Ravinia Dinner Speakers No. 16 [May 1, 1985]

Transcript (Download)

This is audio on channel one, tone on channel one.

Audio on channel two will be the microphone attached to the Mrs.

Page at the dinner at the Arts Council in Chicago.

It's May 1, 1985.

This will be bars and tone for the next 30 seconds.

This is tape number 16.

The Eiffel on production to the Tom Farrity video.

Come on, sit down.

He went to the chapel room.

So get him and bring him so he can sit with us.

I think he'll be more comfortable sitting with us.

And we'll put Robbie right there.

You are the sitting piece.

Robbie Shankar.

Do you know him? Can you go on? This time he's really losing everybody.

Even the veterans don't like that.

You know, it's a long time ago, but on the other hand, he fought in that war.

He's going to be German.

The way they're taking pictures, they're like, can't scratch my nose.

I think people are very sympathetic.

Where A, you have soldiers who are important people, and B, that's soldiers that fought in your country.

That doesn't make any sense.

It certainly does.

It was a cold one.

It was not just one in the dark.

They struck in the other one before it was in the cold.

He made a mistake, too.

He seems pretty powerful now, having made that decision.

So maybe he's very impressed with the veterans.

Maybe, but I think it's caused too much alienation.

So it's better for the veterans to be kind and smart.

I think adversely.

The next time she came here was when Otto Fowl started the Allied Arts and conductor of the orchestra.

It was Allied Arts because it was new music, new dance.

The new music and the orchestra for the dance was conducted by Eric Dahl.

She was a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina She did a lot of the arts.

She did the rapper in the quarterback, which she danced with Paul Dupont.

And there again you get her interest in Americana, things that are new.

She always was adventuresome.

At Ravigne, she danced as a premier dansuse and also did the choreography for the opera ballets.

The big one was Samson and Delilah.

In one of her books she writes that when Madame Butterfly was scheduled and then without notice when the prima donna was unavailable she was told, oh we're going to do Samson and Delilah.

And that has a great big ballet.

Ruth was busy on the telephone calling Chicago dancers and I guess she's been doing that ever since.

That's part of the trade that she has earned.

That's one of the things that Ruth Page is loved for.

All through her years Chicago dancers were nurtured, coached, became dancers because she offered them opportunities.

While she was at Ravigne she lived near the, with the Fisher family living on Fisher Lane and when that's good later on she had her little house at Hubbard Woods.

Ruth is a great hostess and all the famous people that performed at Ravigne usually stopped at Ruth's house and all the famous people she knew I remember, where she had Paul Graberger, George Gershwin or Salvador Dali or Beatrice Lilly all went to Ravigne either when they were performing there or were her guests.

An important part of the seven years when Ruth was at Ravigne were the Sunday afternoons when they did all ballet concerts.

Some of it was designed for children or adult ballets.

She had a commission score by a Marcel Delanois, a French composer and did a Cinderella at Ravigne.

She was Cinderella and a very beautiful one.

I remember I was just talking to Edward Gordon about it.

One of the stepsisters in her version of Cinderella was Farah Krasnopolski.

Some of you connected with music may remember there was a Krasnopolski in the Chicago Symphony.

Farah was a dancer and you may know that there's a very handsome young conductor floating somewhere around by the name of Yuri Krasnopolski.

I know when he was guest conductor with ABT the girls were all swooning about him.

Ruth's years at Ravigne were very beautiful.

Those years I saw very much of her.

I didn't know her personally until a bit later.

I've known her only about 50 years.

As she confessed to me at 86 now I missed the first 30 or so years.

After Ravigne she had all this great experience of working with ensemble and knowing how to do it.

She became the choreographer, ballet mistress, whatever they called it in those days, the leading dancer for the Chicago Civic Opera Company and Chicago dancers.

She worked in many ballets but always there were gala evenings in which her own ballets were done.

There was much more ballet and ballet in Chicago was always connected with the opera company, a company that grew out of that.

It's interesting that one of her greatest periods was that she had the company called the Chicago Opera Ballet which toured coast to coast in ballets made from the opera scores.

I must confess I'm not too crazy about sopranos.

I'd much rather see a prima ballerina dance traviata than sing it.

Ruth really still loves opera.

She really goes with opera, she begs to go.

She really likes it.

She went deeply into the story.

I think it's her Ravigne experience that led her into that.

When she did the ballets based on the opera there was a depth of character and they were beautifully done and beautifully designed.

Her scenery and costumes were always very wonderful.

Interesting that in the opera ballets instead of wearing the usual opera costumes she had first Nicholas Remesov designing for the ballet.

I still remember in Aida how authentic the ballet costumes were much more so than the Egyptian singers were.

