Still in Love with Lucy
by Thomas Watson
Dear Lucy Fans...
Onna White Remembered
We were saddened to learn of the death last Friday of award-winning choreographer Onna White, the lady whom Lucy credited with "bringing me back" after the skiing accident that nearly ended Lucy's career in 1972. Miss White, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's, died in her home in West Hollywood, CA. She was 83.
Lucy was not the only performer who relished working with Onna White, who won a special Oscar for the film version of "Oliver!" and was nominated for 8 Tony Awards.
Onna's prodigious output included nearly 20 Broadway musicals and 7 motion pictures, some of them film versions of her stage productions -- "The Music Man," "1776," and Lucy's "Mame."
Although choreography is not a regular category for the Academy Award, White's work in "Oliver!" was considered so outstanding that the Academy gave her an Honorary Oscar at the 1969 ceremony. The film also won five regular Oscars, including those for best picture and director.
Responsible for large-scale, intricate dance routines, White became known for her meticulous planning and ability to choreograph for the specific needs of character, plot, and situation. According to actress Bea Arthur, co-star of "Mame," "She's so involved with the script, she's one of those rare people who continues the action, rather than stopping it to do a musical number."
Onna signed to choreograph Bea and Lucy in "Mame" in the fall of 1971, with filming scheduled for the following spring. After Lucy's skiing accident that winter, production was postponed nearly a year. Onna essentially took over her star's physical therapy, setting up a rigorous schedule of daily exercises in Lucy's home gym. Onna soon had Lucy walking again without a leg-brace. Within a few weeks, Onna had her dancing -- although Lucy never totally regained her ability to move side to side or twirl on the injured right leg.
Lucy later recalled, "Onna was like a German general hollering commands -- move here, move there. At first I hollered back, calling her every name in the book... but she came back day after day, and we did it all over again. Thank God. She rescued me!"
Onna White on location with "Mame."
Onna retired a decade ago, after Broadway musicals became more "rock oriented," and movie musicals were replaced by music videos. "I don't want to direct any video dancing stuff," she explained in 1991, "because I don't have the feeling for it. We based everything on ballet and tap, but (modern composers) are into a different psyche and I don't understand it... It's an entirely different world and genre. You're trained for the world you're living in, and my era is gone."
Gone perhaps, but --thanks to film and video tape -- never forgotten.
Barbara Eden to Be Special Guest at Jamestown Festival
What's more fun than a genie (make that Jeannie) in a bottle? One "live on stage," of course -- and Lucyfans will have a chance to see TV's Jeannie, glamorous Barbara Eden, in May when she is special guest at this year's "Lucy-Desi Days" festival, held over Memorial Day Weekend in Jamestown, NY.
Ms. Eden will appear on stage at Jamestown's Reg Lenna Civic Center on Sunday, May 29, as the grand finale to this year's festival.
"We are honored to be welcoming Barbara Eden to Jamestown," said Ric Wyman, Executive Director of the Lucy-Desi Museum. "We're grateful that she's willing to lend her time and talent to raise money to support our cause."
Her appearance will be preceded by a screening of the 1957 episode of I Love Lucy -- "Country Club Dance" -- in which she played a sultry young blond who turns all the men's heads at a club dance, only to create jealousy among their wives. Miss Eden will then share her memories of working with the First Couple of Comedy and answer audience questions.
The Barbara Eden event will cap a weekend of Lucy-oriented activities that includes appearances by such notables as Bill Asher (director), Cleo Smith (Lucy's cousin), Dann Cahn (film editor), Marilyn Borden (actress), and Wanda Clark (Lucy's secretary).
For complete information about the May featival, visit the Lucy-Desi Center web site at:
Have a great week everybody!
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