Edgar Nelson Barclift (September 14, 1917 – March 11, 1993) was an American choreographer and dancer. As a member of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

's Theatre Section during the Second World War, he was the co-choreographer and principal dancer of

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

's ''

This Is The Army ''This Is the Army'' is a 1943 American wartime musical film, musical comedy film produced by Jack L. Warner and Hal B. Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from This Is the Army (musical), the wartime stage musical of the same name, d ...

'' (1942). He choreographed the musical '' Around the World'' (1946). He became the romantic partner of the composer and songwriter

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

in the early 1940s.

Early life

Edgar Nelson Barclift was born on September 14, 1917, in

Hopewell, Virginia Hopewell is an independent city (United States), independent city surrounded by Prince George County, Virginia, Prince George County and the Appomattox River in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 202 ...

Career

Barclift found work as a dancer in

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

's 1937 opera '' The Eternal Road'' but the production was postponed as a result of designer

Norman Bel Geddes Norman Bel Geddes (born Norman Melancton Geddes; April 27, 1893 – May 8, 1958) was an American theatrical and industrial designer, described in 2012 by the New York Times as "a brilliant craftsman and draftsman, a master of style, the 20t ...

striking water while creating a replica of a mountain at the

Manhattan Opera House The Manhattan Center is a building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street, it houses Manhattan Center Studios, the location of two recording studios; its Grand Ballroom; and the Hammerstein Ballroo ...

. Due to the postponement Barclift was able to attend the Bennington School of the Dance in 1937; while there he studied with

Doris Humphrey Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second gen ...

Charles Weidman Charles Weidman (July 22, 1901 – July 15, 1975) was a renowned choreographer, modern dancer and teacher. He is well known as one of the pioneers of modern dance in America. He wanted to break free from the traditional movements of dance fo ...

, and

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over s ...

. He returned to New York City in the autumn to resume work on ''The Eternal Road''. In 1939 Barclift danced at the World's Fair in New York. His first solo work was in Rodgers and Hart's '' Too Many Girls'' (1939). With the entry of the United States into the Second World War, Barclift joined the United States Army in 1942 and was stationed at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

and

Fort Jay Fort Jay is a coastal bastion fort and the name of a former United States Army post on Governors Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. Fort Jay is the oldest existing defensive structure on the island, and was named for John Jay, a m ...

, where he was a part of the army's Theatre Section. A romance developed between Barclift and the songwriter

during the latter's work on the 1942 musical ''

Something for the Boys ''Something for the Boys'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields. Produced by Mike Todd, the show opened on Broadway in 1943 and starred Ethel Merman in her fifth Cole Porter musical. ...

''. Porter would regularly write to Barclift; often at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning while he was working on songs. Porter's letters often contained Hollywood gossip and flirtatious epithets. Porter addressed Barclift as his "cute little nose". Barclift later said that "

You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1943 film '' Something to Shout About'', where it was introduced by Janet Blair and Don Ameche. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original S ...

" was his and Porter's 'song'. Barclift wrote an article titled "Dancer – In the Army" for '' The American Dancer'' magazine in 1942 about his military service in the ongoing war. Porter wrote to Barclift with gossip and recommendations of friends to see when Barclift was stationed in Italy during the war. Barclift was the principal dancer and co-choreographer of

's ''

This is the Army ''This Is the Army'' is a 1943 American wartime musical film, musical comedy film produced by Jack L. Warner and Hal B. Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from This Is the Army (musical), the wartime stage musical of the same name, d ...

'' (1942). He was the choreographer of the musical '' Around the World'' (1946). ''Around the World'' was produced and directed by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

, who also wrote the book for the musical. It was composed by Porter. ''This is the Army'' ran at the

Broadway Theater Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

; the subsequent success of the musical saw it being made into a film of the same name. Barclift also played the dancer Zorina in the show.

Recollections

The dancer Dorothy Bird recalled dancing with Barclift in her 2002 memoir ''Bird's Eye View'', describing him as a "happy-go-lucky lighthearted dancer" who was "very proud of his native American Indian heritage". Bird described Barclift's physique as "tall and loose-limbed" and related that he was "open and generous in his movements". Barclift and Bird auditioned for the musical ''

Lady in the Dark ''Lady in the Dark'' is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy editor of a fashion magazine who is undergoing p ...

'', showing their prepared act for the show to the show's choreographer,

Albertina Rasch Albertina Rasch (January 19, 1891 – October 2, 1967) was an Austrian-American dancer, company director, and choreographer. Early life Rasch was born in 1891 (although she would later shave five years off her age), in Vienna (in what was then ...

. Bird related in her memoir that Rasch simply appropriated her and Barclift's dance for the show without asking their permission, a common practice at the time. Barclift was drafted into the United States Army during the run of ''Lady in the Dark'', and once surprised Bird by taking his place to dance with her in the musical while on temporary leave. Barclift is mentioned by

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

in his diary entry for April 15, 1968, when he visits Isherwood and asks him to be in a television programme with Laura Huxley.

Death

Barclift died on March 11, 1993, aged 76, in

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

, California, after a long illness.

References

Sources

External links

*
Images of Barclift in Yale Library's Beinecke Digital Collections
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barclift, Nelson 1917 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American dancers American choreographers American male dancers Dancers from Virginia American LGBTQ dancers American gay entertainers LGBTQ people from Virginia Military personnel from Virginia American modern dancers People from Hopewell, Virginia United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of World War II Gay dancers Cole Porter