Jane Lambert: Chorus, Pearl Bailey's 1971 Tour of Hello, Dolly!

Jane Lambert today

"The path to success is to take massive, determined action."
~Tony Robbins

 Pearl Mae Bailey received a special Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1971, she took it out on the road with Cab Calloway as Horace Vandergelder and Marky Bey as Minnie Fay, Damon Evans as Barnaby Tucker and Nat Gales as Cornelius Hackl.  
One of those wonderful chorus members of this1971 tour of Dolly was Jane Lambert!
Jane Lambert's experience with Hello Dolly was formative.
Although she basically left the Theater after the tour, she had discovered that she was to be singer and not an actress.
It was an important lesson to learn at an early age. She went

on to sing jazz, working in clubs and concerts and using her theatrical training for commercial and voiceover work. She became a teacher of singing.
When her health began to fail,she left singing and worked her first “real” job as Music Department Chair at a small arts college in Seattle. She was at the college for 12 years and she left that position to manage her husband’s career and produce his albums and run a small record label.
She was an officer on the Board of Trustees for the Recording Academy (Grammy’s) for 10 years where she concentrated her work on MusiCares and the social service needs of her fellow musicians. It has been a great life to make a whole life in music. Like working in the theatre it is a tough road but a fabulous one.

This is Jane's story...
When Jane got her Equity card, there already WAS a "Jane E. Lambert".

OUR Jane's theatrical stint in Dolly was a chapter unto itself.

After Dolly, she made the rest of her career as a singer. Jane was a mere child when she appeared in Dolly. She was nineteen. She had four years under her belt at the Brunswick Music Theatre in Maine, now the Maine State Theatre. There was a time when there were MANY resident summer stock theatres.

Most of them have gone the way of the drive-in movie theatre, meaning no more. 

These theatres, as in Jane's case, offered an extraordinary education in all aspects of theatre.
They would be rehearsing one show during the day and performing a different one in the evening.

The next week, everything would start anew with a different production. Jane was already in college when she was sixteen. She went on from there to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Jane is a native New Yorker and grew up in NYC.
Now, she lives in Seattle, Washington, birthplace of the original Dolly, Carol Channing.
In the spring of 1971, Jane had her Equity card and was going out on auditions.
Jane had not seen Dolly prior to auditioning for it. It had been running on Broadway since 1964. Jane had been to many open cattle calls in which there were hundreds of people auditioning. Interestingly enough, that wasn't the case regarding her audition for Dolly.
It was relatively small. She simply responded to a notice in Back Stage, the theatrical trade paper.
She went with a friend and they each did their audition. They both got called back.
Miss Bailey wanted to see them.

They lined everyone up by height. Jane was basically six feet tall. Her friend was five' two". They were going

to cut one of them because Miss Bailey wanted her assistant to go on the tour and be in the company.

Jane got to stay and her friend got cut. Jane was lucky to get cast. She realizes that her height would have been a hindrance to getting jobs as a Broadway chorus singer in the end. She doesn't feel that she would have had much success.
After getting hired, Jane was called into Mr. Merrick's office. He welcomed her to the company. He wished
her luck, shook her hand, and she signed a contract on April 14th, 1971. 
She KNEW that this was a big deal for a nineteen year old to be in his office.
She feels that she was in there all of two minutes. He had a very powerful demeanor and quite memorable.
She never felt intimidated by him. Because of her age, she was very excited by the entire experience. This was all very new to her.

Cab Calloway backstage (Photo courtesy: Jane Lambert)

This was a National tour after Miss Bailey and Cab Calloway's run on Broadway.
The production of Hello, Dolly! featuring Pearl Bailey opened on November 12, 1967 and closed just before Christmas in 1969.

Miss Bailey referred to this tour as the first "mixed company". She was very proud of that and talked about that a lot. Prior to that, things had still been pretty segregated.

The tour was just a few months. Miss Bailey spoke to the cast before they embarked on their tour.
At the time, they were working with the State Department to take the tour to Russia, which would have been part of detente at that point, and other places.
Miss Bailey was so proud of having a mixed company.

