December 24
Born Today:
Carol Haney
Dancer/choreographer Carol Haney (1924-1964) died too soon, at age 39. But she packed a lot of performing into her short life, dancing with Jack Cole (1911-1974), assisting Gene Kelly (1912-1996) with choreography for several films before appearing with Bob Fosse (1927-1987) in Kiss Me Kate (1953) in the minute of choreography that jump-started his career. Haney joined Fosse in The Pajama Game (both the Broadway and movie versions) in the 1950s, dancing in the famous Steam Heat number. She again worked with director Kelly on Broadway, choreographing Flower Drum Song (1958) and staging Funny Girl (1964), starring Barbra Streisand, which ended up being Haney’s last show.
Also Born Today: Choreographer and visionary Robert Joffrey (1930-1988) co-founded the Joffrey Ballet in 1954 and began merging his ballet and modern training into a style called contemporary ballet, which prevails today.
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Movies: Rosalie released in 1937 and The Gang’s All Here released in 1943