Peter Foy
Encyclopedia
Peter Foy was the stage flying effects specialist who founded "Flying by Foy", most widely known for its work flying actors in the play Peter Pan
.
Born in London
, England, he began in show business as a child actor, and in one of his roles (as a Sea Witch in Where the Rainbow Ends) was called upon to fly. After serving in the Royal Air Force as a Navigator and Entertainment Officer, he began working for the British company that had flown him, Kirby's Flying Ballets, and sailed to New York
in 1950 to stage the flying sequences for Peter Pan
starring Jean Arthur
. He flew many of her successors in the role, including Mary Martin
, Sandy Duncan
, and Cathy Rigby
.
Other productions for which he created flying sequences included I Love Lucy
, Men Into Space
, The Garry Moore Show
, Hanna Barbera's Jack and the Beanstalk with Gene Kelly and The Flying Nun
on television; Fantastic Voyage
, Funny Girl
, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
, Hair
and The Wiz
in movies; It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman
, Jerome Robbins' Broadway
, The Who's Tommy
, Kiss of the Spider Woman
, Angels in America
, The Lion King
, Disney's Aida
, and Dracula, the Musical
on Broadway
; and touring productions of the Ice Capades
.
An innovator, Foy constantly tinkered with improvements and invented new systems of staged flight for both greater freedom of movement and greater safety.
Jean Arthur's Peter Pan was flown on a Kirby pendulum system with a compound drum, the standard method of flying actors for more than 100 years. But Foy became increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of the flying equipment, which he felt limited stage flight to little more than "nervous stunts or a series of static tableaus". He wanted to create flying sequences that looked more natural and soon began to develop new equipment that would allow actors' movements to be more easily synchronized with music and seamlessly integrated into the action of the play.
By the time he returned to New York, four years later, to fly Mary Martin in the new musical version of Peter Pan
, Foy had invented a new system, the "Inter-Related Pendulum", which utilized two suspension points, each controlled by a separate operator. The Inter-Related Pendulum made possible spectacular, highly controlled, free flight, but required operators with a high degree of skill and precision, as the performer's weight passes from one suspension point to the other. The system also required a minimum 40 feet of grid height to produce a natural-looking, effective pendulum swing.
He founded Flying by Foy in 1957; in the 1960s he branched out from Broadway to Las Vegas shows.
Throughout his lifetime, Foy applied his mechanical ingenuity to the challenge of safely flying performers in a variety of different and often difficult circumstances. He solved the problem of flying actors in low height situations (such as little theatres and tent shows) with his invention of the Floating Pulley in 1958. While this development was highly effective, the device was often visible to the audience. His determination to preserve the "magic" of theatrical flight led to his introduction of the "Track-On-Track" system in 1962-63, which allows two operators to independently control the performer's lift and travel in flight.
Foy's "Multi-Point Balance Harness", developed for the swimming sequences in the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage
, featured adjustable points of attachment, enabling the actors to maintain any position in flight.
Foy holds patents, in both the United States and the United Kingdom, for a number of flying devices and flying systems, including an advanced form of Track-On-Track developed specifically for the Ice Capades, which he called the "Inter-Reacting Compensator". This system was utilized in the first fully motorized, integrated touring truss flying system, built for the 1977 Ice Capades' "Flying Ballet".
He died in Las Vegas, Nevada
.
At the time of his death, "Flying by Foy" was producing the flight effects for two Broadway-bound shows: Spamalot
and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
.
Recent Broadway projects involving "Flying by Foy" include: Mary Poppins
, Billy Elliot the Musical
, Equus
, You're Welcome America
- A Final Night with George W Bush, American Idiot
, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
.
Born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, he began in show business as a child actor, and in one of his roles (as a Sea Witch in Where the Rainbow Ends) was called upon to fly. After serving in the Royal Air Force as a Navigator and Entertainment Officer, he began working for the British company that had flown him, Kirby's Flying Ballets, and sailed to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1950 to stage the flying sequences for Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1950 musical)
Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, first produced in 1950, with music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein...
starring Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
. He flew many of her successors in the role, including Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
, Sandy Duncan
Sandy Duncan
Sandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan is an American singer, dancer and actress of stage and television, recognized through a blonde, pixie cut hairstyle and perky demeanor...
, and Cathy Rigby
Cathy Rigby
Cathleen Roxanne Rigby , best known as Cathy Rigby, is a former gymnast, actress and speaker.-Early life:Rigby was born in Los Alamitos, California in 1952....
.
Other productions for which he created flying sequences included I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, Men Into Space
Men Into Space
Men Into Space is an American sci-fi television series broadcast from September 30, 1959 to September 7, 1960 by CBS which depicted future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The black-and-white filmed show starred William Lundigan as Col...
, The Garry Moore Show
The Garry Moore Show
The Garry Moore Show is the name for several separate American variety series on the CBS television network in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio performer, Garry Moore, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic talents, such as Don Adams, George Gobel, Carol Burnett, Don...
, Hanna Barbera's Jack and the Beanstalk with Gene Kelly and The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun is an American sitcom produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the 1965 book The Fifteenth Pelican, by Tere Rios, which starred Sally Field as Sister Bertrille...
on television; Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....
