WEBVTT 1 00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:24.200 But he was weak, as other men have been weak. 2 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:33.580 Now you know David's and so do I. They are the ones who covet other men's wives. 3 00:01:34.440 --> 00:01:38.980 Seeing Beth Sheba, David coveted her. 4 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:52.780 Yes, Joseph was just a boy. But what about that big guy, Samson? 5 00:03:06.140 --> 00:03:11.420 Bulging biceps are wonderful. 6 00:03:17.660 --> 00:03:24.100 But the steel in muscle can become as fragile as chicken coop wire, 7 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:27.340 unless there's common sense between the ears. 8 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:42.300 Now witness Samson and his dancing dolly, Delilah. 9 00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:57.720 Over the years, the very reasons for Billy's popular 10 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:02.300 success brought him the most criticism from religious conservatives and political opponents. 11 00:05:02.760 --> 00:05:06.000 But Billy had an answer for everything and knocked him right back. 12 00:05:06.880 --> 00:05:10.260 I know that the charge will at once be made that I am a reverent. 13 00:05:10.580 --> 00:05:14.780 This is generally said by people who don't want to see themselves as God sees them. 14 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:18.720 They don't like to be told that they are headed straight for a perdition in a language they 15 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:22.840 can understand. They want a violence and a ladylike proposition, 16 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:30.080 I want to preach so plainly that a man can come from the factory is not 17 00:05:33.380 --> 00:05:38.500 professional baseball team in America. Short and energetic, Billy was a speedy runner. 18 00:05:38.840 --> 00:05:42.500 And whenever he wasn't out chasing fires or driving the undertaker's wagon, 19 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:47.360 he found time to play ball for the team in Marshalltown, the Iowa state champions of 20 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:53.100 It was his ball playing in Marshalltown that brought Billy to the attention of AC 21 00:05:53.100 --> 00:05:56.240 Pop Anson, manager of the Chicago White Stockings. 22 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:06.980 I'm late. I'm late. 23 00:07:21.260 --> 00:07:28.620 And came to Monte Carlo. We stayed in a little cheap hotel and the Diaghilev Company was here 24 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:32.620 and Chiquetti, who was the ballet master of the company and did all the teaching, 25 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:37.020 Diaghilev really believed in Chiquetti. And I had studied with him in London. 26 00:07:37.340 --> 00:07:42.880 So when I was in Monte Carlo, he formed a class every morning at nine o'clock. 27 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:47.080 But Chiquetti invited Diaghilev to come see me in the class. 28 00:07:47.660 --> 00:07:52.280 So he came one day and I was trembling, of course, and shaking and thinking, 29 00:07:52.340 --> 00:08:01.320 here's this great man and what am I? Period in my life, my mother called it the sack string 30 00:08:01.320 --> 00:08:07.200 and mask period. And she didn't like it at all because she said, why should I hide my pretty face? 31 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:12.160 Well, anyway, in the early thirties, Ruth brought a new look in choreography to concert 32 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:18.140 stages throughout America. She abstracted and impersonalized the body into new plastic forms 33 00:08:18.140 --> 00:08:24.140 in sacks designed by Noguchi, with strings and sticks by Chelechev and with masks by Remesov. 34 00:08:24.700 --> 00:08:26.720 At the time, critics hailed her solo dance. 35 00:08:28.320 --> 00:08:33.020 Got a few that were really first class. So this idea worked perfectly for me. 36 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:37.880 And the one that I like the best is called Revenge, which is based on Il Trovatore. 37 00:08:37.880 --> 00:08:42.620 I went to Paris and asked the Spanish artist Antoni Clavet, who was all the rage, 38 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:47.960 to design the ballet. And he not only designed five of the most beautiful sets you've ever seen, 39 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:54.580 but he painted them himself. And the ballet was a big smash hit in Paris. We did it with the 40 00:08:54.580 --> 00:09:00.480 Champs-Élysées company and we were supposed to do it just for three performances and we did it every night. 41 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:26.600 Last year, I had a 40th anniversary. I've written an awful lot of books. And every time I write one 42 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:32.780 and you read something that has been accomplished, you go and you double check and Ruth Page started it. 43 00:10:33.020 --> 00:10:37.860 You were the only American woman to dance with Diaglos Ballet-Rousse. You were the only American 44 00:10:37.860 --> 00:10:43.460 woman to be invited to dance for the coronation of Japan's emperor, Hirohito. You were the first 45 00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:48.920 American to commission dances from George Balanchine. And back home, you staged the first 46 00:10:48.920 --> 00:10:54.700 all-black American ballet and also the first jazz ballet. You were also the first American to be a 47 00:10:54.700 --> 00:11:00.060 danseurs at the Metropolitan Opera. You were the first to give Agnes Demille the opportunity to 48 00:11:00.060 --> 00:11:05.100 present her work under professional management. And you were the first to commission and produce 49 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:11.520 the ballet by Aaron Copeland. And you were the one to present Rudolf Nureyev in his American stage debut. 50 00:11:12.140 --> 00:11:16.860 Being first means being original and Ruthie, you certainly are an American original. 51 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.000 We don't think of Ruth as the choreographer. She does the whole bit. 52 00:11:27.700 --> 00:11:31.800 Well, the Chicago street will be getting a new name in honor of Chicago's first lady of dance, 53 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:36.780 a stretch of Delaware Place on the north side will now be called Ruth Page Place. 54 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.540 The street sign was one of the birthday presents given by friends and admirers 55 00:11:40.540 --> 00:11:49.380 on Page's 88th birthday. How does it feel to be 88 today? Just like it feels to be 16. 56 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:55.400 Miss Page's long career in ballet began on stage when she 57 00:13:25.160 --> 00:13:26.560 Oh 58 00:14:07.920 --> 00:14:09.320 . 59 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:39.840 . 60 00:15:08.640 --> 00:15:10.040 . 61 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:38.000 . 62 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:08.900 . 63 00:16:36.640 --> 00:16:38.040 . 64 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:07.400 . 65 00:17:36.840 --> 00:17:38.240 . 66 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:10.400 . 67 00:18:39.100 --> 00:18:40.500 . 68 00:19:09.260 --> 00:19:10.660 .