David Bruce

The Funniest People in Theater David Bruce

This book contains 250 anecdotes about theater, including these: 1) Onna White was dancing for Michael Kidd when he suggested a series of steps that she thought was too difficult for the "Take Back Your Mink" number in "Guys and Dolls," so she complained, "That's easy for you to say. You're not wearing high heels." Mr. Kidd asked, "What size shoe do you wear?" Hearing the answer-seven and a half-he put on her high heels and danced the steps perfectly. After that, says Ms. White, "I shut my mouth and never doubted him again." 2) Brian Smedley fell in love with actress Judi Dench and asked her to marry him. She said that she would think about the proposal, then give him her answer, but she never got back to him. Instead, she fell in love with Michael Williams and married him. While visibly pregnant, she was performing in London Assurance. Mr. Smedley saw the play, and when it was over, he went to her dressing room, stuck his head in the door, and said, "I take it the answer's no?" 3) George Bernard Shaw sent two tickets to the opening night of one of his plays to Sir Winston Churchill, with a note saying, "Please come to my play and bring a friend, if you have one." Sir Winston replied with his own note, saying that he couldn't come to the opening night, but "I'll come to the second night, if you have one." 4) Some anecdotes need not be completely told to be funny; after all, some things are best left to the imagination. In 2007, when playwright Edward Albee was 80 years old, his beloved cat died of cancer. While the cat's grave was being dug, Mr. Albee put the cat in a freezer. He says about his cat, "I put her in plastic and forgot to tell the cleaning ladies. One of them went in there, saw a dead cat and, well ...."