Michael Kidd
Film critic Stephanie Zacharek called the barn-raising sequence in Seven Brides "one of the most rousing dance numbers ever put on screen".
[4] He studied chemical engineering at the City College of New York in 1936 and 1937, but left after being granted a scholarship to the School of American Ballet.
His choice of the stage name 'Kidd' as his older brother was a booking agent for the Concord Hotel in the Catskill Mountains, and Milton was always known as "the kid.
His performances there included Fancy Free (1944) choreographed by Jerome Robbins and with music by Leonard Bernstein, in which he played one of the three sailors.
It was based on Damon Runyon short stories, with book by Abe Burrows, and earned Kidd his second Tony Award.
His first big film success came the following year with The Band Wagon, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.
The film was directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Saul Chaplin and Gene de Paul and lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
[12] Except for Howard Keel and Jane Powell, the roles of the brothers and their brides were all played by professional dancers at Kidd's insistence.
[13] For example, Kidd explained to Mercer and dePaul his conception of the "Lonesome Polecat" number, the lament of the brothers for the women, and the two worked out the music and lyrics.
[15] Kidd was both director and choreographer for the musical comedy film Merry Andrew (1958), starring Danny Kaye.
He also choreographed the famous Broadway flop Breakfast at Tiffany's (1966), a musical version of the Truman Capote novella with Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain that never officially opened.
"[18] Kidd appeared in supporting roles as a character actor in the 1970s and 1980s, beginning with his performance as the faded, cynical choreographer for a cheesy beauty pageant in the satirical 1975 film Smile.
Film critic Roger Ebert called Kidd's portrayal of the pageant choreographer a "finely etched semiautobiographical performance".
Kidd directed an episode of the TV comedy Laverne & Shirley (1976) as well as scenes for Janet Jackson in two music videos: "When I Think of You" (1986) and "Alright" (1990).
His older brother was Harold Greenwald, a prominent psychotherapist and best-selling author of the 1958 book The Call Girl, who was an expert in the study of prostitution.
British critic and biographer Michael Freedland said at the time of his death that "when Gene Kelly danced through the street with a dustbin lid tied to his feet in the 1955 film It's Always Fair Weather, the man who usually planned his own routines did it to Kidd's order".
"Classical technique was used to expressive purpose as the wonderful Miss Reed grew visibly exuberant and confident as Mr. Kidd, broom in hand, entertained her with his virtuosic performance.
This philosophy was reflected in the early scene from The Band Wagon, when Fred Astaire walks down a railroad platform singing "By Myself."
Following in the tradition of Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins, who developed the integrated musical, Kidd created dances that helped to carry the plot and flesh out the characters.
Yet he was able to integrate into the cast Russ Tamblyn, a non-dancer MGM contract player who was assigned to the film, by using his talents as a gymnast and tumbler in the dance numbers.
[21] Kidd's personal favorite of the films he choreographed, however, was not Seven Brides or Band Wagon but Guys and Dolls, which he felt was "the best, most inventive and best integrated musical I've ever seen".
[21] Although he came from the world of classic ballet, a Los Angeles Times critic noted at his death that he had "a healthy disdain for its pretensions".
[25] Although Kidd drove his dancers hard, partly because he himself was capable of doing all the dance steps that he required of them, his personal style was gentle.
Nanette Fabray, who performed in Love Life, could only make dancing turns to the left side because of a hearing problem.