None of that happened, unfortunately.

This tour did, however, lead to the end of Jane's theatrical career. Period shoes had been made for all of the cast.They went to a cobbler and had these shoes built individually. They made Jane's shoes too narrow and she ended up having to have an operation when she returned to New York after the tour. For long periods of time, they were up on the stage on the balls of their feet in Gibson Girl poses, like statues for long periods of time.
Miss Bailey's assistant saw Jane limping horribly one day. She also was six foot tall.
Her casting is one of the reasons Jane was cast.
She motioned for Jane to come into her dressing room. She had a box of Carol Channing shoes! The three of them were size elevens so she gave Jane a pair of Channing shoes for the rest of the run. That gave Jane SOME comfort. The tour was all through the summer of '71. It was a thrilling time for Jane. They played Toronto, Chicago, LA, and many other cities. This tour DID NOT play the South.

Pearl Bailey was married to jazz drummer Louis Bellson for 38 years.

Jane did not experience or see any type of prejudice aimed at the country.
Miss Bailey traveled seperately and stayed at fine hotels, the Parker House in Chicago, for example.
She had a large entourage with her. Louie Bellson would meet up with the tour from time to time, obviously when he wasn't working.
They adopted a child, Tony, in the mid-1950s, and subsequently a girl, Dee Dee J. Bellson, born April 20, 1960.
The children were with them as well. (Both have since passed on).
The cast was always given several choices as to where they desired to stay and the costs. Groups would congregate together. Jane stayed, for example, mostly with the other singers.
Jane had no relationship with Miss Bailey off stage. She kept a distance. The company was instructed to call her Miss Bailey. From time to time, company members would be called into her dressing room over the "squawk box." The stage manager would say, "Miss Bailey would like to see everyone in her dressing room after the show."

Everyone would line up and go in one at a time. She would give everyone a gift. She really wouldn't make conversation with the company at that time.
They would get an autographed picture or a trinket and in and out. Her album at the time, Pearl's Pearls, was one of the gifts.

According to Jane, Cab Calloway was "absolutely fabulous"!
He was more accessible to the company. He would take them out after the show. He liked to take the "girls" out.
They would go out to eat.

He took Jane to her first jazz club in Chicago. Eventually, Jane became a jazz singer. That was an important moment in her life and so much fun. He was so full of life and a great entertainer.
He was funny.
A lot has been written about Miss Bailey's infamous "third act" in which she would perform what sometimes turned into a 45 minute version of her club act! This was after a two and a half hour show!
The entire company would have to stand behind her in wool costumes! On top of that were these huge hats and wigs sometimes made out of horse hair!  
During the "third act", Cab would wander around and make jokes and try and make the chorus girls laugh and get them into trouble.

Press event in Chicago

L-R: Jane, E.B. Smith, Press person, Jonathan Wynne, Press person?

He would perform as well. If Louie was on the tour with them, he would sometimes be in the pit, but he would play. It could go on forever. The rest of the company had to stand at attention.
Otherwise, she would call them out and give them a hard time.
If there were entertainers in attendance, she would call them up on stage to perform. 
One of the stops on this tour was the MUNY.

At the MUNY, they had a short tech through and not a full rehearsal. The MUNY is a much bigger stage than what the company was accustomed to. 

Blocking, of course, had to be adjusted.

Some set pieces were rolled on with wheels. This stage also has a slight rake to it.  The first night, set pieces were rolling over and rolling down the stage and exposing electricians and the underbelly of show business. Miss Bailey was fit to be tied.

After doing the Hello, Dolly number, which is a very exhausting number for the dancers, this after the Waiter's Gallop, she had them do it all over again! The audience was response was so great, she said, "You like that? Want to see it again? One more time!"
It got the same response and they did it AGAIN! (Three times!) By the time, they finished it the third time, Miss Bailey HAD the entire audience!

