Who's Who in Musicals: T to Wa

by John Kenrick

Tabbert, William

Actor, singer
b. Oct. 5, 1921 (Chicago, IL) - d. Oct. 19, 1974 (New York, NY)

This handsome baritone won fame on Broadway playing young military men in several World War II musicals, including What's Up? (1943) and Follow the Girls (1944). After a civilian stint as "Rocky" in Billion Dollar Baby (1945), he originated the role of "Lt. Joe Cable" in South Pacific (1949), introducing Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Younger Than Springtime" and "You've Got to Be Taught." As the original "Marius" in Fanny (1954), he introduced Harold Rome's soaring title tune. Tabbert then withdrew from performing for more than a decade. He died of a heart attack at age 53 while rehearsing for a nightclub comeback.

Talbot, Howard

(b. Richard Lansdale Munkittrick)
Composer
b. Mar. 9, 1865 (New York City) - d. Sept. 12, 1928 (Reigate, UK)

American-born but raised in London, Talbot composed eighteen West End musical comedies, three of which had extraordinary runs in the early 20th Century – A Chinese Honeymoon (1901 - 1000 performances), The Arcadians (1909 - 809) and The Boy (1917 - 801). His melodies ranged from the sweet to the lively, somewhat in the tradition of Arthur Sullivan. Talbot's best works also succeeded on Broadway, but The Arcadians is the only one still performed today.

Tanguay, Eva

Singer, comedienne, vaudevillian
b. Aug. 1, 1878 (Marbleton, Canda) - d. Feb. 11, 1947 (Hollywood, CA)

By her own admission, this dynamic vaudeville star was not particularly gifted or beautiful, but her exuberant personality fascinated audiences for more than three decades. Describing Tanguay, critics often resorted to words like "whirlwind," which fits her fiery reputation both on and off stage. Appearances in amateur contests led to small roles with touring companies. She made her New York vaudeville debut at Hammerstein's Victoria in 1904. Tanguay eventually commanded the highest salary in vaudeville, earning as much as $3,500 a week by 1910. During World War I, when a so-called "decency craze" forced every other act in the business to clean up its material, Tanguay merely stopped using posters of herself in action. Her act frequently exploited her own outrageous reputation, with songs like "Its All Been Done Before But Not the Way I Do It" and "I Don't Care."

When a smart-mouthed stagehand once asked Tanguay how she would react if someone flirted with her, she picked him up and threw him against a backstage wall, leaving him unconscious. When he threatened to sue, Eva settled the issue by pulling a wad of cash out of her purse and peeling off a $1000 bill. Tanguay often publicized her seemingly unlikely devotion to Christian Science, adding the slogan "Naught can disturb - God is Peace" to her ads in Variety. She was a master of publicity, earning nationwide headlines when she was allegedly kidnapped or the victim of a robbery. Popular through vaudeville's final years, she lost her fortune in the stock market crash of 1929 and spent her final years impoverished. When Tanguay was blinded by cataracts, fellow vaudevillian Sophie Tucker paid for surgery that restored her sight.

Templeton, Fay

Actress, singer
b. Dec. 25, 1865 (Little Rock, AK) - d. Oct. 3, 1939 (San Francisco, CA)

Although Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) has kept Templeton's name alive, she was nothing like the statuesque soprano depicted in that film. Short, feisty, and throaty-voiced, the real Templeton was one of Broadway's most beloved comediennes from the 1880s onwards. She began performing as a child in her family's touring theatrical troupe, and made her New York debut at age 20 in a revival of Evangeline (1885). Templeton first achieved stardom in Edward Rice's burlesque extravaganza Excelsior Jr. (1895). Audiences adored her strong contralto voice and comic timing. She appeared in several popular Weber and Fields extravaganzas, introducing the hit song "Ma Blushin' Rosie" in Fiddle-dee-dee (1900).

