Jerome Robbins

He had a bicycle accident in 1990 which weakened his health. His health further declined following a heart-valve surgery in 1994 and he began showing signs of a form of Parkinson's disease in 1996. He suffered a stroke in 1998 and died in New York on July 29, 1998.

Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz was born on October 11, 1918, in New York City, USA, to Harry Rabinowitz and his wife Lena Rips. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants who had many show business connections, including vaudeville performers and theater owners. He had one sibling.

He displayed an early interest in music, dancing, and theatrics as a school student. After completing his primary education from schools in Weehawken, he moved to Woodrow Wilson High School from where he graduated in 1935.

He began studying chemistry at New York University (NYU) in late 1935. America at that time was reeling under the effects of the Great Depression and his family could no longer afford to fund his education, forcing him to drop out.

Leaving college, however, gave him the opportunity to further his interest in dance. He enrolled at the New Dance League and learned ballet, modern dance, Spanish dance, and folk dance from the likes of Ella Daganova, Antony Tudor, Helen Veola, and Yeichi Nimura. He also studied dance composition with Bessie Schonberg.

By the time he embarked into a professional career Jerome Rabinowitz had dropped his Jewish-sounding surname and adopted “Robbins” instead. He began dancing and choreographing at Tamiment, a progressive-movement resort in Pennsylvania’s Pocono mountains in 1937. Many other emerging stars like Danny Kaye, Imogene Coca, and Carol Channing also performed at the resort.

He soon started dancing in Broadway productions such as ‘Great Lady’, ‘The Straw Hat Revue’, and ‘Keep Off the Grass’. During the late 1930s he also choreographed many dramatic pieces dealing with controversial themes related to racism, war, and lynching.

Jerome Robbins joined the recently-formed Ballet Theatre in 1940. Talented and eager to learn, he quickly advanced from the corps de ballet to solo roles as the Young Man in Agnes De Mille’s ‘Three Virgins and a Devil’, Hermes in ‘Helen of Troy’, and the tragic puppet in ‘Petroushka’.

In the early 1940s, he worked with the hitherto unknown composer Leonard Bernstein to create ‘Fancy Free’, his first dance for a ballet company. The ballet, which was about sailors, made its debut on April 22, 1944. It proved to be a great success and established his reputation as a choreographer.

He enjoyed considerable fame and popularity throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He continued creating dances for the Ballet Theatre, conceiving and choreographing both musicals and ballets.

Jerome Robbins earned considerable acclaim for the musical ‘West Side Story’ (1957) which he directed and choreographed. The musical explored a love story that blossoms amidst the rivalry between two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. It was an immediate success and catapulted Robbins to heights of stardom.

Along with Robert Wise, he directed the film version of ‘West Side Story’ in 1961 which too went on to become a huge success. It received high praise from the critics and was also a big hit at the box office. It was the second highest grossing film of the year in the United States and won ten Academy Awards.