Movie dance sequences
Recently came across tap scene "Lullaby of Broadway" from "Gold Diggers of 1935."
Blown away by it and it seems they don't make them like they used to. I've shown it to my small nephews and nieces who thoroughly enjoyed it.
Care to post your favourite dance sequences?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 600 | May 7, 2019 5:53 AM
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The barn raising dance sequence from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Hot, hot guys, some gay, some straight but all of them gorgeous and very athletic dancing.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | April 21, 2019 8:35 AM
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Ann Miller in Easter Parade.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 3 | April 21, 2019 8:53 AM
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Oscar winner for "Best Use of Bananas"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 4 | April 21, 2019 3:39 PM
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Vera-Ellen tap dancing on pointe, doing the fastest nerve taps while smiling as if it's nothing, twirling, cartwheeling, showing off jazz, ballet, acrobatic and other styles of dance while exhibiting the absolute joy of dancing. Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor all longed to dance with her after this brilliant debut in "Wonder Man".
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 5 | April 21, 2019 4:06 PM
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Do we have to limit it to movies? I like SYTYCD Season 4 Top 10 Bollywood routine, which included my favorite Armenian-American dancer, adorable Gev Manoukian.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 8 | April 21, 2019 8:15 PM
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I love that Lullaby of Broadway number, too.....especially the trio of guys down front at the end! And how one dances on glass with no taps on his shoes so that can get that shot.....
A lot of the sequences start the tap sounds before the pictures switches because of the way the sound has to synch up....so you hear the taps and then the shot comes on....I guess the sound is always a several frames ahead or behind the picture so it was easier to edit that way....
Yup Busby was a film genius.....and almost always full body so we could see the arms, legs, and feet!
by Anonymous | reply 9 | April 21, 2019 8:31 PM
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Pure, unadulterated Fosse, featuring the fabulous Carol Haney.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 10 | April 21, 2019 8:45 PM
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I've only seen the Milford Plaza commercial version of Lullaby of Broadway.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | April 21, 2019 8:51 PM
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R10 Shirley MacLaine got herself noticed on Broadway when she dropped the hat during that number and was heard to mutter "Shit!" which pretty much not said on stage back then.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | April 21, 2019 9:09 PM
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That was when she went on as understudy to Haney who had broken her foot.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | April 21, 2019 9:10 PM
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R10, that's a nice addition to this thread. Watching it, one can see why Fosse's choreography was so exciting, surprising and possibly controversial. He kept the body so constrained and yet so expressive. He incorporates such jerky motions that in context have a flow and gracefulness.
I can't imagine that the writers of "Steam Heat" imagined that dance for the number when they wrote the song.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | April 21, 2019 9:18 PM
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[quote]And how one dances on glass with no taps on his shoes so that can get that shot.....
R9 I noticed that, too. Did they think showing the taps screwed into the shoe bottoms was somehow inelegant or gave away the illusion that people were just hoofing it in their evening clothes?
by Anonymous | reply 15 | April 22, 2019 1:17 AM
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Gene and Judy ballin' the jack...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 16 | April 22, 2019 1:23 AM
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From “The Fastest Gun Alive”
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 17 | April 22, 2019 1:30 AM
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She was amazingly nimble. Just the embodiment of musicality. There's a great "Embraceable You" that she does in "Girl Crazy " And George Sidney. "The Harvey Girls" director, said that she just had to see the blocking of Santa Fe once, before doing it perfectly.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | April 22, 2019 1:31 AM
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Vera-Ellen and John Brascia from "White Christmas".
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 19 | April 22, 2019 1:40 AM
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Do yourself a favor and watch all the Busby Berkeley movies.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | April 22, 2019 1:40 AM
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This mash-up of 83 famous dance clips from 66 films includes many of our favorites...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 21 | April 22, 2019 1:41 AM
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It never happens when I'm stuck in traffic...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 22 | April 22, 2019 1:48 AM
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Does this count as a dance sequence?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 23 | April 22, 2019 1:56 AM
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PBS Dance in America doco on Bob Fosse (1990)...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 24 | April 22, 2019 1:56 AM
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A-M slays this and she wasn't a trained dancer
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 25 | April 22, 2019 1:57 AM
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Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell dance "Begin the Beguine" from "Broadway Melody of 1940". He never worked with that bitch again.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 26 | April 22, 2019 1:58 AM
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R19 I just fairly recently "discovered" Brascia. Great dancer and sizzling. He did a Frankie and Johnny with Charisse in Meet Me in Las Vegas.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | April 22, 2019 2:07 AM
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R23 Just when you think it can't get any pornier, it does.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | April 22, 2019 2:08 AM
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"Let's Misbehave" from Pennies from Heaven, 1981
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 29 | April 22, 2019 2:09 AM
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[italic]You don't need pills, you need thrills"[/italic]
"Love is Good For Anything That Ails You" from Pennies From Heaven,
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 30 | April 22, 2019 2:13 AM
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I don't care if this doesn't count......
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 31 | April 22, 2019 2:18 AM
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Channing Tatum smashes this homoerotic AF dance sequence from "Hail Caesar!"...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 32 | April 22, 2019 2:23 AM
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Since folks are discovering Joan McCracken, thanks to "Fosse/Verdon", here's her movie-stealing number from "Good News":
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 33 | April 22, 2019 2:23 AM
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Charles "Honi" Coles and Cholly Atkins - two geniuses at work
"Swing is Really the Thing"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 34 | April 22, 2019 2:24 AM
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The original Varsity Drag.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 35 | April 22, 2019 2:29 AM
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Thanks a Lot But No Thanks
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 36 | April 22, 2019 2:29 AM
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The "Mandy" number from White Christmas is one number I could watch over and over. Vera Ellen is just incredible!
by Anonymous | reply 38 | April 22, 2019 2:30 AM
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Jimmy Cagney and Bob Hope from "The Seven Little Foys"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 40 | April 22, 2019 2:45 AM
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R40, great choice. Very entertaining.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | April 22, 2019 2:47 AM
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Cell Block Tango from Chicago
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 42 | April 22, 2019 2:51 AM
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R36 I'll bet Jack Cole was involved in that. I've been learning more about him lately. A genius.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | April 22, 2019 3:21 AM
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More Powell! Eleanor Powell!
BTW did she make the "Doesn't get enough respect" list?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 44 | April 22, 2019 3:39 AM
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Well she was married to Glenn Ford when he was young and hot.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | April 22, 2019 3:42 AM
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Ok, I was trying to remember some knockout apache number Joan Davis did, but forgot her dance partner. I found this one of the "I Married Joan" star with a young Buddy Ebsen and it's both funny and very charming. Never saw it before, but I think you might like it.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 46 | April 22, 2019 3:46 AM
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R44 She was more about pure technique than pedaling sex appeal.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | April 22, 2019 3:46 AM
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Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 48 | April 22, 2019 3:49 AM
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R23, I was prepared to make fun of your clip based on the title and still, but it was too much fun. Very charming.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | April 22, 2019 3:51 AM
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"Cool" from West Side Story
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 50 | April 22, 2019 3:55 AM
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R23 the mind reels... thx!
by Anonymous | reply 51 | April 22, 2019 4:03 AM
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[quote]The "Mandy" number from White Christmas is one number I could watch over and over. Vera Ellen is just incredible!