Her most memorable role was in George M. Cohan's Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway (1906), where she played New Rochelle housemaid Mary Jane Jenkins, who gives up a fortune to marry the impoverished man she loves. In that show, she introduced both "Mary's A Grand Old Name" and "So Long Mary." Templeton was married three times, and her final union in 1906 (to industrialist William Patterson) made her one of the wealthiest women in America. She withdrew from performing for several years, then made selective vaudeville appearances and co-starred in the final Weber and Fields musical, Hokey Pokey (1912). She headlined an all-star bill of old-timers at the Palace in 1925. After her husband's death in 1931, Templeton made a final trip to Broadway as Aunt Minnie in Roberta (1933), introducing the sentimental Jerome Kern- Otto Harbach ballad "Yesterdays." Beset by financial problems and arthritis, she retired to the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Soon after moving in with a cousin in San Francisco, she died at the age of 73.

Tucker, Sophie

(b. Sonia Kalish)
Singer, actress, vaudevillian
b. Jan. 13, 1884 (Poland) - d. Feb. 9, 1966 (New York City)

Born in Poland as her Russian-Jewish mother was fleeing religious persecution in Tsarist Russia, this powerhouse singer was belting songs for tips at age 10 in her family's working class New Haven restaurant. She toured in burlesque as a blackface "coon shouter," and Tucker's talents eventually took her out of burnt cork and into Florenz Ziegfeld's 1909 Follies. She quickly became one of the top stars in vaudeville, billing herself alternately as "The Queen of Ragtime" and "The Last of The Red-Hot Mommas." Tucker popularized many songs, with "Some of These Days" and "My Yiddishe Momme" becoming trademarks.

Although Tucker is primarily remembered as warm hearted and generous, she had a tough side – an essential for anyone who wanted to survive in the hard nosed world of show business. Tucker could silence managers or hecklers with streams of unprintable language, or burst into vulnerable tears -- opting for whichever tactic seemed most likely to win a particular argument. At one point, she refused to talk to longtime friend Harry Richman for several years because he had walked out of a nightclub during one of her solos. When Richman explained that he was just trying to settle his bill, Tucker responded, "Listen to me, kid, and never forget what I'm telling you. Not even Jesus Christ himself walks out on Tucker." She was so obviously sincere that Richman apologized, and their friendship resumed.

Tucker's Broadway appearances included the 1924 Earl Carroll Vanities and playing the politically ambitious "Mrs. Goodhue" in Leave It to Me (1938) – introducing Cole Porter's "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love." Because studios were hemmed in by restrictive decency codes, her films appearances were sanitized and forgettable. After vaudeville faded, Tucker remained popular in nightclubs, radio and television. Her club act was famous for its risqu' humor, with songs like "You've Got to Be Loved to Be Healthy (and I'm the Healthiest Gal in Town)." She specialized in bawdy humor, but the outrageous "Sophie Tucker jokes" Bette Midler tells are often apocryphal. Tucker continued performing into the 1960s, and saw her life depicted in the unsuccessful (and heavily fictionalized) Broadway musical Sophie (1963). She personally maintained a file of seven thousand friends and fans she remained in touch with until her death due to lung cancer at age 82.

Tune, Tommy

Actor, dancer, singer, director, choreographer
b. Feb. 28, 1939 (Wichita Falls, Texas)

To date, this gifted man has won nine Tonys, including awards for acting, direction and choreography. A brilliant dancer, his lean frame and six-foot-six height made him an unusual casting choice. After making his Broadway debut in the ensemble of Baker Street (1964), then danced in A Joyful Noise (1966) and How Now Dow Jones (1967). On screen, he was "Ambrose Kemper" in Hello Dolly (1969) and a lead dancer in Ken Baker's quirky adaptation of The Boy Friend (1971). Tune won his first Tony for Best Featured Actor playing dancer-choreographer "David" in the Cy Coleman- Dorothy Fields Broadway musical Seesaw (1973) -- and introducing the showstopper "It's Not Where You Start (It's Where You Finish)." Moving behind the scenes, he choreographed and co-directed The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978), the first in a string of long-running Broadway hits. His witty staging of A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine (1980) was followed by the staging of Maury Yeston's innovative Nine (1982), which brought Tune a Tony for Best Director. He shared a Tony for Best Choreography with Thommie Walsh for the Gershwin pastiche My One And Only (1983), which Tune (as "Captain Billy Buck Chandler") co-starred in with Twiggy.

