Vermont Magazine | Page 40

and all the change he saved. He had jars
and jars and jars of it. And I remember
filling up a bag and taking it to the guys
on the street - in honor of my father. He
would’ve liked that. That’s what he would
do. So somehow I had picked up on that.
Sherman: What did he do after his time in
the Navy?
Fosse: He went to Hollywood, he danced
in a couple of films. And then he set out
for Broadway.
both so good - and so tuned into each
other - that when they worked together
and danced together they reached another
level together.
Sherman: Your mom said in a different
interview, that your dad was a great acting
coach. For “Whatever Lola Wants” your
Dad whispered to her, “Imagine she’s a
little fat girl trying to be sexy.”
Sherman: Well, he danced in more than
just “a couple of films”. And there’s one
dance that he did (“The Alley Dance”)
that is an iconic MGM dance scene. And
a turning point for him - that’s often
discussed in many documentaries - was
when Hermes Pan (Fred Astaire’s chore-
ographer) asked Bob Fosse (one of the 3
featured male dancers) to choreograph a
45 second sequence in Kiss Me, Kate.
Fosse: That’s absolutely my understanding.
Hermes Pan said “Go ahead and cho-
reograph this. Let’s see what you’ve got,
Kid”. And his payment for that was he got
to keep his toupee! He had a very good
toupee that Hollywood provided him with.
He lost his hair early. And so he had one of
those really good toupees on the mesh that
you glue down. And that’s how they paid
him. He got to keep his toupee.”
Sherman: After Kiss Me Kate, he went
to New York and choreographed several
shows, including The Pajama Game and
Damn Yankees, both of which were enor-
mous hits. Damn Yankees was, of course,
turned into a film starring your mom and
choreographed by your dad. Your dad also
performs in it. “Who’s Got The Pain?” is a
legendary musical scene, because we get
to see the two of them dance together. Did
they ever discuss that? I know, in inter-
views, your mom shared that your father
was a really incredible jumper. That wasn’t
her strength, and he would always prompt
her, “Jump!”
Fosse: My mother always said that. He was
just such a fabulous dancer, she always felt
like she was trying to keep up with him.
And he always said that she was such a
fabulous dancer that he was always trying
to keep up with her. And I think that that
really is what was happening. They were
38 VERMONT MAGAZINE
Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity
as captured by the legendary Al Hirschfeld
© The Al Hirschfeld Foundation.
www.AlHirschfeldFoundation.org
Fosse (correcting Sherman): “She’s a little
fat girl trying to get out of her snow pants.”
Sherman: There you go! (Laughter) It’s
interesting that your mom referred to him
as a great acting coach, but you said that
wasn’t your experience.
Fosse: As an acting coach/director, I think
he was terrific with a lot of people. Every-
body from Liza to Michael York to Shirley
MacLaine, Valerie Perrine, Eric Roberts,
Mariel Hemingway, and Dustin Hoffman
… I mean, they will all claim that they did
some of their best work while working
with him. As far as when he worked with
me, I think there was a frustration, because
he wanted it to be perfect – for his daugh-
ter. And he’s nervous choreographing for
his daughter. I was in pointe shoes. He had
never choreographed ballet in pointe shoes
before. And I wasn’t technically proficient
enough to do what he was seeing in his
head. And he wanted to fix it, so I would
look good. So that’s where my mother
came in. So my father and I did dance to-
gether a lot. And it was sort of a language
in the household. It was a way that we
communicated. And it was a way that we
spent time together. The way some people
might go out and kick a soccer ball with
their kid, we would dance.
Sherman: In the FX series, the audience
is led to believe that you were a teenage
dancer, and that he was making a semi-
autobiographical movie (All That Jazz)
and that he promised you the role of the
daughter in the movie? Is that really true?
Could you have played the daughter in
All That Jazz? Or is that, once again, just
part of the drama of the series that’s been
added?
Fosse: It’s not the drama of the series. He
never promised it to me. I wanted it. I
wanted to be the daughter in All That Jazz.
I was hurt that it wasn’t me. The reason it
wasn’t me was I was too old. And I think
that was also hurtful as a dancer, as an
actress, and as a performer. And raised
by my father, he would tell me, “There’s
always going to be somebody younger and
prettier than you.” It’s true in this world.
There’s always somebody younger and
prettier than you. He left out the rest of
that sentence, which was “…and you’re
unique and you’re precious and you’re
special. And we love you the way you are
at every single given moment,” which
was in his thinking, but he didn’t know
to say that. But he knew to say the sort of
philosophical parental, “I’m warning you
how rough life is out there. There’s always
going to be somebody younger and pret-
tier than you”. So when I’m 16, and a 12
year old is cast in my part, all I could think
was, “she’s younger and prettier than me.
Here it is”. And that was confusing, and it
hurt. It wasn’t that my father did anything
that was hurtful to me. He cast the film.
He needed a 12 year old. And it probably
would not have been a good idea to work
with his daughter anyway. You know, just
to keep the rehearsal space clean and un-
complicated. But, um, yeah, that was really,
really difficult on me. I don’t even know if
he knew how difficult it was on me.
Sherman: In your heart, you really wanted
to be the daughter. Did your mom ever
want to play the wife in All That Jazz? Did
she want to play, essentially, herself?