She sure is! Here's another great number, with Donald O'Connor, from "Call Me Madam."
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 52 | April 22, 2019 4:15 AM
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This is the other dance between Vera and Donald from "Call Me Madam" and it is up there with the Astaire-Rogers dances. Vera's dress is absolutely gorgeous. A shame Donald got sick before they were to be reunited in "White Christmas", and he was replaced with Danny Kaye. That's why Vera was partnered in that film with John Brescia, who could keep up with Vera like Donald and unlike Danny.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 53 | April 22, 2019 4:21 AM
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I've seen Donald as a kid actor in 30s films and he was very effective. He had a drinking problem for a while and I think of him as maybe not being tough in the way that Kelly was. A great talent and better singer than Kelly.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | April 22, 2019 4:27 AM
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O'Connor had an easy charm and was an all-around terrific dancer. He said Vera-Ellen and his partner at Universal Peggy Ryan were probably the two best female dancers. Ryan was a hoot and a fabulous dancer. A shame they don't show too many of her pictures these days.
My favorite female dancers are Vera-Ellen and Gwen Verdon. Here's Gwen at about the 1:00 doing the can-can so you can get some idea of what she was like in her star-making role in "Can-Can" on Broadway. She's pretty amazing here leading the can-can girls in the Lana Turner MGM version of "The Merry Widow".
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 55 | April 22, 2019 4:30 AM
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That clip was from 1952; Gwen became a star the following year on Broadway in "Can-Can" stealing the show from Lilo, the French female lead.
by Anonymous | reply 56 | April 22, 2019 4:34 AM
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Cyd Charisse, John Brascia, and Liliane Montevecchi, "Frankie & Johnny" number
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 57 | April 22, 2019 4:36 AM
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Great thread, Op. I love all the videos and will come back to keep watching.
by Anonymous | reply 58 | April 22, 2019 4:37 AM
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I've been looking at Verdon clips and being reminded of how superlative she was. A knockout. In connection with the recent TV bio, the director was on WNYC radio, and a number of people who had worked with her called in and all said she was a wonderful person.
by Anonymous | reply 59 | April 22, 2019 4:38 AM
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Here's Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen in "Mr. and Mrs. Hoofer at Home" from "Three Little Words", a very funny dance number based on the premise of two dancers married, though I think what they do with the "baby" would qualify for a visit from Child Protective Services! Enjoy! Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly appeared in two pictures each opposite Vera, and she also partnered Donald O'Connor as you can see above.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 60 | April 22, 2019 4:39 AM
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This number from Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire gives me joy.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 61 | April 22, 2019 4:40 AM
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Sometimes sitting here posting in DL, without the folks who post rudely, but with people interested in movie musicals and Broadway like myself, makes me think of the times as a kid I could have used some more gay friends to talk about these things. Big thanks.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | April 22, 2019 4:56 AM
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Ann-Margret again, years later. She still had it. (part 1)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 65 | April 22, 2019 5:22 AM
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I love Peter Sellers in this dance sequence from Lolita (1962).
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 67 | April 22, 2019 5:27 AM
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McCracken's Ballet in Jive. The country hick goes to a dance contest in a ritzy hall, only to get her drink spiked and outdances everyone. Almost Lucy Ricardo like, McCracken pulls out all the stops and she's just brilliant, and totally tells a story through movement and brilliant facial expressions. Watch for the subtext of the gay sailors.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 68 | April 22, 2019 5:35 AM
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Hines and Baryshnikov duet from "White Nights" (1985)...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 69 | April 22, 2019 5:41 AM
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Chorus boys don't show up until the end, not on a par with the clips posted here on a dancing level, but it is such great fun.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 70 | April 22, 2019 5:48 AM
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R69 Fun dance sequence from such a bad movie. What were they thinking? Thank you for posting.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | April 22, 2019 5:52 AM
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R68 what a treat. So there's so little of her work on film. I've watched Peace Pipe from Good News innumerable times (with cute Ray McDonald). Ideally, there would have been fewer cuts and less visual business that distracts somewhat, but I'll take what I can get. At the very end, that girl with Dane Clark is Janis Paige, now 95, and who wrote a letter to the editor of the L.A.Times a year ago about her MeToo moment 70 years ago, with Alfred Bloomingdale.
by Anonymous | reply 72 | April 22, 2019 6:04 AM
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R72, I love the sequence after she gets caught in the revolving door and emerges woozy. Just brilliant physical comedy but then she tries to act all sophisticated and ends up falling, I guess similar to what she did in "Oklahoma". What a talent she was.
by Anonymous | reply 73 | April 22, 2019 6:09 AM
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Her bio "The Girl Who Fell Down" was pretty good. Died at about 43, from diabetes. IIRC, she was married to Fosse and helped convince him to become a choreographer.
by Anonymous | reply 74 | April 22, 2019 6:15 AM
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I never tire of this clever Judy & Gene number "The Portland Fancy" from "Summer Stock". I love how it starts realistically before the "musical number" kicks in. It's surprising how Judy is such a good dancer in it. You hardly look at Gene, but he's good too, of course.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 75 | April 22, 2019 7:31 AM
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I wonder if they ever screwed.
by Anonymous | reply 76 | April 22, 2019 7:34 AM
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Possibly my all-time favorite movie dance sequence. Is it great dancing? Not especially. But I just love it!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 77 | April 22, 2019 7:37 AM
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Joan McCracken died of a heart attack in her sleep age 43 in 1961. The result of diabetes. How sad. She was apparently a wild child. Wikipedia says that in a rehearsal with Kay Thompson, she once took off her blouse and bra to be more "comfortable"
by Anonymous | reply 78 | April 22, 2019 8:01 AM
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R43- that choreography is by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. But if you like Jack Cole there is a good biography on him by Glenn Loney called Unsung Genius. It was released in 1984 so you will probably have to find a second-hand copy.
by Anonymous | reply 79 | April 22, 2019 8:16 AM
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Here's Mitzi Gaynor doing one of my fave Jack Cole numbers.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 81 | April 22, 2019 8:19 AM
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R23: Hubba hubba! Solid, Jackson.
by Anonymous | reply 82 | April 22, 2019 8:30 AM
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When I was a little kid I saw this on TV and I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen. This thread reminded me about it so I just watched it again. Still funny; and though not conventional, it is a dance sequence.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 83 | April 22, 2019 8:32 AM
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R83 Nowadays that number would be seen as "problematic" because they are dressed as babies planning on killing eachother. Such humourless people we are now.
