Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Chester Hale [sound recording].

Author

Hale, Chester.

Publication

1976.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara Naomi.

Description

3 sound discs (ca. 113 min.): digital; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

• Disc 1 (ca. 46 min.). Barbara Cohen-Stratnyer interviews Chester Hale. Hale's wife Helen, is also present and occasionally comments. Hale speaks about how he came to join the Ballets russes, in 1915, including his audition with Waslaw Nijiinsky; his audition with Anna Pavlova; leaving the Ballets russes in Buenos Aires to join the Anna Pavlova Company; his role in Nijinsky's work Til Eulenspiegel, including a performance anecdote; the costumes; reasons Til Eulenspiegel failed at its world premiere; recounts an anecdote about Enrico Cecchetti and Nijinsky; Hale's responsibility for catching Nijinsky in Michel Fokine's work Le spectre de la rose and "slaying" him in Fokine's Schéhérazade; Hale's stage name with the Ballets russes (Ivan Tchumakow), his birth name, Chester Lord Chamberlain; other works in which he danced with the Ballets russes; Hale's self-taught music training; rehearsing with the Anna Pavlova Company, in Puerto Rico in 1917, including an anecdote about Hubert Stowitts; joining a group of former Ballets russes dancers to work with the opera company of Renato Salvatti [?] in South America; other dancers, from the Anna Pavlova Company, who later joined this group; recounts an anecdote about Pavlova and Ella Daganova; dancing with Ruth Page at the Metropolitan Opera House ca. 1920; dances Hale performed with the opera company of Renato Salvatti [?]; the arduous trip back to the United States from South America after the end of World War I; the reason he changed his name to Chester Hale; his first marriage, to Amata Grassi, and divorce; his first musical comedy, As you were, including a performance anecdote.
• Disc 2 (ca. 47 min.). Chester Hale continues to speak about As you were; speaks about staging a vaudeville act in New York for Irene Castle; more on As you were; the first Music Box Revue, including dancing in a ballet titled Fountain of youth, with Rose Rolanda; touring with the Revue in London, for which he hired Jessie Matthews; returning to New York where he performed in Hassard Short's Ritz revue and Peg-o'-my dreams, in each case with Albertina Vitak as his partner; working with Albertina Rasch and Marguerite [Margaret] Petit in Rasch's company; his later rivalry with Rasch; recruiting Hubert Stowitts for the 1934 film The painted veil; working for Major Bowes [Edward Bowes] as a choreographer and ballet master for the Capitol Theatre in New York City; Eugene Ormandy as conductor of the musical interludes; his troupe, the Chester Hale Girls, including the troupe's composition; the emphasis on precision dancing; briefly describes a program performed in Dallas [pause while Hale looks for photographs]; his innovative use of all black and all white costumes; his professional relationship with Erté [shows sketches by Erté to interviewer]; his origination of the counter-rhythmic style, in the show Lovely lady; the show, The little dog laughed [closed in Boston]; Tamara Gevergeyeva [Tamara Geva]; Paul Draper, in particular his prosecution during the McCarthy era; Hale's encountering of racism towards African-Americans.
• Disc 3 (ca. 51). Chester Hale speaks briefly about his dancers at the International Casino in New York City, ca. 1940; Hale and his wife Helen speak about the Ballets russes dancer Michel Pavloff; Hale speaks about the Chester Hale Girls, in particular the dancers' training at the free ballet school he created at the Capitol Theatre; a typical stage presentation at the Capitol Theatre; the rigor of having to create three new dance routines each week; the changes after the Capitol Theatre's show began to tour; the use of Eleanor Powell and other stars in the finales; the use of themes or music from the feature film being shown in Hale's production numbers; his dance, Tin hats then and now; his dance Peanuts choreographed for Ted Lewis; various aspects of the production process at the Capitol Theatre, including the excellence of the music department; his use of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in blue as a ballet score; Bill Robinson's act at the Capitol Theatre; the appearance of the Ritz Brothers and the Marx Brothers in Hale's finales; the costumes at the Capitol Theatre; Hale's staging of Les sylphides, after Michel Fokine; other types of productions; for example, Christmas shows; topical shows such as Happy days are here again, in 1932 [short gap]; more on putting the star of the feature film in the finale, e.g., Johnny Weissmuller when Tarzan the ape man was shown; more on Happy days are here again; Hale's move to Hollywood [sound quality suddenly deteriorates at ca. 51 min., and recording ends abruptly].

Donor/Sponsor

• New York State Council for the Arts, 2006-2007.
• National Endowment for the Arts, 2006-2007.
• Oral History Archive.

Subjects

• Pavlova, Anna, 1881-1931
• Ballets russes
• Musicals
• Nijinsky, Waslaw, 1890-1950
• Audiotapes > Hale, C
• Hale, Chester
• Chester Hale Girls
• Music and dance
• Revues
• Variety dancing > United States
• Vaudeville > United States

Note

• Interview with Chester Hale conducted by Barbara Cohen-Stratyner on Dec. 14, 1976, at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Hale's wife, Helen, is also present and occasionally comments; she participates more substantially in the recording on disc 3.
• Sound quality is excellent in terms of audibility, but is marred by occasional extraneous noise. In addition, disc 2 is marred by a continuous tapping noise, and the sound quality deteriorates abruptly at the end of disc 3.

Funding (note)

• Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2006-2007 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2006-2007.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2466

OCLC

140129074

Author

Hale, Chester. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Chester Hale [sound recording].

Imprint

1976.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, 2006-2007 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2006-2007.

Local Note

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-2466 nos. 1-3

Preservation master: 4 sound files (ca. 113 min.): digital, WAV file, 96 kHz, 24 bit; danmgztco32466p1v1, danmgztco32466p2v1, danmgztco32466p1v2, danmgztco32466p2v2; on AIT-2 tape dated 12/04/06, copied by Chicago Audio Works, 11/ 2006; located in the Rose Building workroom as of 04/28/09. When space becomes available in Princeton ReCAP or an alternative off-site storage area, the LTO and AIT master tapes are to be moved to such location.

Archive original: *MGZTCO 3-2466 nos. 1-3

Local Subject

Chester Hale Girls.

Variety dancing -- United States.

Audiotapes -- Hale, C.

Added Author

Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara Naomi. Interviewer

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-2466 [sound disc]