A CHANCE FOR GRECO TO STRETCH HIS LEGS

“Some day the legs will just have to give out.”

That almost off-hand comment comes from Jose Greco, the Italian boy from Brooklyn who was possibly the greatest Spanish dancer of two generations.

In the words of Arlene Croce, dance critic of the New Yorker magazine, “he may have been the greatest of all dance stars until the advent of Rudolf Nureyev.”

At 67, Greco is again coming out of semi-retirement to appear with Maria Benitez’s Spanish Dance Company Tuesday and Wednesday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

The scene for a long interview was just into the southeast entrance to Central Park, opposite the Plaza Hotel, on a glorious late-summer day.

Greco is heavier than one remembered, especially around the middle. The hair is thinning and touched up. Though he now lives in Spain, his English remains pure New York. But the profile is as arrogantly magnificent as ever. And the years fade away by decades as his features brighten at the sight of a pretty girl strolling by our bench.

“It all started here, you know,” he said. “I had come to this country when I was 8 1/2. We lived in Brooklyn, and when I was 12 in 1931, my mother sent me to accompany my sister when she took the 45-minute subway ride to Spanish dance classes three times a week, there on 59th Street, just off 5th.

“Coming from my primitive atmosphere in Brooklyn, I was suddenly in the midst of these great hotels and galleries. That’s when I began to form myself culturally. My neighborhood had ethnic diversity, but from the beginning I was drawn to things Spanish. I began to go into libraries, look at architecture and painting.

“Anyway, at the time of the classes, I intuitively started to learn by watching. It was the ideal age. The muscles aren’t ready before 12. I was cocky and began to imitate.

“Finally, the teacher asked me to show her what I’d been observing, if I were so good. Then it began. My parents, especially my mother, weren’t afraid of ‘dance’ for a boy, but were concerned about ‘theater.’

“I didn’t even dream of a career until 1935 when the ballet mistress of the Old Hippodrome saw me in class and asked my teacher if I could dance in ‘Traviata,’ then ‘Carmen.’ I was 16 years old and was paid $7 a performance.

“I met a girl and we started to put two or three dances together. We auditioned for some clubs and began to perform at the Tokay, a Hungarian place, strangely enough, at 53rd and 7th. The pay was $55 a week. Then I knew this was for me. I could dance, make money and take out girls.

“I tried all sorts of teachers and then met Vicente Escudero, whom the impresario, Sol Hurok, had brought over to perform. He was the greatest exponent of Spanish dance art--a symbol of manhood. I couldn’t imitate his style, but I could learn from him. Then in 1938 I saw (dance star) La Argentinita, who had such purity and authenticity. The teachers all upped their prices when they saw me coming (because) I learned fast. I absorbed everything they had and moved on.”

In 1938 Greco began to dance alone. By this time he was no longer Costanzo Greco, but Jose. He had picked up Spanish from the very beginning and was now completely at home in the language. After clubs in New York, he went to the Rhumba Casino in Chicago for three months.

He was making $175 a week there but jumped at the chance to audition for La Argentinita and returned to New York. He was offered $125 a week to join her troupe and made his debut in 1941 in six dances and a solo with the Cincinnati Symphony.

Spanish dance was becoming popular in America, what with Carmen Amaya and the great duo, Rosario and Antonio, coming here. The critics and public were enthusiastic. Hurok became interested in the company and arranged a full tour in 1942.

“The turning point for me,” Greco said, “and for all of us, came in January 1943. The Marquis de Cuevas organized a homage to Garcia Lorca as a benefit for the Museum of Modern Art, which was to encompass all phases of Spanish art. Salvador Dali and Jose Iturbi participated, among others. La Argentinita’s company was included. It was such a success it was repeated at the Met in May. Hurok saw the benefit of a full company, not just an ensemble.

“I owed Hurok a lot in more ways than one. He kept me out of the Army. He went to the draft board and persuaded them that I was more useful touring hospitals and Army bases than carrying a gun.

“In the meantime, I began performing with my first wife, Nila Ampara. Argentinita was quite ill with cancer and failing. I went to Spain for the first time in 1946 for the funeral. Her younger sister, Pilar Lopez, created the Spanish Ballet and I joined her.

“They couldn’t believe I wasn’t Spanish. They just dismissed the idea that an Italian from Brooklyn could master this Spanish art form. No one had ever done it before and they thought I was lying. The success was enormous. I even made $1,000 a day performing solo for a week in Barcelona. I began to collect an entourage, and God knows I was spending money.

“Then came another break when I was offered a film, ‘Brindis a Manolete,’ about the great bullfighter. Offers from all over Europe came in. I was told that in Paris the projectionist had to rewind the film and show a solo of mine again, the audience was screaming so.

“Pilar Lopez didn’t want to leave Spain, so I formed my own company and we toured everywhere on the Continent. They particularly loved us in the Northern European countries. Lee Shubert saw us in Cannes and signed us to open the Shubert Theatre in New York in October, 1950, for eight weeks and a tour, the first time a Spanish company had ever had a run on Broadway.

“Hurok had wanted me, but only with an ensemble, so even though I was indebted to him, I signed with Schubert for that one reason. From that point on, until 1969, I never stopped touring. I was told we grossed $14 million (from 1950-’69).”

During all this time, Greco managed to marry three times and father six children. What with alimony and child support, he found his hands full.

By 1969 the atmosphere and trends in dance had changed. The Soviets were hot now, thanks to Hurok. American ballet companies prospered. Television changed concepts.

Why wasn’t Spanish dance included in the boom? Greco thinks ethnic purity was diluted, that too much specialization came in. “Total theater was my format,” he said. “I was sensitive to all the arts.”

Of those around today, Greco has high praise for Antonio Gades and few others.

“He has incredible style, but it hasn’t translated into an explosion of acceptance, though the success of his films ‘Blood Wedding’ and ‘Carmen’ has helped him. He is a great dancer but he won’t go any further than he is now. He is an introvert and dances only for himself. Maria Benitez is superb too--another non-Spaniard--she is half American Indian and half Puerto Rican.”

Is there another Greco on the horizon?

He smiled slyly. “You may not believe me, but it is my son, Jose Jr. He does the spectacular things I did, but more! He’s 23 and dancing in Spain. He has star personality, like me, like Nureyev. He doesn’t use my leg work, but he’s still training, and I don’t interfere with the boy.

“He has two faults, exactly like his father--women and pride. He was offered an engagement here but not his girl friend, with whom he’s dancing, so he said no. Pride can be a dangerous thing, it can block your progress. And I don’t mean being a snob, just masculine pride.”

Why hasn’t Greco looked more to movies? He had a great success playing an oily pimp in “Ship of Fools” years back.

“Not for me--movies are boring to do. You spend all your time just waiting around to shoot. I am a dancer. When I returned in 1984, I am happy to say the reviews were all good. I still sold tickets and the public accepted me back.”

A delicate question: How is he financially? Without missing a beat, he replied, “I’m all right. I have an apartment in Madrid and a villa in Marbella. I have my lovely wife, Nana Lorca, whom I really was waiting for all these years, and my 12-year-old son Pablo. I came back to be active and I can still do it. I love it, it’s a privilege. Of course, if the bastards want me, I’m not going to do it for nothing.”

When he spoke of age, he returned to the subject of Nureyev: “I don’t care what he may do off stage, when he’s on, even today, he’s a star, a personality and a man.

“I’ve never regretted the road I took. I realized it one day in a very special way. I finally visited the village in Italy where I was born. I sat in the piazza with people who had known my family. It was picturesque, lovely. And suddenly I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing here? I don’t belong here. I am of Spain!’ ”