by Anonymous | reply 84 | April 22, 2019 10:00 AM
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Nanette Fabray, who was in very few movies, was in one of the greatest musicals ever made. IIRC, someone upthread didn't care for her Louisiana Hayride number. I think it's terrific.
by Anonymous | reply 85 | April 22, 2019 10:18 AM
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This is one of my favorite dance sequences... possibly because I didn't know Danny Kaye was a dancer (and go graceful, honestly, he's just moves so smoothly) "The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing" - love it! Plus the long camera slides with them - that lack of editing, just lovely.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 86 | April 22, 2019 10:21 AM
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BTW - there's this humorous sequence also from White Christmas... "Choreography" - always makes me giggle. The hand adjustment Danny makes at :50 in is perfect.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 87 | April 22, 2019 10:30 AM
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absolutely best thread ever. thank you!!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 88 | April 22, 2019 10:33 AM
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so many great ones in this movie.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 89 | April 22, 2019 10:41 AM
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R87 and it's always good to encounter Mr. Brascia!
by Anonymous | reply 90 | April 22, 2019 10:43 AM
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Wonder how many people notice the chorus boy switch in r39
by Anonymous | reply 91 | April 22, 2019 11:08 AM
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Rita Hayworth in Affair in Trinidad.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 92 | April 22, 2019 11:56 AM
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r22, this made me want to walk out of the theater. I hated this so much.
by Anonymous | reply 93 | April 22, 2019 12:21 PM
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The coordination of so many different departments to make one of those song and dance sequences work is amazing. I love watching and re-watching them... there's always something I missed the first or second time... costumes for the chorus, the movement of a camera (think of how large and heavy they were!), dance steps that just seem to happen but have been rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed.
by Anonymous | reply 94 | April 22, 2019 1:26 PM
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I hate it when the idiot directors cut away from stage performers to show an audience reaction or some plot contrivance elsewhere. An example is Fanny Brice singing My Man in The Great Ziegfeld.
by Anonymous | reply 95 | April 22, 2019 1:33 PM
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Can never have too much Eleanor Powell
by Anonymous | reply 97 | April 22, 2019 1:43 PM
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Let's try that again, Eleanor
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 98 | April 22, 2019 1:44 PM
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We'll be watching for the 21 year-old Mr. John Brascia next time we give the DVD of TORCH SONG (53) a spin.
(Thanks to Wikipedia for his complete film appearances).
by Anonymous | reply 99 | April 22, 2019 2:16 PM
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[quote]The coordination of so many different departments to make one of those song and dance sequences work is amazing. I love watching and re-watching them... there's always something I missed the first or second time... costumes for the chorus, the movement of a camera (think of how large and heavy they were!), dance steps that just seem to happen but have been rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed.
Here’s a look behind the scenes at how the Eleanor Powell "Fascinatin' Rhythm" number was shot.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 100 | April 22, 2019 2:31 PM
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R15 I would guess the taps would scratch the glass so they were removed for the shot.
Here are The Jack & Jills the teen dance group that included Donald O'Conner and Peggy Ryan.....my favorite is Roland Dupree who is the second guy with drum and the top of the number.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 101 | April 22, 2019 3:26 PM
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Bravo! I posted Lullaby on another thread about movie dance sequences and I'm glad it's getting the proper recognition with a thread of its own.
by Anonymous | reply 102 | April 22, 2019 3:29 PM
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One more Jivin' Jacks & Jills.....Donald and Peggy at the beginning....and Roland in his checked jacket....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 103 | April 22, 2019 3:30 PM
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Has someone already posted Eleanor Powell's Drum Dance from Rosalie 1937? I feel this is a musical, dance and cinematic masterpiece. After you just die watching it, try listening to it and hear the perfection.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 104 | April 22, 2019 3:34 PM
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I wish the youtube clip had been longer. The "Come and dance - My sweetie may not let me" part is spectacular.
by Anonymous | reply 105 | April 22, 2019 3:35 PM
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Can you imagine being a 19 year old gay dancer in Hollywood and IN THE MOVIES during the war? All those servicemen....all that fun.....
by Anonymous | reply 106 | April 22, 2019 3:35 PM
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How the hell did they mark their steps on this floor?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 107 | April 22, 2019 3:47 PM
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And the glorious Miss Powell with her Hula Tap Number from HONOLULU.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 108 | April 22, 2019 3:47 PM
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Ugh.....that clip cut off AT the tap number.....here's the rest!
Eleanor was not a skinny stick like Ginger, she had curves!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 109 | April 22, 2019 3:53 PM
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I've always been charmed by this number.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 110 | April 22, 2019 3:56 PM
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r93, I DID walk out after that. That was such a clumsy, charmless sequence, I knew the movie was not going to get any better so I left. Every clip I've ever seen from the rest of it confirms my choice.
by Anonymous | reply 111 | April 22, 2019 4:09 PM
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The "Mandy" number from White Christmas has both John Brascia and future Oscar winner, George Chakiris, in the chorus.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 112 | April 22, 2019 4:15 PM
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I've always loved the Meglio Stasera scene, R70. I often walk around pretending it's my theme song. BOOM bah BOOM, BOOM BOOM bah BOOM.
The Japanese "Shall We Dance" is an underrated dance movie.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 114 | April 22, 2019 4:55 PM
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Don your flats and capris!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 115 | April 22, 2019 5:06 PM
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I can't see why DLers keep posting about Eleanor Powell. She was probably the blandest movie star ever with no personality. She had a son with Glenn Ford who made a soft soft soft core picture called "Wilbur and the Baby Factory." Damn good looking, but I don't think he took off more than his tie in the whole movie!
by Anonymous | reply 117 | April 22, 2019 5:44 PM
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[quote] I've shown it to my small nephews and nieces who thoroughly enjoyed it.
Were your small nephews sitting on your lap?
by Anonymous | reply 118 | April 22, 2019 5:48 PM
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She had mega-personality when she danced, r117. Given this thread is about dance......
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 119 | April 22, 2019 5:57 PM
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There are many of my favorites above (Begin the Beguine, Le Jazz Hot, Triplets) these are some of my all-time favorites that I watch time and again.
The Black Bottom ("I don't know if I ought!") from "Roxie Hart," 1942. The inspiration for "Chicago." And check out George Montgomery!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 120 | April 22, 2019 6:13 PM
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Ann Miller in "Small Town Girl," 1953.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 121 | April 22, 2019 6:15 PM
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Gene Kelly, Phil Silvers, and the breathtakingly lovely Rita Hayworth in "Cover Girl," 1944.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 122 | April 22, 2019 6:17 PM
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And Bobby Van in "Small Town Girl," 1953. It's fairly obvious that he did this in two takes. I read that he suffered nervous exhaustion from performing this number.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 123 | April 22, 2019 6:19 PM
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That's Bobby and his old nose.
by Anonymous | reply 124 | April 22, 2019 7:01 PM
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If anyone saw the original staging of "Chicago" with Verdon, Rivera, and Orbach which of course featured Fosse's choreography, you'd see the parallels to The Black Bottom.