Tune tempered traditional show business razzmatazz with an array of fresh staging ideas, earning a reputation for providing visual surprises and showstoppers. The long-running Grand Hotel (1989) brought Tune Tonys for direction and choreography. He triumphed with Will Rogers Follies (1991) winning still more awards. Tune's nightclub appearances culminated in a limited solo run at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre in 1992. He was "Production Supervisor" for the long-running revival of Grease (1994) – the same season that he directed the disastrous sequel The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public. Tune starred in the pre-Broadway tour of Busker Alley (1995) until a fractured bone in his foot forced the show to close on the road. Since then, he has performed in Las Vegas, and his club act had a brief run Off-Broadway.

In 2006, Tune took over the title role in the American tour of Doctor Doolittle. He returned to New York with a featured role in the 2015 Encores concert staging of Lady Be Good, stopping the show with the Gershwin classic "Fascinating Rhythm." Later that year, he received a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement.

Urban, Joseph

Set designer, architect
b. May 26, 1872 (Vienna, Austria-Hungary) - d. July 10, 1933 (New York)

This ingenious designer's work embodied the art deco style at its best. An architect who was also responsible the design of several acclaimed children's books, he is best remembered for designing the sets for Florenz Ziegfeld's Follies from 1915 to 1931, giving them a definitive period elegance. While the Follies had always been lavish, Urban elevated them to a new level of visual art deco artistry. He designed other productions for Ziegfeld, including Show Boat (1927), The Three Musketeers (1928) and Whoopee (1928). He was architect for the spectacular Ziegfeld Theatre, designing a unique egg-shaped auditorium noted for its extraordinary acoustics and a sweeping art deco mural that covered its interior.

Urban was artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1917 to 1931, contributed set designs for various plays and films, and designed select private homes. He also designed the interiors of several art deco restaurants, including the posh St. Regis Roof in New York. He died at age 61, barely a year after Flo Ziegfeld. The Ziegfeld Theater was demolished in 1966 to make way for a skyscraper and a movie house. All that survives of Urban's work today are his eye-filling set sketches for the Follies, and the imposing art deco lower floors of the Heart Organization's office building at Broadway and 57th Street.

Vera-Ellen

(b. Vera Ellen Wesmeyr Rohe)
Dancer, actress
b. Feb. 16, 1921 (Norwood, OH) - d. Aug. 30, 1981 (Los Angeles, CA)

After getting her start on the Major Bowes Talent Show, this petite blonde danced with the Radio City Rockettes. She made her Broadway debut in the chorus of Very Warm For May (1939), and then danced in such hits as Panama Hattie (1940) and the revival of A Connecticut Yankee (1943). Film producer Sam Goldwyn brought her to Hollywood, where she was featured with Danny Kaye in Wonder Man (1945) and The Kid From Brooklyn (1946).

Vera-Ellen signed with MGM in the late 1940s, opening the way to her most memorable screen performances. She danced with Gene Kelly in both Words and Music (1948) and On The Town (1949), and shared memorable dance duets with Fred Astaire in Three Little Words (1950) and The Belle of New York (1952). Few knew that all of her screen singing was dubbed -- a common practice at the time.

