Ruth Page Collection > SERIES I: Motion Picture Film of Performances, Rehearsals & Home Movies

Great Music From Chicago: Doctor Bat (Die Fledermaus) [1961]

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The very graceful looking lamp, made of curves, is covered with iron ornamentation.

Actually, you don't see street lamps like this anymore.

Their gas light illuminated another place and another time, such as this place and this time.

Now this is an out of the way square in Imperial Vienna.

The year is about 1860.

And over there is a costume shop.

Behind that flows the Danube, when it was still blue.

And in a few minutes, dawn will break over this gay and improbable city.

And with it will begin the gay and improbable story of De Flatermouse, the bat.

Now our story will be told through the sweep of the dance.

Our actors, members of the Ruth Page Ballet.

For the next full hour then, an adventure into ballet on great music from Chicago.

Choreographed by Ruth Page, conducted by Neil Cain, and directed for television by Richard Dorsuch, great music from Chicago presents Dr.

Bat, a ballet adaptation of Johann Strauss opera De Flatermouse.

In a moment, our ballet story begins.

As dawn pauses down the street a few blocks, it's rather hard to imagine that this idyllic silence is about to be shattered by not one, but two riotous groups of revelers.

First, Eisenstein, who should have been home with his wife hours ago, enters with his entourage of all -night celebrators.

And then later, his great friend Dr.

Falky reels onto the scene with two more nameless, but not necessarily guileless girls.

Certainly the last to suspect any of this is the gentle little proprietor of this costume shop, who just now is about to awaken and greet what he believes will be another impeccable Viennese day.

So ends Act One, with Dr.

Falky angrily contemplating his revenge on his sometime friend, Eisenstein, a revenge which we shall see developing as Act Two begins in just a moment.

The dance is among the oldest forms of human expression.

Essentially in dancing, the body speaks.

The language may be stately and ritualistic, or it may, as on this occasion, batter in the light and frivolous language of gay spirits and delightful foolery.

The ballet, as we know it, originated in Europe about the beginning of the 17th century.

True, it had its origin in the medieval court pageant and religious processional, but at first in Italy, then in the royal courts and for the private entertainment of the nobility, the ballet took on the gaiety and make -believe of the court masque.

Since the ballet began as a brilliant presentation in the great houses, it demanded the service of skilled directors.

Exceptional musicians were engaged to provide the finest orchestral accompaniment.

Ballet has always carried with it an atmosphere of cultivated taste and special elegance.

As an art form and as a narrative device, ballet was soon seen on the operatic stage.

By the early 18th century, the ballerina had taken her place upon the public stage.

An earlier tradition actually had barred women performers from the theater, as it does in China today.

By the 19th century, the golden century of ballet, freedom of costume and casting, staging and movement, gave the ballet outstanding movement and pictorial beauty.

The Russian ballet made its brilliant impact upon the Western world in the first decades of the 20th century.

The present ballet adaptation is, of course, the frothiest of stories and in the gayest of moods.

Its climax, appropriately, a mass revel, because in exactly such a revel, we may expect the most improbable complications.

The work is carefree, animated, exactly as worldly and witty as we might expect Vienna to be.

And now in the boudoir of Eisenstein's wife, Rosalinda, the maid utters that classic feminine response upon receiving an invitation to the ball.

But I simply haven't a thing to wear.

Otto the Ballet tries to console her by offering her the mistress clothes.

Soon Dr.

Falka's revenge takes shape as he manipulates the invitations to the masked ball so as to send the Ballet with Rosalinda and the maid with Eisenstein, all unknown to each other.

In the meantime, the Ballet and the maid console each other with their dreams of grandeur.

The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet The Ballet Johann Josef and Edward Strauss, sons of the Viennese composer and conductor, Johann Strauss the Elder, set the world to dancing Viennese waltzes for a half century and more after 19 -year -old Johann took over his father's orchestra in 1844.

Johann the Younger went on to become the waltz king.

He was indeed the most popular dance conductor in Europe during the closing decades of the 19th century.

He was a kind of musical spokesman, an ambassador for Vienna.

He and his music represented all the charm and the elegance and the sophistication of the Habsburg capital.

Strauss was no flamboyant virtuoso, as was Liszt, no enormously controversial figure, as was Wagner.