Wow. Thanks for adding that.
by Anonymous | reply 125 | April 22, 2019 7:51 PM
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You’re romanticizing being gay in the 1940s? What’s next? Wishing you had been black as well?
by Anonymous | reply 126 | April 22, 2019 8:20 PM
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I couldn't pick just one favorite, there are too many brilliant performances to do that. But one of my favorites is "The Codfish Ball" featuring Buddy Ebsen and Shirley Temple. They made a charming, adorable dance team. And although I loved "Let's Misbehave" from "Pennies from Heaven", my favorite number from that film was "Pennies From Heaven" featuring Vernel Bagneris. It's gorgeously staged and Bagneris does a languid dance that's hypnotizing, while golden pennies shower all around him. It's stunning.
by Anonymous | reply 127 | April 22, 2019 8:42 PM
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Not a movie, but go to 15:30 to see how well Maureen cuts a rug!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 128 | April 22, 2019 8:45 PM
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R126 I'm sure it was a sad and dreary life with all kinds of pitfalls and downturns....but there must have been a moment or two of fun......that's what I was talking about.
by Anonymous | reply 130 | April 22, 2019 9:18 PM
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[quote]Watch for the subtext of the gay sailors.
Correction: There were no gay people in 1944.
by Anonymous | reply 131 | April 22, 2019 9:34 PM
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These are all so great, what a terrific thread.
I'll add "Rich Man's Frug" from SWEET CHARITY. In his bio of Fosse (which is what Fosse/Verdon is based on), Sam Wasson says it was perhaps Fosse's greatest achievement. I love it so, so, so, so much.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 134 | April 22, 2019 10:27 PM
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"Mandy" from White Christmas is the kind of number that I just can't stand in these movies. It's the same complaint I have with Gene Kelly's dance extravaganza in Singing in the Rain.
Don't think I can't go along with the fantasy of people stopping to sing and dance in a movie. I can. I've contributed to this thread.
But how the hell did that "Mandy" number fit into the barn/restaurant that Crosby and Kaye were going to use? I just don't get it.
And R100, thank you for the clip showing some of what went into creating the magic of a movie dance sequence. I'd love to see more clips like that.
by Anonymous | reply 135 | April 22, 2019 10:38 PM
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Climax's (2018) ten-minute opening dance sequence, done in one continuous shot.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 136 | April 22, 2019 11:10 PM
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R135 its one of the thinks I get a kick out of. Dance numbers in elegant "nightclubs" or "cabarets" that evolve into VAST DEEP stages with elaborate Deus ex machina, lighting, orchestras, revolving dancing fountains, you name it!
by Anonymous | reply 137 | April 22, 2019 11:15 PM
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R118 No you goddamned perv-they were dancing all over the place.
I've reserved the next grease fire for you.
by Anonymous | reply 138 | April 22, 2019 11:16 PM
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R136 Find that more whipping than dancing
by Anonymous | reply 141 | April 22, 2019 11:37 PM
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Ignore - same troll keeps posting that dreadful Climax and no-one is having it!
by Anonymous | reply 142 | April 22, 2019 11:39 PM
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The 3rd big number from Sweet Charity is There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This.
It has rather too much ‘America’ running through it, but it’s still exciting and shows Fosse in the midst of getting his movie style pulled together.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 144 | April 22, 2019 11:50 PM
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Lily Savage, Cilla Black, and Barbara Windsor's rendition of "You Gotta Have A Gimmick" from Gypsy (London Palladium)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 146 | April 23, 2019 12:26 AM
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Anything Goes performance on the 2011 Tony Awards
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 147 | April 23, 2019 12:41 AM
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Can we show a little love for DL fave Bobby Banas?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 149 | April 23, 2019 12:43 AM
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Gene Nelson dancing on the staircase from "Tea for Two". This is the same staircase that appears (in various guises) in Roz Russell's "Auntie Mame" apartment, among many other movies and TV shows. The dance starts at 1:45. Note the great camera work.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 151 | April 23, 2019 12:52 AM
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I always liked the dance sequence in this.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 152 | April 23, 2019 12:54 AM
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R145 - I’ve just scrolled through the entire thread thinking ‘I can’t believe nobody’s posted Dancing in the Dark’ yet.’ And I’m in complete agreement - completely and utterly sublime, and how the scene gently evolves into and out of the dance is gorgeous.
What a great thread. Thanks, OP!
by Anonymous | reply 153 | April 23, 2019 12:58 AM
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"Hallelujah" from "Hit The Deck" 1955
Russ Tamblyn, Vice Damone, Tony Martin, Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell, and Miss Ann Miller
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 154 | April 23, 2019 1:01 AM
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You beat me to it R154! Lots of fine sailors in this number!
by Anonymous | reply 155 | April 23, 2019 1:08 AM
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"I've Just Begun to Live"
George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Fred Astaire
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 156 | April 23, 2019 1:12 AM
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"The Inquisition" from Mel Brooks' History of the World Part 1
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 157 | April 23, 2019 1:14 AM
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The Pirate ballet sequence - Gene Kelly
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 158 | April 23, 2019 1:23 AM
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"Nowadays" (finale from the film) "Chicago"
Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 159 | April 23, 2019 1:27 AM
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Georges Guétary - I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise (from Vincente Minnelli's "An American In Paris")
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 160 | April 23, 2019 1:33 AM
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Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
How did we get to 160 without this?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 161 | April 23, 2019 1:36 AM
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Kiss Me Kate- From This Moment On Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Jeanne Coyne, Bobby Van, Carol Haney and Bob Fosse. I love them all but Fosse/Haney are the standouts.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 162 | April 23, 2019 1:41 AM
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Opening Sequence "A Chorus Line"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 163 | April 23, 2019 1:46 AM
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R161, because it's barely a dance sequence.
by Anonymous | reply 166 | April 23, 2019 1:53 AM
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Shanghai Lil from Footlight Parade, 1933 (pre-code)
Jimmy Cagney and Joan Blondell
Dance at about 3:20
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 168 | April 23, 2019 1:58 AM
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Balloon Dance from "Give a Girl a Break"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 169 | April 23, 2019 2:02 AM
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The rooftop dance to "America" from West Side Story (and the fantastic opening sequence in the soon to be destroyed West Side tenements to make way for Lincoln Center).
The July 4th "firecracker" number from Holiday Inn with Astaire
The often overlooked but beautiful "Love Look Away" ballet with Yuriko from Flower Drum Song
And along those lines, the beautiful dream sequence from Oklahoma choreographed by Agnes de Mille with Bambi Lynn.