During Vera-Ellen's post-MGM career, she partnered Donald O'Connor in Call Me Madam (1953), and was reunited with Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954). After the disappointing Let's Be Happy (1957), she realized that big screen musicals were passing out of vogue. Vera-Ellen did some nightclub work, but there was limited demand for a non-singing dancer. She soon retired from show business. Long plagued by obsessive eating disorders and arthritis, she continued to dance in private, staying out of the public eye until cancer ended her life at age 60. For more, see David Soren's Vera-Ellen: The Magic and the Mystery (Baltimore: Limelight Press, 2003).

Verdon, Gwen

(b. Gweneth Evelyn Verdon)
Dancer, actress
b. Jan. 13, 1926 (Culver City, CA) - d. Oct. 17, 2000 (Woodstock, VT)

The child if British immigrants, Verdon's legs were misshaped in childhood due to rickets. Placed in ballet classes to strengthen her legs, she discovered a passion for multiple forms of dance, making her screen debut at age 10 in The King Steps Out (1936). After a brief marriage to alcoholic gossip columnist James Henaghan (and the birth of a son that she left in the care of her parents), Verdon went to work as assistant to choreographer Jack Cole, and appeared as a chorus dancer in such films as MGM color remake of The Merry Widow (1952).

After winning a Tony for her show-stealing performance as the sexy "Claudine" in Broadway's Can-Can (1953), Verdon starred in a triumphant series of musicals choreographed by Bob Fosse. Her combination of vulnerability and sleek sexuality made her the prototypical Fosse dancer. Verdon starred as the demonic "Lola" in Damn Yankees (1955) (the only one of her stage roles she would repeat on film), the prostitute "Anna" in New Girl In Town (1957), and the warmhearted "Essie Whimple" in Redhead (1959), winning additional Tonys for each of these performances. She became Fosse's third wife in 1960. After taking time off to raise their daughter Nicole, Verdon returned to Broadway in two more Fosse productions. She played the title role in Sweet Charity (1966), introducing "If They Could See Me Now." Librettist Neil Simon wrote that Verdon "was a beautiful woman but never used her sex onstage except in a humorous way, which only made her more sexy."

As the original murderous housewife "Roxie Hart" in Chicago (1975), Verdon sang "Me and My Baby" and shared "Nowadays" with co-star Chita Rivera. When arthritis curtailed Verdon's ability to dance, she continued to act in various non-musical films, including Cocoon (1985). She assisted Fosse in staging new shows and revivals. Although many assumed that Verdon had divorced the promiscuous Fosse, the couple remained married and close – she was at Fosse's side when he collapsed from a fatal heart attack in 1987. Verdon's determination to preserve her late husband's artistic legacy culminated in Fosse (1999), a Tony-winning compendium of his most memorable dances. While visiting her daughter in Vermont, Verdon suffered a fatal heart attack at age 74.

Walters, Charles

Actor, dancer, choreographer, film director
b. Nov. 17, 1911 (Pasadena, CA) - d. Aug. 13, 1982 (Malibu, CA

Although this versatile talent is rarely discussed, he helped shape some of Hollywood's most popular musical films. He made his Broadway debut dancing in New Faces (1934), and won attention dancing to "Begin the Beguine" and singing "Just One of Those Things" in Cole Porter's Jubilee (1935). After featured roles in I Married and Angel (1938) and DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), Walters choreographed Let's Face It (1941), Banjo Eyes (1941) and St. Louis Woman (1946). He combined tap, ballet and specialty dances in his shows, a novel approach that became an industry standard.

Gene Kelly encouraged MGM to sign up Walters, who made his mark in Hollywood staging dances for Girl Crazy (1943), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and The Harvey Girls (1945). He proved a capable and efficient director, helming a series of musicals for MGM, including Good News (1947), Easter Parade (1948) and Lili (1953). Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, and other top stars found Walters' steady, professional approach reassuring. His best remembered dance routine is probably Garland's "Get Happy" in Summer Stock (1950), the last great number of her long MGM career. Walters also directed many musicals starring Esther Williams, for which he created innovative water ballets and underwater routines.

