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Bob Fosse: Steam Heat
It's another one of those freaky coincidences that right after completing the 2019 FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon that I ran into a 1990 documentary called Fosse: Steam heat, which lovingly documents the amazing career of the legendary dancer, director, and choreographer.
Originally broadcast on the PBS series Great Performances, this amazingly detailed look at the life of this show business icon begins with a look at his childhood where (there is a lot of footage of Fosse himself as part of the narration) Fosse explained that dancing was an attention-getter he used in the house since the rest of his brothers were athletes. He talks about his first job dancing in a burlesque house, which is the first of several times in the documentary that Bob's real life is juxtaposed with corresponding scenes from his 1979 thinly disguised autobiography All That Jazz.
The documentary contains tons of footage of the man dancing with his first wife Mary Ann Niles and in movies like The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, Give a Girl a Break, and of course, that incredible challenge dance in My Sister Eileen with Tommy Rall that Gwen Verdon tells us was created because Bob wanted to show that he could compete on the same level, dance-wise, with a ballet dancer.
As the film reaches a new plateau in Fosse's life or career, we are treated to footage from a memorial service for Fosse, where several of his best friends, mostly writers, spoke about him in the most loving and humorous terms. Commentary is provided from Paddy Chayefsky, Peter Stone, Steve Tesich, Herb Gardner, and, of course, Neil Simon.
We are also treated to a lot of commentary from the legendary Gwen Verdon who provides a lot of insight into Fosse's insecurities as a dancer and a choreographer and how they affected his work. Bob's womanizing, which eventually led to the downfall of his marriage, is discreetly sidestepped here as Verdon only spoke about her husband in the most glowing terms. We are also treated to rare footage of Verdon performing in Sweet Charity as well as on the set of the movie of Charity and All That Jazz. We also get to see the first commercial for a Broadway show ever made, created by Fosse to increase ticket sales for Pippin, the show that won him two Tonys and ran on Broadway for six years. We also get a glimpse at the last movie he directed Star 80 and his last Broadway musical Big Deal. If you enjoyed the Fosse/Verdon miniseries, I'm pretty sure you will enjoy this too.
It's another one of those freaky coincidences that right after completing the 2019 FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon that I ran into a 1990 documentary called Fosse: Steam heat, which lovingly documents the amazing career of the legendary dancer, director, and choreographer.
Originally broadcast on the PBS series Great Performances, this amazingly detailed look at the life of this show business icon begins with a look at his childhood where (there is a lot of footage of Fosse himself as part of the narration) Fosse explained that dancing was an attention-getter he used in the house since the rest of his brothers were athletes. He talks about his first job dancing in a burlesque house, which is the first of several times in the documentary that Bob's real life is juxtaposed with corresponding scenes from his 1979 thinly disguised autobiography All That Jazz.
The documentary contains tons of footage of the man dancing with his first wife Mary Ann Niles and in movies like The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, Give a Girl a Break, and of course, that incredible challenge dance in My Sister Eileen with Tommy Rall that Gwen Verdon tells us was created because Bob wanted to show that he could compete on the same level, dance-wise, with a ballet dancer.
As the film reaches a new plateau in Fosse's life or career, we are treated to footage from a memorial service for Fosse, where several of his best friends, mostly writers, spoke about him in the most loving and humorous terms. Commentary is provided from Paddy Chayefsky, Peter Stone, Steve Tesich, Herb Gardner, and, of course, Neil Simon.
We are also treated to a lot of commentary from the legendary Gwen Verdon who provides a lot of insight into Fosse's insecurities as a dancer and a choreographer and how they affected his work. Bob's womanizing, which eventually led to the downfall of his marriage, is discreetly sidestepped here as Verdon only spoke about her husband in the most glowing terms. We are also treated to rare footage of Verdon performing in Sweet Charity as well as on the set of the movie of Charity and All That Jazz. We also get to see the first commercial for a Broadway show ever made, created by Fosse to increase ticket sales for Pippin, the show that won him two Tonys and ran on Broadway for six years. We also get a glimpse at the last movie he directed Star 80 and his last Broadway musical Big Deal. If you enjoyed the Fosse/Verdon miniseries, I'm pretty sure you will enjoy this too.