Wayne Lamb

Marno "Wayne" Lamb (October 24, 1920 – June 5, 2001) was a Broadway dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and professor of dance whose career spanned from the stage to television, academia, and international performance. Born in Centerville, Kansas, to Marno W. and Clara (Burdue) Lamb, he pursued his early dance education at the University of Wichita and the University of Kansas before leaving school to join Earl Carroll's Vanities on the movie circuit, performing five shows daily for three months at theatres across the country between film screenings.

His early career was interrupted by the World War II draft. Lamb served three years in the Army as a staff sergeant, stationed in France, Belgium, Holland, England, and Germany. His duties included chauffeuring officers and entertainers such as Marlene Dietrich and Dinah Shore throughout Europe. He earned the Bronze Star before receiving his discharge.

Following the war, Lamb relocated to New York City under the GI Bill and enrolled at the Alviene School for the Dramatic Arts. From 1947 to 1950, he studied at the American Theatre Wing under an extensive roster of instructors, including Russian ballet teachers Helena Platova and Edward Caton, English ballet teachers Antony Tudor and Margaret Craske, modern dance pioneers Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, and Doris Humphrey, Japanese modern teacher Yeichi Nimura, and African-American modern dance innovator Katherine Dunham. Humphrey offered him advice that shaped his artistic philosophy: never work on material unless one can contribute something personal to it.

Before reaching Broadway, Lamb joined the national touring company of The Day Before Spring, which closed three days after its Chicago debut during a coal strike. He subsequently made his Broadway debut in 1946 in the revival of Franz Lehár's operetta Yours Is My Heart at the Shubert Theatre, where he appeared as a solo dancer for a run of approximately two months. He also appeared at the Shubert Theatre in Bloomer Girl, starring Celeste Holm with choreography by Agnes de Mille. His Broadway credits between 1946 and 1948 include Make Mine Manhattan, the 1948–1949 musical revue at the Broadhurst Theatre featuring Sid Caesar, which ran for 429 performances. Additional Broadway work included a pre-Broadway tryout of Bonanza Bound, choreographed by Jack Cole and featuring Gwen Verdon in the chorus. Lamb also performed in the national company of Call Me Mister, a production that included Bob Fosse, Carl Reiner, and Buddy Hackett, in which Lamb served as the ballet dancer and Fosse as the tap dancer; the tour ran fifteen months across the country. Among his other professional collaborators were actress Vivian Blaine, writer Mel Brooks, director George S. Kaufman, and comedian Imogene Coca.

From 1948 to 1950, Lamb toured internationally as a concert dancer with the Elena Imaz International Dance Trio, presenting Spanish dances created by Imaz, who was originally from Argentina. The trio also performed at the Carnegie Hall Summer Concerts. Lamb subsequently appeared as a regular dancer on The Admiral Broadway Review, which became Your Show of Shows in 1950, working alongside Buddy Hackett, Nancy Walker, and Imogene Coca. Television appearances from 1952 to 1955 included Toast of the Town, Stop the Music with Bert Parks, The Tony Martin Show, The Ezio Pinza Show, Bob Hope television specials, and The Colgate Comedy Hour.

Lamb served as instructor and director of the ballet department at the New Dance Group in New York City from 1950 to 1957. In 1958, he directed the School of Dance and Fine Arts in Hastings, Michigan, and in 1967 taught dance classes for Diamond Head Theatre in Hawaii. His university teaching included positions at Eureka College in Illinois in 1959, Williams College in 1962, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1964 to 1966.

His longest academic appointment began at Purdue University in 1960 and continued until 1986. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1971 and later held the rank of associate professor. His teaching encompassed ballet, Broadway jazz dance, ballroom, and tap dance. At Purdue, he choreographed productions including Annie Get Your Gun, Damn Yankees, Kiss Me Kate, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, among others. He directed and choreographed an additional body of work that included Fiddler on the Roof, Man of La Mancha, Oliver!, The Music Man, Carousel, and Marat/Sade, with musical direction by Dorothy Runk Mennen. In 1974, he directed a USO Show for Purdue that toured the United States Pacific Command, presenting 52 performances for approximately 10,678 troops across Alaska, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii.

Beginning in 1955, Lamb was also associated with the Barn Theatre, a summer stock theatre in Augusta, Michigan, where he worked alongside producer Jack Ragotzy and his companion, actor Angelo Mango. His first assignment there was choreography for a production of South Pacific. By 1978, he held the position of Associate Producer and shared top artistic and managerial decisions with Ragotzy.

Lamb was a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Actors' Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the American Association of Community Theatre. He received the title of Professor Emeritus of Theatre from Purdue University in 1987. The Wayne Lamb Lobby at Purdue's Pao Hall for the Performing Arts was dedicated in his honor, and he was recognized posthumously at Purdue University Theatre's Legacy Weekend in October 2010.