There's a little anecdote in Ravigne that when the costumes were being assigned Ruth wrote to her mother that the budget was very low.

Couldn't she please make a costume for her? Which I imagine being a mother she did.

Ruth went on and on in Chicago much further.

The great days of the Chicago Opera Ballet when they toured developed dancers.

She brought in stars that nobody else had seen.

I think by now it's a legend.

We know she brought in Nuraya first but she had Danish dancers, Henning Kroos, Stanley Kirsten, Simona.

More important she developed musicians.

Robert Wolfe of Chicago who composed for her, Neil Cairns who did some composing and also conducted the orchestra.

Dancers such as Patricia Klekovich now teaching in her school and Kevin Johnson, Orrin Cain.

Chicago has a great deal to remember and thank Ruth Page for which I do now.

Thank you, Anne.

Thank you, Anne.

And now I'd like to introduce Ravigne's Executive Director, Edward Barton.

Thank you, Donald.

We've covered some interesting history here tonight.

Ravigne and Ruth.

And now I have the opportunity to make an announcement regarding Ruth and Ravigne that focuses on the future.

It is my pleasure and privilege to share with you the news of a special tribute to Ruth Page for her great accomplishment which continues right through to the present.

In 1985, Ravigne is inaugurating a Ruth Page Week of Ballet with the San Francisco Ballet Residents from August 20 through 24.

Every season in which the ballet is presented, a week will be identified as the Ruth Page Week of Ballet.

Ravigne is pleased to provide this ongoing recognition of Ruth's importance to the world of dance.

And now I am delighted, on behalf of the Festival, to introduce Ruth Page.

Thank you very much for all these kind words.

You know, I remember Ravigne with such great pleasure.

It was the first job I think I ever had.

And when I came to Chicago, I said, I've got to have a job.

And I can't remember how I got that job.

I really can't remember anything about it.

But that's where I really learned my trade.

I learned how to choreograph for operas.

And I do love opera.

And I was there, I think it was seven years until Louis Eckstein died.

Nobody remembers Louis Eckstein.

He was the one who gave Ravigne.

He's the one who financed all the operas alone.

I don't know how he did it.

But I thought it was very remarkable.

And I'm very delighted to hear that Ravigne now is going to have an Honest to God Music School.

And I wish they'd have a dancing school too.

Then maybe I could get a job.

So anyway, we'll go on.

I don't know what's going to happen next, but this has been very exciting up till now.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ruth.

And thank you all for making this a very, very special evening.

We hope to see you at Ravigne for the dance, for the San Francisco Ruth Page Week, and for all the rest of the summer.

And one day, perhaps we will be able to give Ruth a job again.

I want to say one thing.

We have a very, very distinguished guest with us tonight.

And this is he.

It's Ravigne Schoenker.

And he's a marvelous musician.

He's here to compose some music.

But anyway, we're so delighted to have him here.

Identifier

V.2011-05-0571

Date Of Production

May 1 1985

Description

     Taping of a reception at the Arts Club, Chicago, prior to the opening of the 50th Anniversary season of the Ravinia Festival, during which a "Ruth Page Week of Dance" at the Festival was inaugurated.

     This fiftieth anniversary celebrated the reopening of the Festival in 1936, after a brief hiatus following the close in the early 1930s of the legendary Ravinia Opera seasons, owing to financial difficulties of the Festival's founder and guiding light, Louis Eckstein, who died in 1935.

     The Festival celebrated the 60th anniversary of Ruth Page's debut as resident choreographer, premiére danseuse and ballet mistress, positions she retained from 1926-1931. A photo exhibit chronicling Ruth Page's career mounted for the celebration was on view during this reception.

     Pick-up shots of Ruth Page and guests at dinner following the reception at the Arts Club.

     Ann Barzel gives a brief appreciation and reminiscence of Ruth Page's background and forty-five year career in opera in Chicago, including mentions of Ruth Page's home in Hubbard Woods, the children's ballet matinees at Ravinia, and Ruth Page's ballet Cinderella.

     Ravinia's executive director makes the official announcement that in recognition of Ruth Page's contributions to the world of dance in general and to Chicago specifically, Ravinia would honor her at the 50th Anniversary Season and in every season thereafter with a Ruth Page Ballet Week.

     The announcement is followed by a brief and amusing thank you from Ruth Page, crediting Ravinia as the place where she learned her trade as a choreographer and remembering fondly its founder, Louis Eckstein.

Run Time

0:12:49

Color

Color

Sound

Stereo

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Language Of Materials

English

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Format

Cassette Tape ➜ Betacam ➜ 20 min.

Form

Unedited

Related Collections

SERIES III: Betacam Video of Interviews

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

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