Cole, Jack (1914–74), choreographer. A native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, he began his career as a dancer in the 1934 failure Caviar. His first choreographic assignment was Something for the Boys (1943), followed by such musicals as Ziegfeld Follies of 1943, Kismet (1953), Jamaica (1957), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), and Man of La Mancha (1965). Cole's art was noted for its debt to Asian and jazz motifs.
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.