Jane in Yellow

The theater seats 11,000 people with approximately 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first come, first served basis.

Miss Bailey had that entire audience as if she was appearing in an intimate thirty person night club.

That night, the third act was endless. She was going to make sure that she had every single person and she did. She was brilliant.

That being said, Jane learned a tremendous amount from Miss Bailey on what it takes to be a great entertainer, the way she worked an audience. She didn't quite have the audience that night due to all the mishaps.
A cat even ran out on stage! It was just one of those nights and she was upset and her rhythm was off .

It was a valuable lesson in what it takes to be a great entertainer that Jane has taken with her throughout her career. Jane had not set out to be in musical theatre. She hadn't even planned on being a singer. She wanted to be an actress.

Jane's 1969 Headshot

That's what she had studied to be. What Jane got from watching Miss Bailey was the whole process of how to work an audience AND entertain them within the context of the material, and yet she took them OUT of the material. 
Jane has no solid memories of her work with director Lucia Victor. She recalls working mostly with the musical director.

Their rehearsals were first mostly with the singers and then with the dancers. There were a couple of rehearsals with the entire company and then they were on the road. Getting Dolly on the road was down to a science at this point.

The musical director was also responsible for Jane being in the company.
When they were all brought out on stage and lined up, tall to small, Jane could hear that they were discussing whether or not she was too tall. He said, "I need her voice to beef up the men."
Jane had a big voice.
He fought for her. Jane heard the fight.
LA was the last stop.

Before The Parade Passes By from the 1969 film version

She got on the plane to return to New York and the in flight movie was Streisand's Hello, Dolly!

Jane admits that she doesn't love the movie.
Jane never worked with Gower Champion but she did meet him once. He came to the first performance of the tour. He was very pleasant to the entire company.Along with these memories, the beautiful voices still sing loud and clear in Jane's mind. The voices seemed very contemporary. She feels that the sound of the movie is very "controlled" which may be a reason why she is not a big fan of the film.
Jane doesn't think that microphones have helped anyone on Broadway. She actually thinks it is kind of appalling.The voices are no longer being developed enough to understand and utilize the space vocally. In the old houses, they were built acoustically to accommodate the natural voice. Amplified voices are not as beautiful in those houses. Jane was taken to the theatre first when she was five years old in 1955. Her grandmother took her to see My Fair Lady. Jane remembers vividly wearing her little white gloves and white patent leather shoes. She held her grandmother's hand and they walked into this sacred space that was all gilded and it took her breath away. Again, she was all of five years old! That whole magic of the environment of the theatre came along. This was followed by the voices, what used to be called "Ethel Merman" voices.

After the tour of Hello, Dolly, while Jane was recovering from her surgery, a friend came over one day and said, "We're going out to Oregon to visit a friend. Would you like to join us?"
She wasn't able to go out on auditions anyway, so she got in the Volkswagen bug and they were off and away. 
She went to the North West and stayed!

It was all because of Hello, Dolly and shoes.Who knows what path Jane would have taken if those shoes

Add caption

weren't too small!
Personally, on a side note, there were other reasons why Jane decided not to pursue a "theatrical" career. Very early on, Jane got to experience first hand, what we all work for in the theatre, to be in a successful run of a show and being able to work every night on something that has been set. Jane's previous experience had been more of the "work" of the rehearsal and putting a show together process and doing that over and over in repertory. A totally very personal thing that Jane discovered that she preferred the idea of constantly making new work. That led her to being a concert singer where she had control over what she was doing. Being able to do Dolly at such a young age helped her to define what she was really supposed to be doing and wanted to do with the rest of her career.
As another positive, what an extraordinary experience for a nineteen year old to be able to have! She dreamed it and she desired it from the age of five and she traveled the country with a TRUE entertainer!

Thank you Jane Lambert for the gifts you have given to the world and continue to give!

With grateful XOXOXs ,

Check out my site celebrating the first Legacy of Hello, Dolly!

I desire this to be a definitive account of Hello, Dolly!  If any of you reading this have appeared in any production of Dolly, I'm interested in speaking with you!


