TBT: The Former Dance Magazine Editor Who Inspired Debbie Allen’s Character in Fame
In the July 1980 issue of Dance Magazine, senior editor Norma McLain Stoop reviewed the movie Fame, which had hit theaters in mid-May. The film follows a group of students from auditions to graduation at a competitive performing arts high school, with choreography by Louis Falco and a cast that includes then–New York City Ballet dancer Antonia Franceschi and, of course, Debbie Allen.
“Growing up is rough, but growing up in a big city with talent churning in you, ambition bursting from every pore, competition brushing against you in every corridor, every studio, is something else again,” Stoop wrote. “This is the fantastic world of work and play, happiness and torment, doubt and worry that Fame brings brilliantly to the screen.”
She also spoke with Lydia Joel, a former DM editor in chief and, at the time, the chairman of the dance department of New York City’s High School of Performing Arts (upon which the Fame school was based), who inspired Allen’s character in the film. “Of course, we don’t allow our students to dance on tables at lunch and jiggle around like that,” Joel said, referencing the film’s famous “Hot Lunch” musical number, “and we don’t let them get out on the street and stop traffic! You could get thrown out for anything like that. However, it is true that at lunchtime there’s a rock session going on, and the kids are dancing like crazy and having a marvelous time.”