Another R&H special - the sequence on the beach from Carousel with the unhappy teenaged daughter of ulie and Billy Bigelow and the carnival barker (who just happened to be Jacques D'Amboise).
by Anonymous | reply 170 | April 23, 2019 2:02 AM
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I keep coming back to Astaire and Rogers. There was something about their partnership that was magical. This number from "Carefree" might be my personal favorite, and I'm not sure why. The story of the plot is nonsense, of course, and somehow Astaire has hypnotized into dancing with him. The number starts around 1:59. Ginger knew how to work that dress! I love to watch it swirl every time she stops moving. And the end lift is beautiful.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 171 | April 23, 2019 2:04 AM
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r141 You've never heard about modern dance, have you?
r142 I posted it once, eldergay cunt. Now stop obsessively posting in this thread and get some fresh air.
by Anonymous | reply 172 | April 23, 2019 2:05 AM
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R161 - I don't know but thankfully you were there.
"Men grow cold/As girls grow old/And we all lose our charms in the end . . . (boop boop a doop) . . .
But square-shaped or pear-shaped these rocks don't lose their shape . . . "
by Anonymous | reply 173 | April 23, 2019 2:05 AM
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DL fave June Allyson, "When."
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 174 | April 23, 2019 2:05 AM
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[R69]
Loved Gregory Hines in "White Nights". I like his solo number even better
So talented. It's hard to believe he passed away so young.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 176 | April 23, 2019 2:06 AM
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R172 'Whipping' is modern dance? Bet you call yourself queer.
by Anonymous | reply 177 | April 23, 2019 2:06 AM
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"Applause, Applause," finale from "Give a Girl a Break"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 178 | April 23, 2019 2:07 AM
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Well, it's not strictly speaking "dancing" but . . .
Ya Gotta Have A Gimmick from the ill-starred film version of Gypsy
"Once I was a schlepper/Now I'm Miss Mazeppa . . ."
by Anonymous | reply 179 | April 23, 2019 2:07 AM
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"Row, Row, Row" from "Two Weeks With Love
Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 180 | April 23, 2019 2:09 AM
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Neither one is a good dancer and, in fact, Holden is downright atrocious but it is one of my fav dance scenes because of the score, the lighting and it’s just so sexy.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 181 | April 23, 2019 2:10 AM
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"Les Girls" from "Les Girls"
Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Tania Elg and Kay Kendall
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 183 | April 23, 2019 2:17 AM
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Also this one from All That Jazz.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 184 | April 23, 2019 2:20 AM
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I guess you had to be there, but the first time you saw this, in a movie theater back in the 70's, it was electric.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 185 | April 23, 2019 2:20 AM
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"The Lady From the Bayou" from "Hit the Deck"
Ann Miller (who isn't doing tap)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 186 | April 23, 2019 2:21 AM
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To follow r146 Gypsy strip tease, I give you Guys and Dolls strip tease...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 187 | April 23, 2019 2:22 AM
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R181 The story behind that dance sequence in Picnic...
[quote]The other issue for Holden was having to dance during the film’s “Moonglow” scene. After being forced to dance with Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, he went on a three-day drunk to handle the ordeal. This time Holden demanded stunt pay and Columbia wrote him a check for $8,000. To help ease him into the idea, Logan had choreographer Miriam Nelson take Holden to the local roadhouses, where he could get drunk while dancing to the jukeboxes. It didn’t appear to help for when Logan, as he later wrote, finally got some footage, “They [Holden and Novak] bobbed about awkwardly like grade-schoolers.” The problem was eventually solved by cinematographer James Wong Howe having the lights and camera do the dancing. The camera was placed on a dolly that allowed it to circle the stars while also swaying up and down and 50 small, brightly colored spotlights were set-up so that the smallest movements changed the colors on the stars. The resulting scene would go on to become an iconographic film moment.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 188 | April 23, 2019 2:22 AM
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"You're the One That I Want" from "Grease"
Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 189 | April 23, 2019 2:23 AM
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"Sing, Sing, Sing," Benny Goodman and the Orchestra from "Swing Kids" (1993)
Robert Sean Leonard and Christian Bale
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 190 | April 23, 2019 2:30 AM
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"Nowadays" (finale from the film) "Chicago"
That was nothing but substanceless movie flash. All those cutaways...where was the dancing? If you look at the dance routines in old movies you see the dancer's bodies the ENTIRE time. The camera doesn't keep cutting away every few seconds. I guess the reason for all the cutaways is that the dancers really aren't doing much dancing.
by Anonymous | reply 191 | April 23, 2019 2:30 AM
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This classic routine with Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson and little Shirley Temple never gets old...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 192 | April 23, 2019 2:38 AM
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R154 what am I? Chopped liver?
by Anonymous | reply 193 | April 23, 2019 2:52 AM
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I love this number "The Swing Trot" from the opening credit sequence of "The Barkleys of Broadway". Imagine reunited Fred and Ginger after a decade just stuck under the credits. It's fresh and wonderful.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 195 | April 23, 2019 2:56 AM
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Watch Your Footwork, with Paul Petersen
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 196 | April 23, 2019 2:57 AM
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R158 starring Gene Kelly and Gene Kelly's Ass.
by Anonymous | reply 197 | April 23, 2019 2:57 AM
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"Ice Cold Katie" from "Thank Your Lucky Stars" 1943
Hattie McDaniel and Willie Best
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 198 | April 23, 2019 3:01 AM
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He's My Friend. Energetic.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 199 | April 23, 2019 3:06 AM
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To place La La Land in this august company is a joke...
Not when you have this...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 200 | April 23, 2019 3:09 AM
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"How'd You Like to Spoon With Me?" from Till The Clouds Roll By, 1946
Angela Lansbury
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 202 | April 23, 2019 3:12 AM
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'Shake a Tail Feather' from The Blues Brothers (1980)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 204 | April 23, 2019 3:14 AM
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Marge and Gower from "Showboat"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 206 | April 23, 2019 3:16 AM
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If it's virtuosity you want...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 208 | April 23, 2019 3:20 AM
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Darby O'Gill and the Little People. The actor Albert Sharpe had to be careful during the filming of the dance sequence not to step on any of them.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 209 | April 23, 2019 3:22 AM
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"Sing Before Breakfast" from "The Big Broadcast of 1936"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 210 | April 23, 2019 3:23 AM
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R191 absolutely. I think the current fad for many cuts can make for visual excitement, but it's not dance and can become a gimmick. Somehow Fosse's use of cuts in Cabaret's numbers didn't bother me, maybe because he was one of the first to do it and so effectively, with a dancer's eye.