If you have anything to add or share, please contact me at Richard@RichardSkipper.com.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.  FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!

Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!    
              

Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!

  Here's to an INCREDIBLE tomorrow for ALL...with NO challenges!

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Virginia Seidel : Minnie Fay with Dorothy Lamour, Sheila MacRae, and Sylvia Syms!

Virginia Seidel

In 1971, Virginia Seidel appeared in Hello, Dolly at the Milwaukee Melody Top with Dorothy Lamour and Jack Bailey. That was her first adventure as Minnie Fay.

Virginia started out as a little “brat” at her mother’s dancing school in a suburb of Chicago. As she got a little older, Virginia’s mom decided not to have her around the studio because she was causing trouble.  She started going to another school, with a more serious approach to ballet. That led her to getting cast in George Balanchine’s Nutcracker. For two seasons, when they were in Chicago, they cast Chicago residents to round out the cast. Each time, interestingly enough, it was at Easter! Virginia’s mother just happened to know the ballet mistress, Vita Brown. Later on, Virginia got to play a page in the Royal Ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty when she was in the eighth grade. She kept on with her ballet training which is very fortunate because it got her into Actor’s Equity at the St. Louis MUNY Opera. That was the summer of 1968. While she was appearing there, Pearl Bailey brought her Dolly Company to the MUNY the week of July 30^th. It was a huge hit! The MUNY Company was also thrilled that they had those nights off. They got to see the show. Pearl Bailey’s singing was superb. Later on Virginia also saw Ethel Merman and was blown away by her singing. That same summer, Virginia did Call Me Madam with Merman as part of the ensemble. After Virginia the MUNY and moved to New York, Merman was starring in Dolly on Broadway. This was the summer of 1969.  

That led to her going to New York City. She had met so many other dancers who were about her age. Four women including Virginia decided to room together to cut costs. 

They were all dancers. Renee Bauman ended up getting Applause and eventually A Chorus Line.  Julie Pars was in the original Follies. Another continued in ballet and opera work. Virginia went along taking classes with Luigi. One of her first jobs that she got in New York was Take Me Along at the Meadowbrook Dinner Theater with Ray Milland. This was before Love Story came out.

 The director of Meadowbrook Dinner Theater was Stuart Bishop. During the summer, he was the artistic director of Milwaukee’s Melody Top and that is how she ended up there two years later. He had cast her in The Boyfriend with Leland Palmer at Meadowbrook and consequently. Leland was supposed to be Minnie Fay for Stuart at Melody Top but she got cast in the National tour of Applause and she recommended Virginia and she got the part.

Ray Milland in Take Me Along

 She was very excited to get cast especially since it was kind of handed to her. She was thrilled. She never thought that something like that would ever happen to her where she didn’t have to audition for something. That didn’t happen a lot after.   

Because of Virginia’s work at St. Louis Opera and Meadowbrook, she had appeared with stars of Dorothy Lamour’s status. She had appeared with Douglas Fairbanks in My Fair Lady at The MUNY. She did Call Me Madam with Merman, and The Pajama Game with John Rait. There was an ensemble of twenty-four dancers and thirty-six singers, an ensemble of sixty! Virginia was part of that ensemble. As far as being a principal, appearing alongside Dorothy Lamour was a big first. Lamour was so nice to everybody.

The Gower Champion choreography was what attracted her most to Hello, Dolly! It is such a beautiful dancing show.