Even so, he was a carefully trained and highly talented musician.

He was, among other things, a stout champion of Wagner when Tannhäuser and Lohengrin were under popular and critical fire.

He admired Liszt.

He freely acknowledged his debt to the fiery Hungarian.

But his talents did not resemble the dramatic gifts of the one nor the presence of the other.

Strauss took over the waltz as a kind of undeveloped musical province.

In form and content, he perfected it, beginning with the simple native form Strauss made of the cheerful Austrian dance, no more, no less than all the great masters made of their own folk materials.

He made it an enduring work of art.

He wrote light music, indeed, he wrote primarily for dancing, but he wrote in accents and terms of grace and genius.

Brilliant, melodic, fresh, and daring.

Next, we're to hear a Strauss sequence from, of all settings, a conventional masked ball.

Enter Dr.

Falkke as the ballmaster, gleefully awaiting the culmination of his plot and the embarrassment of his tormentor of the costume shop square, Herr Eisenstein.

For what could be more embarrassing than to discover that the woman with whom you've been flirting is none other than your wife, or to have the maid discover that the man with their mistress is none other than her own fiancé, the ballad? As Dr.

Falkke welcomes his guests, he knows that the machinery of this plot is irrevocably turning, and the triumph of the bat's revenge is his.

Identifier
F.2011-05-0177
Date Of Production
1961
Abstract
"Die Fledermaus" (or "Dr. Bat") is a 3-scene ballet comedy choreographed by Ruth Page, with music by Johann Strauss, arranged and orchestrated by Isaac Van Grove. It was premiered with "Concertino Pour Trois" on January 9, 1961 in Rockford, IL. Costumes and scenery were designed by André Delfau. This film represents a made-for-tv version, filmed in December of 1961 specifically for an episode of the television show "Great Music from Chicago," which aired on WGN-TV on January 7, 1962. According to the canister label, the role of "The Costumer" is performed by Larry Long; the role of "Dr. Falke (the bat)" is danced by Charles Schick; "Eisenstein" is Kenneth Johnson; "Rosalinda" is Patricia Klekovic; "Adele (the maid)" is Dolores Lipinski; and "Otto (the valet)" is Orrin Kayan.
Description
The film opens with a crane shot of a male narrator (Jim Conway) behind an old gas lamp; the camera moves down to eye level as Conway gives context to the place and time (Imperial Vienna, ~1860, a costume shop) of the ballet, Dr. Bat (adapted from Johann Strauss's "Die Fledermaus"), to follow; he also introduces the Ruth Page Ballet before the "Great Music from Chicago" screen cuts in. Conway announces that choreography is by Ruth Page, conducting by Neal Kayan, and directed by Richard Doerschuk. The screen goes blank (presumably for advertisements) for a few moments and then cuts back to Conway on the set, explaining that young Eisenstein and his fellow revelers are about to enter, followed by Dr. Falke and two girls, disturbing the proprieter of the costume shop. With this, the camera dollies into the elaborate shop set and the costumer awakens, wandering out his front door and doing a sleepy solo dance with a flower he picks. Suddenly, the group of young people stream in and surround the costumer with their dancing, two by two. Several invade the shop and fool around with his costumes, much to his dismay. The group then splits into a semi-circle of sorts, allowing for Eisenstein to dance a solo at center with faux-wings. When he stops, he believes he hears someone approaching, so he encourages his friends to scatter; Dr. Falke and his two female companions then arrive and dance a pas de trois. Then, Eisenstein entraps Falke into a bat costume and he begins a bat-solo, during which he is joined by some of the female revelers. Before he knows what has happened, however, Eisenstein has wrapped him in rope and ties him to a lamp post. The costumer, distraught over this, is also entrapped by revelers and carried back to his shop. Falke's two companions then reappear and tease him for a bit, eventually rescuing him but running off while he's still confused. At the end of the scene, Conway returns and introduces Act II, in which Falke plots his revenge. There in then a cut for commercials, followed by Conway's return. He offers a brief discussion of dance and the origin of ballet, after which he offers context for the second act, in the boudoir of Rosalinda Eisenstein. The maid, Adele, laments that she has nothing to wear to Falke's impending