{"id":427097,"date":"2026-08-08T04:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/427097\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:50:10","slug":"jack-cole-shaped-marilyn-monroes-most-iconic-dance-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/427097\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Cole Shaped Marilyn Monroe’s Most Iconic Dance Moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arts writer Debra Levine gives legs to the midcentury choreographer in her new book \u201cJazzed: Jack Cole and Twentieth-Century American Dance\u201d<\/p>\n

He rizzed up Broadway shows like Kismet, was a midcentury nightclub powerhouse and taught Marilyn Monroe how to shimmy. Arts writer Debra Levine<\/a>\u2019s new book Jazzed: Jack Cole and Twentieth-Century American Dance<\/a> is officially released on Tuesday and explores the lost biography of the hugely influential dance maker.<\/p>\n

Before his star was eclipsed by Bob Fosse in the 1960s, dancer Jack Cole was Hollywood\u2019s favorite exotic choreographer, teaching stars like Mitzi Gaynor, Gwen Verdon and Danny Kaye his torrid moves for dozens of movie musicals at MGM, Columbia and Fox.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jack Cole lords above the superb Kraft Sisters, Beatrice and Evelyne, circa 1942Credit: Photo by Maurice Seymour, Chicago<\/p>\n

Cole contributed movement to dozens of movies but may be best remembered for his work with Marilyn Monroe, including her legendary Diamonds Are a Girl\u2019s Best Friend<\/a> number from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. \u201cWith all due respect, Marilyn was a schlump,\u201d says Levine, editor of Arts Meme<\/a>. \u201cHe was her mentor and her guru. He taught her how to throw her shoulders back, her breasts out and walk like the goddess she became under his tutelage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levine devotes an entire chapter to the tortured production of Monroe\u2019s penultimate film Let\u2019s Make Love<\/a>. In their 1960 review, the New York Times ripped Monroe and co-star Yves Montand. \u201cNot much is happening with a rather untidy Miss Monroe,\u201d the paper quipped. \u201cThe old Monroe dynamism is lacking.\u201d What happened? \u201cShe was completely coming apart at the seams,\u201d Levine explains. \u201cBy the end of filming it was Monroe, Jack Cole, a cameraman and a few gaffers. It was like making a home movie because the director threw up his hands and couldn\u2019t deal with her anymore. It was up to Jack Cole to finish the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cMy Heart Belongs to Daddy\u201d From \u201cLet\u2019s Make Love\u201d Credit: Photo courtesy doctormacro.com<\/p>\n

Levine will be presenting Jazzed: Jack Cole and Twentieth-Century American Dance at Chevalier\u2019s Books in Larchmont on August 12<\/a>. She is speaking with Bruce Vilanch at Book Soup in West Hollywood on August 21<\/a>. The author will be interviewed prior to a screening of Let\u2019s Make Love (1960) at the Laemmle Royal on Augu<\/a>st<\/a> 19<\/p>\n

Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arts writer Debra Levine gives legs to the midcentury choreographer in her new book \u201cJazzed: Jack Cole and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-427097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}