(Courtesy: Dan Pagel ("Memories of Melody Top")

Lamour had done a huge tour of Dolly prior to doing it at Melody Top. This was 1971 and she was 57 at the time. They rehearsed a week and it was in the round outside. This was in the days of Tent Theater. She never had a cross word about anyone or anything. Everything just sailed along. They were so busy that there wasn’t much time for socializing. However, Lamour did throw a party for the company. Her husband was also a very nice man, always helping out with everything. Also, Don George, who was Cornelius, was a very good friend of hers. That was a very good idea. He appeared with her in several productions of Dolly and added to her confidence. Lamour was also concerned for Virginia after the first act one night. Virginia fell in the pit! She had to bouree, a dance step, backwards. She was doing this step, facing Lamour, as she is saying goodbye, and she fell in the pit. It happened again the very next day! Lamour insisted on them changing that step to avoid it happening a third time. With the original choreography, that was meant to be done in a proscenium where Minnie is backing off backwards into the wings. There was always someone to catch her. In the round, a good portion of that round is a pit.

Virginia did not remain in touch with Lamour after this production.  It was a typical summer stock production. They rehearsed for seven days and ran for two weeks. Once the show was up and running, Virginia was rehearsing their next production, George M, during the day.

(Courtesy: Dan Pagel ("Memories of Melody Top")

Virginia loved appearing as Minnie Fay in this production as she did with the ones to follow. She loved playing Minnie; Elegance was a favorite of hers every performance. The script is so good. She always got a huge laugh, as she is sure all Minnies have, when Mrs. Molloy desires to take a taxi and Cornelius insists on them walking. He can’t afford it and says, “Really elegant people walk.” Minnie says, “To think I’ve been elegant all of my life and I never knew it!” It is an innocent line but always got a huge laugh every performance.  Virginia was not that experienced as an actress when she first played Minnie Fay.  She also brought that innocence to her portrayal. The lines just carried her in addition to the very experienced cast she was with. Most had appeared in Dolly previously either on Broadway or on tour.   

She just slipped right in and matched up with everyone.

(Courtesy: Dan Pagel ("Memories of Melody Top")

Minnie Fay first appears mid Act in Act One. After that, she is kind of onstage for almost all of the rest of the act. The hat shop scene leads into the big dance number at the end of the act. She learned early on that she really had to warm up in preparation for each performance. She took a dance class each day. It was during Sunday Clothes that she was always backstage plie-ing and pointing. She knew, otherwise, she would not have a chance. She has maintained that discipline and preparation throughout her career since then.        

Virginia was young when she played Minnie Fay and brought that youth to the show. She also had great ballet training. 

(Courtesy: Dan Pagel ("Memories of Melody Top")

The dancing suited her. She was never much of a jazz dancer. Ballet was the main part of her dance. She was always go grateful to have been cast. Two of the productions were directed by Stuart Bishop. 

In addition to the Lamour Company, Virginia also did it with Sheila MacRae. That was done at Meadowbrook which followed the Milwaukee Company. Two years later, Virginia appeared as Minnie Fay for the last time. That was with Sylvia Syms. 

Streisand on the set of the film Dolly with son Jason

Virginia did audition for the 1978 Carol Channing but did not get it. Truthfully, she was a little too old for Minnie Fay at the time.  When the movie came out in December 1969, Virginia saw it. She thought it was very lavish. Of course, Barbra was the youngest Dolly ever.

All three Dollys were very different. Dorothy was so beloved by the audiences who remembered her from her film career. They were thrilled to see her LIVE and in person.

None of these Dollys were really “singers”.  Sylvia was a great jazz nightclub singer. Sylvia Syms was  66 when she appeared in Dolly in ’73 throughout the Boston area. She had also been in a terrible auto accident. The Company was worried as to whether or not she would be able to make it through the rehearsal period. It is an extremely demanding show. She wasn’t a stage actress. Her voice tended to be more of a smoky nightclub jazz sound. She really put across that lower East side type of persona in Dolly.

Lamour had done a National bus and truck tour and Vegas prior to Melody Top

Virginia’s favorite Dollys of the ones she appeared with was Sheila. Dorothy was wonderful, but that was only three weeks. She didn’t really didn’t get to know her. Her run with Sheila was two months and it was during the Christmas season. The theater supplied her with a limousine and she very often brought the four principals back into the city with her after the evening performances. She took them to Downey’s and PJ Clarke’s. She always picked up the tab. Virginia was agog. She had a big Christmas party at her town house. Virginia had never been in a townhouse before in which the owner’s owned the entire building!  She was floored. Her daughter Heather was there. She was appearing in Hair at the time.    