ball and the valet, Otto, suggests she wear the mistress's dress. She turns it down and begins to cry, but is cheered up when he offers up a feather boa; she dances a playful solo with it while Otto looks on. She ends the solo dejected, as she snaps back to reality, so Otto attempts to comfort her again--this time with fancy hats. The two commence a lighthearted pas de deux, disposing of the hats halfway through. After they complete it with a kiss, Rosalinda enters in her dressing gown and the maid attends to her. Rosalinda then performs a solo around her boudoir. Once she's completed it, her husband arrives and dances his greeting to her. They then dance a pas de deux, after which Adele brings the couple drinks, wiggling about in an attempt to get Mr. Eisenstein's attention. She eventually succeeds and pulls him off briefly before he returns and continues to dance with Rosalinda--halfheartedly, and stealing glances at Adele while doing so. When Rosalinda returns to her dressing table to make herself up, her husband dances a bit with Adele, hiding this fact from his wife when she turns around. Finally, the three dance a small pas de trois and Rosalinda exits. Eisenstein and the maid then steal a quick kiss, with Adele exiting just as Dr. Falke enters with invitations to his ball. He encourages Eisenstein to come with Adele instead of his wife, and the two dance a knowing duet together. Then Rosalinda and Otto appear, upset when Falke tells them about Adele and Eisenstein accompanying each other to the ball. They agree to go together, wearing masks, in revenge. Once they exit, Falke dances a happy solo in anticipation of his plan unfolding. The camera then cuts for advertisements before returning once again to Conway, who discusses Strauss and his music before introducing Act III, at Dr. Falke's ball. As he speaks, Falke dances a brief and merry solo before beginning to greet his various costumed guests. They all arrange themselves in the ballroom and embark upon a waltz in their couples. Next, Eisenstein performs a solo, after which Adele enters, wearing an elaborate train, and receives a great deal of attention from a group of men who dance with her and carry her around. This is followed by a flirtation between Eisenstein and other girls, then Eisenstein and Adele. When all come back together, Falke carries a girl on each shoulder and dances a pas de trois with them at center. It is at this point that Rosalinda and Otto enter, masked, and intrigue Eisenstein and Adele, respectively. Rosalinda then dances an enrapturing solo, as does Otto after her. The two then reprise with impressive numbers of turns, and Falke follows by bringing them together with their respective husband and fiancée, unbeknownst to Adele and Eisenstein. The Eisensteins then dance a long, infatuated pas de deux. As they complete it, the 6 other ballroom couples return to commence the finale, which features first Otto and Adele and then the Eisensteins; finally, Dr. Falke enters in a full bat costume and unmasks Otto and Rosalinda, thoroughly embarrassing their partners. But soon, all is forgiven and everyone performs the finale dance as an ensemble. The camera then goes dark for a moment, before switching to a "Dr. Bat" title screen, followed by "Ruth Page Ballet," then "Produced and Directed by Richard Doerschuk," a cast listing, "Choreographed by Ruth Page," "Music Adaptation by Isaac Van Grove," "Conductor: Neal Kayan," "Costumes by André Delfau," "Host: Jim Conway," "Written by Francis Coughlan and Richard Doerschuk," "Art Director: Robert Stebbins," "A WGN Television Production." The film ends there.
Run Time
0:53:00
Format
16mm
Extent
1,800 feet
Color
B&W
Sound
Optical
Reel/Tape Number
1/1
Has Been Digitized?
Yes
Language Of Materials
English
Element
Print
Genre
Dance
Form
Television series
Subject
Dance
Music
Related Collections
SERIES I: Motion Picture Film of Performances, Rehearsals & Home Movies

Related Places
North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Distributor
WGN-TV

Main Credits
Doerschuk, Richard (is director)
Doerschuk, Richard (is producer)

Additional Credits
Page, Ruth (is choreographer)
Strauss, Johann (is composer)
Van Grove, Isaac (music)
Doerschuk, Richard (is writer)
Coughlan, Francis (is writer)
Kayan, Neal (music)

Participants And Performers
Long, Larry (is performer)
Schick, Charles (is performer)
Johnson, Kenneth (is performer)
Klekovic, Patricia (is performer)
Lipinski, Dolores (is performer)
Kayan, Orrin (is performer)
Conway, Jim (is narrator)

 
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