As the number of screen musicals declined, Walters remained in demand, directing High Society (1956), Jumbo (1962) and the underrated screen version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). He also directed numerous non-musical films. His final assignment was directing Cary Grant's last picture, Walk, Don't Run (1966), the only screen project Walters worked on outside of MGM. He lived a relatively open homosexual life through Hollywood's most closeted decades. He died from lung cancer at age 71.

Warren, Harry

(b. Salvatore Guaragna)
Composer
b. Dec. 24, 1893 (Brooklyn, NY) - d. Sept. 22, 1981 (Los Angeles, CA)

Possibly the most prolific composer Hollywood would ever know (his songs were featrured in more than 300 films), this son of Italian immigrants played piano in silent movie houses and worked briefly for Vitagraph studios, where he even played occasional bit parts. World War I led to his enlisting in the Navy, where he began composing. After the war, he found early success writing for in New York's Tin Pan Alley publishing houses, then headed West soon after Hollywood discovered sound. He provided numbers for the forgettable Spring is Here (1930), he teamed up with lyricist Al Dubin to provide the score for the film hit 42nd Street (1933). "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and the sardonic title tune became tremendous hits.

Warren & Dubin went on to compose a series of classic screen scores for Warner Brothers, many directed by the innovative Busby Berkeley, including Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade (1933), Dames (1934) and Go Into Your Dance (1935). These songs made no attempt to develop plot or character -- they were stand-alone numbers Berkeley could build into eye-popping production numbers.

When Dubin's dependence on alcohol and illegal drugs made him unreliable, Warren worked for every major studio, collaborating with a succession of top lyricists, including Johnny Mercer, Arthur Freed, Samy Cahn and Ira Gershwin. As popular tastes changed, Warren's versatility kept his melodies fresh, extending his career over three decades and more than sixty film scores. He composed three Academy Award winning songs – "Lullaby of Broadway," "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe." His one stab at composing for Broadway was Shangri-La (1956), an unsuccessful adaptation of Lost Horizon. Just weeks before Warren's death, his music finally conquered Broadway in Gower Champion's wildly successful stage version of 42nd Street (1981).

Waters, Ethel

Singer, actress
b. Oct. 31, 1896 (Chester, PA) - d. Sept. 1, 1977 (Chatsworth, CA)

Waters was the daughter of Louise Anderson, an unmarried 13 year old who claimed she had been raped by pianist John Wesley Walters. Anderson forced Ethel to marry at age 13, but she divorced him a year later and went to work as a maid. Ethel got her start in black vaudeville in 1915 billed as "Sweet Mamma Stringbean." Her magnetic interpretations of jazz and blues songs soon brought her to the big time vaudeville circuits, and she made her Broadway debut in the revue Africana (1927). She married again at this time, but it soon ended in another divorce.

After Blackbirds (1930) and Rhapsody in Black (1931), Waters appeared in the stellar revue As Thousands Cheer (1933), where she introduced the Irving Berlin classics "Heat Wave" and "Suppertime." She had the distinction of being the first black star to headline a mixed cast on Broadway in the revue At Home Abroad (1935). Waters enjoyed her greatest musical role as housewife Petunia Jackson in Cabin in the Sky (1940), introducing "Taking a Chance on Love." She repeated the role in the 1943 screen version, the best of her few musical screen appearances.

Aside from frequent nightclub performances, Waters was a powerful dramatic actress, getting an Academy Award nomination for Pinky (1949). In the stage and screen hit Member of the Wedding, she sang a moving rendition of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow." A heavy drinker and active bisexual throughout much of her career, Waters became a devout born-again Christian in her later years, living abstemiously and making appearances with preacher Billy Graham. She died of heart disease at age 80.