Barnaby and Cornelius’ adventures in New York reminded Virginia of her own experiences of coming from a small suburb and moving to New York City. Even though Virginia grew up outside Chicago and even worked in Chicago as a dancer, everybody desires to get to New York.  It is such an optimistic show. It has a wonderful feeling about it. The fact that it has been performed all over the world and continues to be performed is proof in the pudding.

When Virginia was younger, she didn’t pay much attention to the fact that Dolly is a widow. She remembers being confused by the name/ Who was she? Levi or Gallagher? She also remembers, at first, wondering “Who and where is this Ephraim she keeps talking to?” Looking back now as an older woman, Virginia realizes even more so how moving those speeches are. Virginia is now a widow herself. It is very touching that she is seeking a sign of Ephraim’s approval for her to marry Horace.

Jerry Herman

Virginia also feels that Jerry Herman has also made such a great contribution to the world. At the top of his reign, it was musical comedy as opposed to musical theater. Virginia has also appeared in Mame as Gloria Upson.

The Sylvia Syms tour traveled throughout the Boston area appearing in a chain of dinner theaters called the Chateau de Ville. It was reputed to be mafia owned and operated. People called it Chateau de Vile. They were actually wonderful theaters. They were big theaters with HUGE lobbies. They were nice stages. 

They had union orchestras. The costumes were gorgeous. The salaries were good. When these theaters opened, the locals were expecting these to be casinos. The hope was that when and if gambling was legalized, they were ready. It, of course, never happened. The final leg of this tour was in Warwick Rhode Island. 

There were three theaters in the Boston area, one in Providence, and on in Warwick. This was at the peak of the dinner theater boom. It is sad that it didn’t last because it employed a lot of people. It was also great experience. Summer stock was already disappearing from our cultural landscape.

Sylvia Syms

Closing night, Virginia had already been out of New York City for six months. It was a good job, but everyone was anxious to get home. Things were winding down and it was time to go home. Because Sylvia was an older woman, there weren’t a lot of parties with the cast. She needed her rest. She wasn’t hanging out with the cast.

Virginia loved Minnie Fay. She loved being part of three very different Dollys. When she auditioned for the Chateau de Ville Dolly, she had an agent by this time and she was submitted. She went in and auditioned for Jack Timmers. He was one of the three original stage managers on Hello, Dolly! He was a partner of Lowell Purvis, who was one of the dancers in the show. Dolly had three stage managers, Pat Tolson, Lucia Victor, and Jack Timmers. When Virginia auditioned for the Chateau de Ville Company, they did not know her. She came in and read initially. They had her come back and dance for them. Before she walked out of that audition, Timmers said to her, “Where have you been all of our lives?”  As if to say she was a great Minnie Fay and they had never seen her before. Perhaps she would have been a Broadway Minnie if the opportunity had presented itself at the right time.

Thank you Virginia Seidel for the gifts you have given to the world and will continue to give!

 With grateful XOXOXs ,

Check out my site celebrating my forthcoming book on Hello, Dolly!

I desire this to be a definitive account of Hello, Dolly!  If any of you reading this have appeared in any production of Dolly, I'm interested in speaking with you!

Do you have any pics?

If you have anything to add or share, please contact me at Richard@RichardSkipper.com.


NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.  FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!

Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!    
              

My next blog will be... My Exclusive nterview with Charles Strouse on his involvement with Hello, Dolly!

Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!

  

Here's to an INCREDIBLE tomorrow for ALL...with NO challenges!

Please join me Monday night at The 28th Annual Bistro Awards at The Gotham Comedy Club at 6PMPM!




Keeping Entertainment LIVE!
Richard Skipper Celebrates

TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED DAY

Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com                            

 
This Blog is dedicated to ALL THE DOLLYS and ANYONE who has EVER had a connection with ANY of them on ANY Level!