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Harold Lang: If He Asked Me, I Could Write a Book

by Danni Bayles-Yeager

158 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); illustrated; catalogue #05-2030; ISBN 1-4120-7135-6; US$21.00, C$24.00, EUR17.50, £12.50

If He Asked Me, I Could Write A Book is the first biography written of Harold Lang, ballet and Broadway star of Kiss Me, Kate and Pal Joey.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

If He Asked Me, I Could Write A Book is the first biography written of Harold Lang; almost a love song from a dance student to her former ballet master and friend of 15 years. Playing Pal Joey in the 1952 Broadway hit of the same name, Harold Lang had sung "If They Asked Me, I Could Write a Book," and retiring to Carmel to writing his autobiography was his retirement dream during his last years as a dance professor at a college in Northern California.

That never happened. Pancreatic cancer, once diagnosed, left little time for authorship. Luckily, his graduate student had been taping interviews and taking notes, originally with the intention of a doctoral dissertation. From that beginning (and 20 years' research - collecting every theatrical program, interview or scrap of information available) she has put together this tribute to a flawed man who was also a flawless performer.

Harold Lang danced with some of the greatest ballet companies of the 20th century: Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. He also starred in Broadway musical theater classics like Kiss Me, Kate, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, and, of course, Pal Joey. He was one of the first professional dancers to take television seriously and appeared many times on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town shows. His pictures and reviews appeared regularly in magazines like Time and Life during the 1940's and 1950's, but today he is largely forgotten except by ballet and musical theater aficionados.

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About the Author

Danni Bayles-Yeager met Harold Lang in 1970 and continued as his student and friend until his death in 1985. She earned her BA in Drama and Dance from California State University, Chico in 1974 and her Masters in Theatre in 1980 with a thesis entitled "Fancy Free and On The Town," for which she owes Harold a large debt of gratitude.

Danni taught classes in dance and drama at schools in Northern California for many years--most notably at Shasta College from 1978 to 1989--until taking a second Masters degree from UCLA in Library and Information Science in 1998. She currently teaches computer technology for the disabled in San Bernardino, where she lives with her husband, five dogs and seven cats.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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