Watson, Susan

(b. Elizabeth Watson)
Actress, singer
b. Dec. 17, 1938 (Tulsa, OK)

One of the most popular stage ing'nues of the late 20th Century, Watson originated several key roles in the musical comedy repertoire. After appearing as Velma in the London cast of West Side Story (1958), she charmed Broadway as the original Kim MacAfee in Bye, Bye Birdie (1960) introducing "One Boy." She took over the lead in the original production of Carnival (1962), and appeared as the French maiden Janine Nicolete in the unsuccessful Ben Franklin in Paris (1964) and A Joyful Noise (1966). Her delightful performance as "The Girl" in an all-star TV production of The Fantasticks led its composers to cast her in their experimental musical Celebration (1969). Watson ended her long reign as Broadway's top ing'nue playing the title role in the revival of No, No Nanette (1971), in which she sang the title tune and shared "I Want to Be Happy" with Jack Gilford. She has made numerous television appearances, including roles on St. Elsewhere (1984), Wings (1993) and the soap opera General Hospital (1987). Married to producer Norton Wright, she lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and is returning to Broadway as Emily Whitman in a revival of Sondheim's Follies (2011).

Wayburn, Ned

(b. Edward Claudius Weyburn)
Director, dance director
b. Mar. 30, 1874 (Pittsburgh, PA) - d. Sept. 2, 1942 (New York City)

Wayburn dabbled in architecture and real estate and worked as a vaudeville performer & stage manager before becoming a dance director for the top theatre managers of the early 1900s. The first person to take musical comedy dance routines seriously, he founded the Studio of Stage Dancing in 1905 and developed the first crude form of dance notation. Wayburn coached hundreds of vaudevillians, including Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson and even Fred Astaire. An early proponent of precision chorus dancing, he developed the kick lines and geometric formations that are still familiar in musical staging today. Not one for pretentious theories, he claimed that stage choreography could be broken down into five basic categories: musical comedy, tapping and stepping, acrobatic work, toe specialties, and exhibition ballroom.

In a 41 year career, Wayburn (who took his stage name spelling from a program typo) staged hundreds of stage productions. He worked frequently for producer Florenz Ziegfeld, doing much to define the look of the classic Broadway show girl by dividing chorus girls according to height and inventing the trademark "Ziegfeld Walk." Balancing the forward thrust of each hip with a thrust from the opposite shoulder, this walk made it possible for chorus girls to descend stairs while wearing huge headpieces. Wayburn remained active after Ziegfeld's death, staging traveling movie house revues.

Wayne, David

(b. Wayne McMeekan)
Actor, singer
b. Jan. 30, 1914 (Traverse, MI) - d. Feb. 9, 1995 (Santa Monica, CA)

This gifted comic actor was working as a statistician when he joined a Shakespearean repertory troupe in Cleveland. Wayne worked his way to New York, where he made his musical debut as the diplomatic aide Nish in a long-running Broadway revival of The Merry Widow (1943). His inspired performance as "Og," the transplanted leprechaun in Burton Lane and Yip Harburg's Finian's Rainbow (1947) made him the first actor to win a Tony Award for a performance in a musical. Wayne cemented his reputation with a series of superb character performances, including "Ensign Pulver" in Broadway's Mister Roberts and Kate Hepburn's effeminate yet amorous songwriting neighbor "Kip Lurie" in the film Adam's Rib (1949). From 1941 onwards, he was married to Jane Gordon, with whom he had twin daughters.

Wayne remained a familiar face on stage, screen and television for the rest of his life. His musical stage roles included "Jack Jordan" in Say, Darling (1958), "Ezra" in The Yearling (1965) and "Granpere" in John Kander and Fred Ebb's The Happy Time (1968). He appeared as the recurring comic villain "The Mad Hatter" on television's Batman, and on the big screen played "Dr. Charles Dutton" in The Andromeda Strain (1971). He relocated to California in 1977, where his television roles included "Digger Barnes" on Dallas (1978), and a memorable appearance as Blanche's "Big Daddy Hollingworth" on The Golden Girls (1986). Wayne died of lung cancer at age 81.