Evening star. [volume], January 15, 1961, Image 162

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
OUTDOOR BALLET
innrrhTrr » J
CLAUDE THOMPSON
’ 1
Jr. ', J
AND CARMEN DeLAV ALLADE
,y ft <J
'GERSHWIN YEARS'
FOR HARRIED
By BERNIE HARRISON
F Leland Hayward, veteran
producer of “The Gersh-
I win Years" for CBS Sun-
day night, spent the holidays tearing
out his remaining locks, it’s under
standable.
Maybe he should have hired Johnny
Midnight before he undertook the
assignment.
Who, for example, erased the tape
of the Catfish Row sequence from the
brilliant "Porgy and Bess” ballet?
“It was a stunning piece of tape,”
Hayward said, "but what hurt was
that it was shot outdoors on Jamaica
Bay and couldn’t be reshot there be
cause of the snow.”
A producer, of course, thrives on
problems—or so he jollies himself into
thinking. “I like to believe we’ll have
a good show on account of them,” he
said.
The tape erasure, unfortunately,
wasn’t the only setback.
First, host Moss Hart had to with
draw because of his health. Richard
Rodgers stepped in. Then, soprano
Eileen Farrell, who recently made her
Metropolitan debut, withdrew in a
billing difference.
The Catfish Row sequence had to
be reshot—naturally. Hayward sent
his crew and dancers to the nearest,
sunniest beach.
One of the interesting aspects of
this number is that dancer Claude
Thompson, as the crippled Porgy,
never gets off his knees. Carmen
DeLavallade is Bess; Alvin Ailey is
Crown, and Harold Pierson dances
Sportin’ Life.
After the tape snafu, Hayward