by Anonymous | reply 211 | April 23, 2019 3:23 AM
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Judy Garland and Charles Walters "Broadway Rhythm"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 212 | April 23, 2019 3:27 AM
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A Bollywood dance - May He Poop?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 213 | April 23, 2019 3:28 AM
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"The Continental Polka" from Easy to Wed, 1946
Lucille Ball and Van Johnson
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 214 | April 23, 2019 3:33 AM
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I Am Woman, featuring shirtless men, in the dance scene from Trick
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 216 | April 23, 2019 3:33 AM
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"On Your Toes" from "Words and Music" 1948
Cyd Charisse, Dee Turnell and Eileen Wilson
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 217 | April 23, 2019 3:37 AM
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Audrey in Givenchy and Fred in a cardigan as Richard Avedon in Funny Face. And that beautiful melody by George Gershwin and those heavenly lyrics by Ira, his lovely wife.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 218 | April 23, 2019 3:42 AM
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George and his lovely wife...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 219 | April 23, 2019 3:45 AM
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[quote] Jimmy Cagney and Bob Hope from "The Seven Little Foys"
All the more impressive when you consider both men were in their 50s when they did this dance
The music is terrible but Busby's number here is again mesmerizing
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 220 | April 23, 2019 3:45 AM
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Are you kidding? The music is enchanting! Harry Warren was one of Hollywood's greatest songwriters!
by Anonymous | reply 221 | April 23, 2019 3:48 AM
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Ohhhh R25, I was gonna post that. One of my favorites since I was a kid. Ann-Margret is an underappreciated dancer. What a fun movie, pure joy.
by Anonymous | reply 222 | April 23, 2019 3:52 AM
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R218, Fred was 58, Audrey 28, btw.
by Anonymous | reply 223 | April 23, 2019 3:59 AM
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Not only does Ms Olsson trip the light fantastic, r222, but Mr Rydell holds his own as well.
by Anonymous | reply 224 | April 23, 2019 4:00 AM
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I wouldn't have minded holding his own.
I have a friend whose cousin was in that number The blond kid on whose lap A-M sits.
by Anonymous | reply 225 | April 23, 2019 5:35 AM
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of the Astaire and Rogers' dances I like the one from Swing Time. I think the song is Pick Yourself Up. I like the way her dress compliments the dance.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 226 | April 23, 2019 8:15 AM
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A Chorus Line - Broadway 3,389th performance finale
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 227 | April 23, 2019 9:27 AM
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Channing Tatum performing No Dames” in the movie Hail Caesar!” What a fun scene.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 228 | April 23, 2019 10:23 AM
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A reminder to all and sundry that the thread is about MOVIE scenes.
by Anonymous | reply 229 | April 23, 2019 10:29 AM
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R211, the tendency in modern musicals to be edited with a Cuisinart is due to the bad influence of music videos with their constant cutting to create fake energy around performers who don't generally register well in a visual medium.
In CHICAGO, as in some other musicals, the constant cutting is there to "cover" for actors who can't dance well, though CZJ actually can dance and when there's a number where you have a group of real dancers (like Cell Block Tango), the editing winds up hiding the talent.
by Anonymous | reply 230 | April 23, 2019 10:48 AM
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R228, that scene with Tatum from "Hail, Caesar!" is just a very, very pale comparison to what has been posted to this thread. For me, the choreography is basic, the routine disjointed. It never 'sails' away... it's simply a pastiche put forth by the Coen brothers and (of course) automatically praised.
by Anonymous | reply 231 | April 23, 2019 10:50 AM
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Begging permission to violate the thread rule just this once for the homoerotic Miike Snow/Gengis Khan video of a fantasy James Bond falling in love with his captor (a.k.a. Stock-'homo' Syndrome) and joining him in a graceful pas de deux...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 232 | April 23, 2019 11:00 AM
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How Does She Know? from Enchanted.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 233 | April 23, 2019 11:13 AM
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The Alley Dance from My Sister Eileen.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 234 | April 23, 2019 11:14 AM
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I dont think anyone actually posted the Barn-Raising Dance did they?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 235 | April 23, 2019 11:16 AM
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I know we are supposed to hate Finian's Rainbow, but I think this dance sequence is glorious.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 236 | April 23, 2019 11:21 AM
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Sidney Poitier rocks out in "To Sir With Love" (1967)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 237 | April 23, 2019 11:30 AM
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Don't know about great, but Dominic West's dance in "Pride" is very "stimulating."
by Anonymous | reply 238 | April 23, 2019 11:40 AM
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Let's do the Time Warp again...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 239 | April 23, 2019 11:55 AM
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Rita Hayworth's "Let's Stay Young Forever' in "Down to Earth" is absolute sensuality. Red hair, green dress, and moves by Jack Cole. Well she does play Terpsichore, Muse of Dance...
by Anonymous | reply 240 | April 23, 2019 12:04 PM
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Jennifer Beals in "Flashdance"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 241 | April 23, 2019 12:18 PM
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Once a Year Day from The Pajama Game. One of the greatest dance numbers ever recorded on film. Thank you Bob Fosse.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 242 | April 23, 2019 12:33 PM
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Thank you for the Russ Tamblyn dance. I'd never seen that before. Hard to believe the guy from Twin Peaks was ever that cute.
by Anonymous | reply 243 | April 23, 2019 12:47 PM
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R188 - Howe may have picked up that trick from Victor Fleming, who had to do the same thing for the scene in which Rhett Butler waltzes with the newly widowed Scarlett O'Hara at the fundraising ball in the early days of the Civil War. Gable just couldn't manage the waltz steps convincingly let alone whilst talkingg to Leigh, and a camera on a swaying dolly for the closeup shots created the illusion of the two moving smoothly together across the floor as they danced and recited their lines.
by Anonymous | reply 244 | April 23, 2019 1:26 PM
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And this Bollywood craziness.....from the 1960's.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 247 | April 23, 2019 2:48 PM
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Ugh.....I guess you have to click the YouTube link to see it.....sorry.
by Anonymous | reply 248 | April 23, 2019 2:51 PM
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R48 That's so much fun. I like how the dancers make use of the old guy as if he were a human prop.
by Anonymous | reply 249 | April 23, 2019 3:22 PM
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Gable just couldn't manage the waltz steps convincingly let alone whilst talkingg to Leigh, and a camera on a swaying dolly for the closeup shots created the illusion of the two moving smoothly together
That was the first scene Gable filmed for the movie. It's been described that he was thoroughly humiliated, plus Viven Leigh was disgusted by the his dentures' bad breath. Off to a great start.
[quote] Jennifer Beals in "Flashdance"
Well, Marine Jahan in "Flashdance" anyway.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 250 | April 23, 2019 3:56 PM
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r236 I remember one review of "Finian's" describing the choreography as "running-jumping-falling down."
by Anonymous | reply 251 | April 23, 2019 4:26 PM
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[quote]I like the way her dress compliments the dance.
Oh, dear. Can dresses talk now?
by Anonymous | reply 252 | April 23, 2019 4:27 PM
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Ben Vereen, "Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie" from Funny Lady
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 255 | April 23, 2019 4:42 PM
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OMG, you must see this one.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 256 | April 23, 2019 4:53 PM
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That was not Victor Fleming who directed that it was Cukor.
