Hal Bell

American dancer, choreographer, and director. After a brief career dancing in MGM musicals, Bell worked as an assistant to choreographers such as 'Gene Nelson' (qv) and 'LeRoy Prinz' (qv) on major musicals of the Fifties and Sixties. During 'Judy Garland' (qv)'s famed comeback at the Palace, Bell served as her stage manager, and subsequently associate produced 'Esther Williams' (qv)'s American and European tours. In the late 1950s, he began an association with 'Jerry Lewis' (qv), as stage manager, technical director, assistant director, and production manager on a number of Lewis's films and tv programs. He died following a stroke at 65, in 1991.::Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>