I Was a Dancer - Jacques D'Amboise [210]
4. Maria Tallchief first brought Dr. Jordan to Balanchine. I think Maria had been injured and went to Lenox Hill Hospital for treatment, and that’s how she met him.
When I knew Jordan, he said, “Maria Tallchief brought me to the world of ballet. After dealing with broken bones and withered bodies all my life, what a wonderful thing it is to see the ballet, to see what these joints can do, how they can be transformed into the most beautiful of art, gravity-less. It fills my dreams and inspires me never to give up on my patients. The human body is extraordinary.”
Jordan continued in his soft voice, “In the early fifties, I went to a cocktail party and, standing around in conversation, met a Frenchman. We were both reminiscing about World War I, “Oh yes, I was in the squadron, so and so …” “Oh, yes!” the Frenchman said. “A fighter pilot.” “I was one too, but against the Luftwaffe.” Jordan modestly told him, “I’m afraid I wasn’t a very good pilot. For I got shot down over France early on, crashed in a farmer’s field.” It seemed his French opponent landed, arranged for an ambulance to take care of him, and then took off again. Jordan spent the rest of the war mending his multitude of broken bones. The experience inspired him to seek a profession in orthopedics. He later inquired and learned the name of the Frenchman who had shot him down but never saw him. Now, speaking to this Frenchman, Jordan asked, “Did you ever know a pilot named so-and-so?” The man replied, “You’re looking at him!”
Dr. Gould, I met through Dr. Jordan. Wilbur James Gould was an ear, nose, and throat specialist and would become a close friend to my family, as did the surgeon Dr. Liebler, who handled my first knee operation.
Dr. Gould told me, “Jordan is a saint. In New York City when you start to cross the Triboro Bridge to Queens from Manhattan right around the tolls there is an enormous beige stone building to your right. It’s the hospital for the criminally insane. Every time I pass that building I think of him. Each week Jordan maybe had a day or sometimes half a day off. He donated that time making the rounds, treating the inmates incarcerated there.”
Apollo
1. Christopher d’Amboise, Leap Year (Doubleday, 1982).
2. According to Bernard Taper, in his Balanchine (p. 10), a pianist friend of Balanchine’s had seen a performance of Apollo at City Center and had been so impressed that he went backstage to congratulate the dancers, and found Balanchine rehearsing first Patricia Wilde, then me. “Balanchine turned to d’Amboise, and the visitor could see them going over various sequences together—facing each other, like one man looking in a mirror, while both of them danced. Occasionally, they would stop for a few words of comment. D’Amboise would nod vigorously. Balanchine would smile agreement at something d’Amboise said, and then they would spring into action again, face to face, about three feet apart. Time passed as they continued to work, and the backstage visitor watched them wonderingly. Dancers began to gather onstage for the next ballet, which was to be Agon. Bells could be heard ringing, announcing the imminent curtain. Stagehands hurried to their places. Totally preoccupied, Balanchine and d’Amboise ignored it all. When the pianist finally left, without having a chance to congratulate anyone, they were still at it. They were gone from the stage, though, when the curtain went up on Agon. At the very last second, perhaps, the stage manager had taken each of them by an arm and led them off. The visitor, back in his seat, could not help wondering if they might not still be working away in the wings.”
3. Decades later, I received a letter from Captain Hench’s daughters. Apparently, he was recently deceased, and had saved, among his effects, stacks of newspaper clippings about our family.
“Miracle” George
1. Sister Maeve is the finest principal, teacher, and most loving human being I know. A Druid … wearing the insignia