Frederic Franklin, A Biography of the Ballet Star By Leslie Norton
"Frederic Franklin, A Biography of the Ballet Star" is a joint effort and a synergistic work by a biographer working from the outside in and the subject working from the inside out. The biographer, Leslie Norton, and the autobiographer, Frederic Franklin have created a book of lasting academic value for information about twentieth-century ballet.
A story about Franklin should be mostly about Franklin and not so much about the world he lived in. The title of that book would be The World of Frederic Franklin. Instead, this book's title misleads the reader somewhat as being A Biography of the Ballet Star. While the book relates facts about Franklin in chronological order and connects him to the myriad of other information discussed, Franklin serves as the jumping off point for Norton to give lengthy explanations of ballet plots, the histories of many famous choreographers and page after page of bad reviews where Franklin is nonetheless given accolades.
Ballet history buffs will enjoy this book if they are prepared to read more about the goings on of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo where Franklin knew his great tenure as a lasting icon. Fifty percent of the book details the history, travels and juicy backstage brawls of Ballet Russe. Norton's research on the subject is exhaustive and no doubt drawn in part from her previous title Leonide Massine and the 20th Century Ballet (McFarland, 2004.) Frederic Franklin is an intricate account of the Ballet Russe during its time as the reigning company of the century before money, personnel squabbles and the rise of New York City Ballet caused it to end productions.
In its own right, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and its many splinters and factions represent an important component of the establishment and development of ballet in America. War-ravaged Europeans could not and would not support the world of ballet as it had in previous centuries, and twentieth-century America was ripe for the artistic picking. Ballet Russe recognized this and toured the country extensively giving audiences its first real understanding of ballet. It also gave American choreographers their first genuine opportunities to create ballets on seriously trained dancers. As a biographical work about Ballet Russe, Frederic Franklin, A Biography of the Ballet Star is a brilliant contribution to this needy category of scholarly books.
"The history of the world is but the biography of great men," said writer and biographer Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881.) And while the environment most certainly influences the choices and greatness of its people, a biography must present a clarification of the individual it claims to examine. A biography should inspire through the annotated exploration of the subject's hopes, aspirations, achievements and failures leading the reader to some greater understanding of human nature. Norton chose to highlight the time period and setting of Franklin's life rather than delve into his personal philosophies. Why she made this choice isn't evident but readers may feel less than full at the conclusion when they know more about ballet in twentieth-century America than anything revealing about Franklin.
Franklin's brilliant ability to remember choreography is highlighted and presented as the foundation for his lengthy career. At age 93 he is still called upon to restage the classical pieces and to perform many elder statesman roles such as Dr. Coppelius. The book contains wonderful photographs from Franklin's personal collection. It is a fabulous accumulation of portrayals of early dancers such as Alexandra Danilova and Moira Shearer not seen in other publications.
While Norton's study of the time period is extensive, depth of Franklin's philosophy is absent. A single narrow statement claims that he is busy outside of dancing when the only thing talked about in the book is his dancing.
Fonteyn became quite irritated when people spoke of her ‘dedication.' She once told Franklin, "I love dancing, but I'm not dedicated to it." Remembering this, Franklin told his interviewer, "I'm not either. I've loved it. It's been my life. But I'm not like a monk. I'm not dedicated at all, and I think it's rather a foolish thing to say one is. I'm doing it because I want to. But I've got a life also."
One wishes Franklin's biography/memoir could have illuminated more of his impressions of what he experienced and lived during an integral period of ballet's fledgling years in America. It is a testament to his dedication, not withstanding his claims otherwise, to perpetuating the story ballets that continue to fuel people's interest in seeing ballet. Franklin terms "Scheherazade" and "Nutcracker" as the ‘ham and eggs' of the business, "…whenever we needed money, we did ham and eggs." Classical story ballets are fading from programs in spite of some company's need for money. Thankfully, Franklin is still holding the torch for these important pieces so that more generations of dancers will understand dancing as a contribution to the human experience and not a vehicle to personal glory. For whatever fame he knows, Franklin graciously shares the steps of our dancing heritage so that others will appreciate and continue forward in the light of the classics he so elegantly brought to life in the beginning.
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