That Finian number is very charming. I hated the movie as a kid but I loved the lp. Much like Star! and Dr. Dolittle lps which still hold up but the films are as bad as ever.
by Anonymous | reply 257 | April 23, 2019 4:54 PM
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"That's Dancing!" The best of the MGM musicals
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 258 | April 23, 2019 4:55 PM
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Great Ethel Merman clip!
I think that's the movie with this exchange:
Ethel's Co-Hort reading the paper: "Hey, remember that guy who pretended to be your husband in Atlantic City? He's dead."
Ethel: I coulda told you that in Atlantic City.
by Anonymous | reply 259 | April 23, 2019 4:58 PM
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"All of You" from Silk Stockings, 1957
Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 260 | April 23, 2019 5:00 PM
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"Saturday Afternoon Before the Game" from I Love Melvin
With Debbie Reynolds as the football!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 262 | April 23, 2019 5:06 PM
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Judy Garland's version (cut from the film after she collapsed filming) of "I'm an Indian Too" from Annie Get Your Gun
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 263 | April 23, 2019 5:10 PM
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"Swanee" from A Star is Born
Judy Garland
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 264 | April 23, 2019 5:12 PM
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"Lose That Long Face" from A Star is Born (1954)
Judy Garland
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 265 | April 23, 2019 5:15 PM
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I sometimes wish people would just break out in dance in real life. Lack of a musical score to accompany them probably prevents that from happening though.
by Anonymous | reply 266 | April 23, 2019 5:16 PM
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That's Fated to Be Mated and as instrumental dance music it becomes Paris Loves Lovers as a bolero and then All of You done by jazz combo. It is one of my all time favorite musical numbers on film.
Also All of You is danced 'straight' in the first part of the film and I prefer it to Dancing in the Dark.
Too Bad is a great number as well. A terrific cha cha danced by 3 sensational female dancers with the beautiful Barrie Chase(who Freed literally could not keep his hands off of.) And those Helen Rose costumes!
by Anonymous | reply 267 | April 23, 2019 5:17 PM
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"Black Bottom" from A Star is Born, 1954
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 268 | April 23, 2019 5:18 PM
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"All I Do is Think of You" from Singin' in the Rain
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 269 | April 23, 2019 5:22 PM
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Before there was Busby Berkley, Erich Von Stroheim was the king of musical production numbers.
The Great Gabbo (1929) had the gayest looking chorus boys I've ever seen in a movie.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 270 | April 23, 2019 5:23 PM
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R270 You're right - what a twink-fest !
by Anonymous | reply 271 | April 23, 2019 6:08 PM
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Alice Faye as a hooker (serious) and the Ritz Brothers (parodying Alice Faye) both from "On the Avenue" 1937
"Slumming on Park Avenue"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 272 | April 23, 2019 6:50 PM
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R257 - I thought Cukor was fired early on in the filming, replaced by Fleming as Gable refused to work with Cukor who was gay and alleged to be much more sympathetic to his actresses than his actors. I don't know the sequences in which scenes were shot, but Fleming is always given the directorial credit for GWTS and is credited with saving the production.
by Anonymous | reply 273 | April 23, 2019 6:53 PM
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R208 - Thanks for remembering the wonderful Gene Nelson, who had some of the most gorgeous legs of any hoofer in the biz, and as Will Parker did the marvellous "Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City" number in "Oklahoma".
And I'd like to give a nod to the hilarious "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" shuffle in "Kiss Me Kate" by James Whitmore & Keenan Wynn. Factoid: the two thought the number silly, failed to rehearse it adequately, and made lots of mistakes in filming. But the director thought the mistakes were charming bits of "business" and, thankfully, left it as it.
by Anonymous | reply 275 | April 23, 2019 7:01 PM
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"Leave It to Jane" and "Cleopatterer" from Till The Clouds Roll By, 1946
June Allyson and Ray McDonald
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 277 | April 23, 2019 7:02 PM
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[quote]"All I Do is Think of You" from Singin' in the Rain
Dream, not Think.
by Anonymous | reply 278 | April 23, 2019 7:04 PM
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"I Won't Dance" from "Lovely to Look At"
Marge, Gower, a tailor's dummy and a dress rack
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 279 | April 23, 2019 7:07 PM
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Till the Cloud Roll By has a number of Robert Alton's sensational numbers. Thank god for DVDs so you don't have to sit through the entire film more than once.
by Anonymous | reply 280 | April 23, 2019 7:12 PM
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La Carioca - La cité de la peur - 1994
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 281 | April 23, 2019 7:12 PM
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"Thou Swell," with June Allyson and the cute Blackburn Twins.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 282 | April 23, 2019 7:18 PM
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This is a heavily flawed number from Busby Berkeley's "In Caliente". It builds slowly until he introduces a comic bit with Judy Canova which kills it, then it picks up again after that. You can skip Judy from 4:27-5:30 when the De Marcos come on and Wini Shaw sings at the end.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 283 | April 23, 2019 7:20 PM
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"He Ain't Got Rhythm" from "On the Avenue 1937
The Ritz Brothers
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 284 | April 23, 2019 7:28 PM
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"Lucky Number" from "The Black Network" 1936
Harold and Fayard Nicholas
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 285 | April 23, 2019 7:33 PM
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"Railroad Station Dance" from "The Great American Broadcast," 1941
The Nicholas Brothers.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 286 | April 23, 2019 7:39 PM
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[quote] La Carioca - La cité de la peur - 1994
If you are going to do the Carioca, go to the source. The very first Fred and Ginger dance.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 287 | April 23, 2019 7:39 PM
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THe Pas de Deux from Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 288 | April 23, 2019 7:41 PM
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42nd Street which really gives the dark side of the street. The sequence where the girl jumps from the second story to get away from a rapist still scares me. You have to get past Ruby Keeler's klutzy dancing first.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 289 | April 23, 2019 7:43 PM
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"I've Got A Gal in Kalamazoo" from "Orchestra Wives" 1942
Glenn Miller (slide trombone), Tex Beneke (saxophone), The Modernaires (vocals), The Nicholas Brothers (dance)
Check out Jackie Gleason on the base.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 290 | April 23, 2019 7:45 PM
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[quote] You have to get past Ruby Keeler's klutzy dancing first.
Klutzy? She went out a youngster, and came back a 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓.
by Anonymous | reply 291 | April 23, 2019 7:47 PM
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The Carioca is from Flying Down to Rio. It was the first movie to play Radio City as its Christmas movie. It also received a C rating from the Catholic church. All the families going to Rockefeller Center for the holiday were going to see a dirty picture.
by Anonymous | reply 292 | April 23, 2019 7:47 PM
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I guess it's blasphemy but this clip of Mame is really good. Before the frantic dancing, it's very charming and how could it not be with Robert Preston handling the singing. Even Lucy does well. Watch them keep trying to put Kirby Furlong into the action in the back @ 2:15 to remind everyone that the story is a love story between Mame and Patrick.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 293 | April 23, 2019 7:53 PM
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I guess I should specify that C stands for Condemned which means not only was it not fit for children it was not fit for adults as well. We are talking beyond triple x here.
by Anonymous | reply 294 | April 23, 2019 7:54 PM
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Drunk Dance - "Gotta Have Me Go With You" - from A Star Is Born (1954)
Judy Garland & James Mason
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 295 | April 23, 2019 7:56 PM
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[quote] C stands for Condemned which means not only was it not fit for children it was not fit for adults as well.