, Funny Girl
Funny Girl (film)
Funny Girl is a 1968 romantic musical film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart was adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title...
, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
, Hair
Hair (film)
Hair is a 1979 American film adaptation of the 1968 Broadway musical of the same name about a Vietnam war draftee who meets and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to the army induction center...
and The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
in movies; It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman
It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman
It's A Bird... It's A Plane... It's Superman is a musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, with a book by David Newman and Robert Benton. It is based on the comic book character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics.-Synopsis:The plot...
, Jerome Robbins' Broadway
Jerome Robbins' Broadway
Jerome Robbins' Broadway is an anthology comprising musical numbers from earlier shows that were either directed or choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins won his fifth Tony Award for direction of the show....
, The Who's Tommy
The Who's Tommy
The Who's Tommy is a rock musical by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff based on The Who's 1969 double album rock opera Tommy, also by Pete Townshend, with additional material by John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Sonny Boy Williamson.-Productions:...
, Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical)
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a musical with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with the book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the Manuel Puig novel El Beso de la Mujer Araña...
, Angels in America
Angels in America
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
, The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
, Disney's Aida
Aida (musical)
Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical....
, and Dracula, the Musical
Dracula, The Musical
Dracula, the Musical is a musical based on the original Victorian novel by Bram Stoker. The score is by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton....
on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
; and touring productions of the Ice Capades
Ice Capades
The Ice Capades was a traveling entertainment show featuring theatrical performances involving ice skating. Shows often featured former Olympicand National Champion figure skaters who had retired from amateur competition....
.
An innovator, Foy constantly tinkered with improvements and invented new systems of staged flight for both greater freedom of movement and greater safety.
Jean Arthur's Peter Pan was flown on a Kirby pendulum system with a compound drum, the standard method of flying actors for more than 100 years. But Foy became increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of the flying equipment, which he felt limited stage flight to little more than "nervous stunts or a series of static tableaus". He wanted to create flying sequences that looked more natural and soon began to develop new equipment that would allow actors' movements to be more easily synchronized with music and seamlessly integrated into the action of the play.
By the time he returned to New York, four years later, to fly Mary Martin in the new musical version of Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1954 musical)
Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's own novelization of it, Peter and Wendy. The music is mostly by Mark "Moose" Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty...
, Foy had invented a new system, the "Inter-Related Pendulum", which utilized two suspension points, each controlled by a separate operator. The Inter-Related Pendulum made possible spectacular, highly controlled, free flight, but required operators with a high degree of skill and precision, as the performer's weight passes from one suspension point to the other. The system also required a minimum 40 feet of grid height to produce a natural-looking, effective pendulum swing.
He founded Flying by Foy in 1957; in the 1960s he branched out from Broadway to Las Vegas shows.
Throughout his lifetime, Foy applied his mechanical ingenuity to the challenge of safely flying performers in a variety of different and often difficult circumstances. He solved the problem of flying actors in low height situations (such as little theatres and tent shows) with his invention of the Floating Pulley in 1958. While this development was highly effective, the device was often visible to the audience. His determination to preserve the "magic" of theatrical flight led to his introduction of the "Track-On-Track" system in 1962-63, which allows two operators to independently control the performer's lift and travel in flight.
Foy's "Multi-Point Balance Harness", developed for the swimming sequences in the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....
, featured adjustable points of attachment, enabling the actors to maintain any position in flight.
Foy holds patents, in both the United States and the United Kingdom, for a number of flying devices and flying systems, including an advanced form of Track-On-Track developed specifically for the Ice Capades, which he called the "Inter-Reacting Compensator". This system was utilized in the first fully motorized, integrated touring truss flying system, built for the 1977 Ice Capades' "Flying Ballet".
He died in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
At the time of his death, "Flying by Foy" was producing the flight effects for two Broadway-bound shows: Spamalot
Spamalot
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways, especially in its parodies of Broadway theatre...
and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (musical)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, also known as Chitty the Musical, is a stage musical based on the 1968 film produced by Cubby Broccoli. The music and lyrics were written by Richard and Robert Sherman with book by Jeremy Sams.-Productions:...
.
Recent Broadway projects involving "Flying by Foy" include: Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (musical)
Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...
, Billy Elliot the Musical
Billy Elliot the Musical
Billy Elliot the Musical is a musical based on the 2000 film Billy Elliot. The music is by Sir Elton John, and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around motherless Billy, who trades boxing gloves for ballet shoes...
, Equus
Equus (play)
Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses....
, You're Welcome America
You're Welcome America
You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush is a comedic Broadway play starring Will Ferrell as George W. Bush. It was broadcast live on the HBO cable channel, as well as in Canada, on March 14, 2009, at 9:00PM EST. Ferrell, who has famously depicted Bush on Saturday Night Live, also...
- A Final Night with George W Bush, American Idiot
American Idiot (musical)
American Idiot is a one-act, through-sung stage musical. The show is an adaptation of punk rock band Green Day's concept album of the same name. Additional Green Day songs were interpolated from other sources, including 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot b-sides, and an unreleased song called...
, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.