; Halston's designs. Mary Hinkson discusses Graham's failing eyesight and its effect upon the technique. Ethel Winter discusses how dancers wore light-colored leotards in class so Graham could see them. Mr. Ross recounts a story about Erick Hawkins pretending to push Graham over the edge of the Grand Canyon. Mary Hinkson discusses Graham's Circe. Ross and Hinkson both talk about resigning from the company. Hinkson discusses Sally Gropner, Graham's "gal Friday". All discuss suspecting Ron Protas of stealing archival footage from Graham's building; Protas audio- and videotaping Graham's every movement; changing Graham's classes to impress wealthy patrons. Hinkson discusses Ben Garbor and Bill Kennedy's relationship with Graham; Protas first appearing on the scene as a photographer; how Protas usurped their positions. Ross talks about Graham at Denishawn.
Cassette 5 (cont.). Side 2. Participants were Mr. Ross, Ms. de Mille, and Ms. Hinkson. Mr. Ross discusses publishers rejecting his idea for a book on Graham; the final break with Graham; Graham's hospitalization; how Protas saved Graham's life in hospital; who will inherit the Graham repertory; Graham's changing technique; the effect of Graham's alcoholism on class and performances; Robin Howard's role in Graham's company. Mary Hinkson discusses starting Graham technique classes in London.

Donor/Sponsor

Oral History Archive. Gift of Agnes de Mille.

Subjects

Note

Interviews conducted by Agnes de Mille as part of her research for the biography of Martha Graham entitled Martha.

Call Number

*MGZTC 3-1635

OCLC

NYPY95-R28

Author

Ross, Bertram, 1920-2003. Interviewee

Title

Interviews with Bertram Ross [sound recording]

Imprint

1974-1987.

Local Subject

Modern dance -- Technique -- Graham.

Audiotapes -- De Mille, A.

Audiotapes -- Ross, B.

Added Author

De Mille, Agnes. Interviewer

Winter, Ethel. Interviewee

Hinkson, Mary. Interviewee

De Mille, Agnes. Martha.

DHCA.

Research Call Number

*MGZTC 3-1635

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