Touring around Green-Wood Cemetery and searching for the gravestone of lyricist Fred Webb we came across his mausoleum by the lower pond which was inscribed with three names and the phrase "Together Forever." A search on the interwebs brought up two facts: Fred Ebb had worked with Edwin Aldridge and Martin Cohen on various broadway productions and when Edwin Aldridge died the NY Times' two line obit simply said "He is survived by his closest friend, Fred Ebb." But I can't find out any other details concerning the relationship between the three over the years.
Definitely worth some research. So far, I don't find much.
ReplyDeleteIt's find it sad that there seems to be no documentation or story of their lives together beyond their names listed on a Broadway credit when it was so important that they be buried together.
ReplyDeleteI think I get it. They wanted to create a bit of a mystery, with a hint of innuendo. They knew that only those who should get it would do the work to discover the details. This is a message to you and me. A challenge to know them and their lives and what they shared. Let's put it together. Step one would be finding their bios, if they are written. Step 2 would be to seek out their friends who are still living.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the mausoleum wall, there seems to be enough room for the still living John Kander to join them and make four. So, it would be two couples, all entombed together, perhaps. There seems to be nothing in anyone's bios online that give any indication of a personal life of any kind. There is a story there. I'd love to know more.
ReplyDeleteEbb is interred in a mausoleum in Section 20 (lot 43458) on the south edge of Sylvan Water. He shares the mausoleum with Edwin Aldridge (1929-1997) and Martin Cohen (1926-1995). I'm not entirely certain what the relationship between the three was, but Aldridge stage managed a number of Kander/Ebb shows and his obit in the NY Times lists Ebb as his surviving friend.
ReplyDeletei can connect kandor, ebbs, and aldridge who stage managed several kandor/ebbs shows.
ReplyDeletei think i may have tracked down martin cohen. my personal acuity may be taking the long slide, but as long as there is google...
this may be our martin cohen
http://www.lpmusic.com/about
i was able to place him and one of the others on the same show, but that is as far as i got. don't ask me which one or which show, though, lol.
The link above for Martin Cohen is not the Martin Cohen buried with Fred Ebb as he was still alive in 2012 and Ebb's Cohen died in 1995.
Deleteyes, i was able to find on ibdb (internet broadway database) projects where the three worked together or crossed paths, but no information about their lives.
ReplyDeletebut i have found this quote from kander at www.glbtq.com
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/kander_j.html
"In 2003, Kander (who has lived for 26 years with one man, a choreographer and teacher) implicitly addressed rumours concerning the nature of his non-professional relations with Ebb by describing the latter to interviewer Jeffrey Tallmer as 'his 40-year partner in creativity but never in domesticity, much less romance.'
so still no information about the possible thruple and we might never know as from this quote from ebb from the same article illustrates:
"Surprisingly for many gay fans, however, neither man is willing publicly to discuss his own homosexuality. "I thought they made [a] spectacle of themselves, frankly," Ebb complained to interviewer Randy Shulman following the nationally broadcast kiss shared by song writing team and lifelong partners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman while accepting a 2003 Tony Award for Hairspray. "Your bedroom is not the screen. And it is also not the stage." Instead, Ebb asserts, any statement that he and Kander wish to make about homosexuality has been made through their songs."
An upcoming tour at Green-Wood Cemetery (http://www.green-wood.com), a National Historic Landmark in Brooklyn, NY, will focus on the gay men & lesbians buried there. Fred Ebb is included in that tour.
ReplyDeleteThe Gay Graves Tour (http://walkaboutny.com/the-tours/the-gay-graves-tour/) is being presented again. The dates are Sunday, October 5th & Sunday, October 12th at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn. The mausoleum with Mr. Ebb & Friends is a featured stop on the tour.
ReplyDelete