Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Description

1. 6 sound discs (ca. 155 min.) : digital, stereo; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

1. Part 1, disc 1 (ca. 32 min.). Bill Dugan speaks with unknown interviewer about anecdotes involving Martha Graham and students in class, and ways that she would get students to react; the fact that Graham referred to dance as the center of excitement; LeRoy Leatherman and Craig Barton, and the management of Graham; the personal relationship between Leatherman and Barton; working with Bethsabee de Rothschild; sexual advances made on dancers by Barton and Leatherman; Geordie Graham's involvement in Graham's company; Graham's interest in books; Graham's choreography and research of dances; costumes and designs Graham would commission; places in N.Y. where Graham would purchase fabric for the costumes.
2. Part 1, disc 2 (ca. 31 min.). Bill Dugan speaks with unknown interviewer about Martha Graham's interest in tall, masculine men; the ballerina Sally Wilson; the payment of dancers at the time; being sent by Graham to collect a loan from her analyst in order to pay her dancers; Graham's treatment of students, and acting like an oracle; Graham's discussions of God; Graham's need to make an entrance and be noticed; working as an office assistant for Graham, and being replaced by Jimmy Gardner; dancing in the company after losing his job as Graham's assistant; Graham and Geordie's relationship; his opinion that Graham could not separate her stage persona from her daily persona; the fact that Graham would show more of a human side when she was around Louis Horst; the fact that he had no idea of Graham's importance when he worked and danced with her; Graham's residences in N.Y.; Deaths and entrances, and his belief that the dance is about Graham and her sisters, not the Brontes; Geordie Graham, and his opinion of her.
3. Part 2, disc 1 (ca. 42 min.). Bill Dugan continues to speak with unknown interviewer about Geordie Graham, and Graham paying a salary to her; Paul Taylor and the fact that he needed courage to attend Graham's studio; Bertram Ross, Cameron McKosh, and Ralph Gilbert, and their roles in the Graham company; Ross' relationship with Graham, and the fact that Graham would call him on the phone early in the morning; Graham's problem with alcohol; the fact that Graham had a doctor, Amos Colbert, on hand during performances who would administer B12 injections to counter the alcohol in her system; the fact that Graham would send him to buy alcohol; Craig Barton's problems with alcohol; the fact that LeRoy Leatherman advised that it was an analyst of Graham's who turned her on to alcohol, perhaps as the result of breaking from Erick Hawkins; LeRoy Leatherman's opinion of Graham, as told to Dugan, and the fact that Graham relied heavily on the men around her; Graham accusing him of being a kept man, and being insulted by the accusation; anecdotes about Graham's temper and the treatment of female dancers in the company; the fact that Graham's dancers were neurotics; his opinion of the female Graham dancers.
4. Part 2, disc 2 ( ca. 30 min.). Bill Dugan speaks with unknown interviewer about Martha Graham's knee injury in Paris, and the stories that were told about that injury, and accusations made at Erick Hawkins; the fact that Graham would go to Elizabeth Arden's for facials and beauty treatments; the fact that people thought Graham was unbalanced; Louis Horst's involvement with Graham; Bennington, and Horst and Graham's times there; his belief that Graham and Horst delighted one another; his view that Horst was a father figure to Graham; slapping Graham to get her to calm down, and the fact that LeRoy Leatherman slapped her once; Craig Barton, and his charming personality, and the fact that he belives Graham might have been in love with Barton; Bertram Ross and Graham's relationship; Graham's loneliness.
5. Part 3, disc 1 (ca. 31 min.). Bill Dugan speaks with unknown interviewer about Martha Graham's interest in Sufism and Hinduism; George Gurdjieff and his movement theories, and their impact on Graham; working with Louis Horst, and attending his classes; Bethsabee de Rothschild and May O'Donnell, and his opinions of the two women.
6. Part 3, disc 2 (ca. 31 min.). Bill Dugan continues to speak with unknown interviewer about Bethsabee de Rothschild and her maid, and the parties given by Barton and Leatherman at de Rothschild's house; Martha Graham visiting de Rothschild in Israel; touring with Ethel Winter; lecture demonstrations given by Winter; the fact that Graham was a reflection of society; Graham's use of costumes [abrupt end].

Subject

1. Ross, Bertram
2. Leatherman, LeRoy
3. Rothschild, Bethsabée de, baroness
4. Martha Graham Dance Company
5. Barton, Craig
6. Horst, Louis
7. Graham, Martha > Influence
8. Dugan, William > Interviews
9. Homosexuality in dance

Call number

1. *MGZTL 4-2537

Note

1. Interview with Bill Dugan, interviewer unknown; part of the Don McDonagh collection.
2. Each disc ends abruptly.
3. Open as of August 22, 2012.

Funding (note)

1. Recording was preserved through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Source (note)

1. Don McDonagh;

Author

1. Dugan, William. Interviewee

Title

1. Interview with Bill Dugan [sound recording].

Imprint

1. n.d.

Funding

1. Recording was preserved through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Local note

1. Archive orig. : *MGZTCO 3-2537, nos. 1-3
2. Dubbing master : *MGZTD 4-2537, nos. 1-6

Source

1. Gift; Don McDonagh; 2007

Added author

1. McDonagh, Don. Donor
2. Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Research call number

1. *MGZTL 4-2537 sound disc