Probably mostly for this scene with all the barely dressed American girls doing a scandalous airborne burlesque show they hope their mothers never find out about.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 296 | April 23, 2019 8:03 PM
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My dad took me to see this at one of the revival houses in Manhattan when I was about 8, and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when this number began.
by Anonymous | reply 297 | April 23, 2019 8:20 PM
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Just dont watch George Chakiris fake lipsynch the French.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 298 | April 23, 2019 9:19 PM
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We've omitted one of the great film dance-fests of all time: "The Turning Point". My personal favourite from the film was the rehearsal of the Balcony Scene from the Profofiev-MacMillan Royal Ballet production of "Romeo and Juliet". My least favourite was the Don Q. pas de deux for whose sharp bravura technical prowess Browne's lyrical, soft technique was totally unsuited (not so, though, Baryshnikov's!).
by Anonymous | reply 299 | April 23, 2019 9:20 PM
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Hi R252, that is me that you are "oh, dear"-ing. Sorry, I had a brain injury when I was younger, and I also have dyslexia (what a great combination!) and especially when I am tired, spelling just goes out the window. You made me laugh, though.
by Anonymous | reply 300 | April 23, 2019 9:49 PM
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Onna White's Oscar-receiving choreography "Consider Yourself" from "Oliver!"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 301 | April 23, 2019 10:14 PM
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And its brilliant parody from Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" (choreography by Arlene Phillips)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 302 | April 23, 2019 10:17 PM
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Isn't there a legendary routine with the naughty Carmen Miranda in which it becomes clear in a series of kicks that she left her knickers in the dressing-room? I could swear I've seen a photo but can't seem to find it.
by Anonymous | reply 303 | April 23, 2019 10:26 PM
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Princess Tam Tam and Zouzou. I wonder if I'm allowed to like them, nowadays!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 305 | April 23, 2019 10:39 PM
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Ken Russell's hommage to r296...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 306 | April 23, 2019 10:41 PM
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R304 - Oh, kudos to you for finding it!
Jesus, didn't it chafe?!
by Anonymous | reply 307 | April 23, 2019 10:42 PM
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r304, totally wasted on Cesar Romero.
by Anonymous | reply 309 | April 23, 2019 10:51 PM
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R309 - "totally wasted on Cesar Romero." Perhaps that's why they got away with it, she knew he'd just laugh and carry on.
Good lord, those thunder thighs!
In my salad days, I met a young woman who was Romero's niece, daughter of his brother (Don?). Had I been other than what I am (he said delicately), I would have thrown her to the floor in a heartbeat. She was startlingly beautiful. Have no idea what became of her, it was a chance meeting in America.
by Anonymous | reply 310 | April 23, 2019 10:54 PM
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I think there were years Cesar stuck his fat Butifarra Cubana Americano into any thing.
by Anonymous | reply 311 | April 23, 2019 11:00 PM
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I saw this at a film festival over 30 years ago but was never able to find out much about it till YouTube came to the rescue--it's the story of a group of Argentine exiles in Paris in the 1970s, told in dance and has the opening sequence that LAlaLand tried for and failed. Apologies in advance for the non-Spanish/French speakers.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 312 | April 23, 2019 11:03 PM
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Continuation of the above.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 313 | April 23, 2019 11:05 PM
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Miss Sylvia Lewis on the big screen....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 314 | April 23, 2019 11:17 PM
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Not a movie musical exactly, but one of the most tremendously exciting dance numbers ever committed to celluloid...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 315 | April 23, 2019 11:18 PM
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Miss Sylvia Lewis on the little screen....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 316 | April 23, 2019 11:18 PM
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"Judy Garland's version (cut from the film after she collapsed filming) of "I'm an Indian Too" from Annie Get Your Gun."
She was terrible in that. She was drugged and mentally ill at the time.
by Anonymous | reply 317 | April 23, 2019 11:52 PM
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R314 well Bravo that's a lot of fun.
by Anonymous | reply 318 | April 23, 2019 11:56 PM
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This thread has kept me up past my bedtime, but I have enjoyed it all immensely. Thank you to all who posted, especially the more obscure videos that I have never seen before. Bravo!
by Anonymous | reply 320 | April 24, 2019 1:17 AM
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Not movie, but directed by Stanley Donen. Big Man on Mulberry Street from Moonlighting. Maddie learns David is divorced and his ex-wife is coming to town. Sandahl Bergman plays the ex in the dream sequence and she's spectacular. Willis obviously wasn't a dancer but he does a good job. Bergman sort of resembles the not Peggy Bundy Katey Sagal. Billy Joel was a fan of the show and wrote this specifically for the episode.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 321 | April 24, 2019 1:21 AM
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Two that spring to mind:
Do-Re-Mi from The Sound Of Music. In a strange way, I think of it as the first song/dance with quick cuts ala MTV.
Someone has to post the scene from Boys In The Band where everyone gets up to dance to "Heat Wave".
by Anonymous | reply 322 | April 24, 2019 1:23 AM
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Choreographer Onna White is represented at least three times, Oliver, Mame and Bye Bye Birdie
by Anonymous | reply 323 | April 24, 2019 1:28 AM
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The wonderful Jessie Matthews in a fabulous number.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 324 | April 24, 2019 1:37 AM
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This was the highlight of the movie ACL, a low bar, but still a thrilling sequence. Although you had to believe Gregg Burge had sex with a woman, he was clearly one of the three best male show dancers of his generation along with Hinton Battle and Don Correia. Personally, I'd put him ahead of both of those two because I thought his style was more versatile. Surprise, Surprise shows him at his apex.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 325 | April 24, 2019 1:49 AM
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"Oh You Kid" from The Harvey Girls (1946)
Angela Lansbury
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 326 | April 24, 2019 2:04 AM
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"We're a Couple of Swells" from Easter Parade
Judy Garland and Fred Astaire
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 327 | April 24, 2019 2:07 AM
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I never heard of Gene Nelson until I watched his videos on this thread. Wow. He's incredible -- more attractive than Gene Kelly, and certainly sexier than Fred Astaire. More of an athletic gymnastic approach, but man, he's good!!
by Anonymous | reply 328 | April 24, 2019 2:08 AM
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I haven't seen that in years, r326. So funny not to hear Angie's singing voice.
by Anonymous | reply 329 | April 24, 2019 2:08 AM
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"Shine On Your Shoes" from The Band Wagon
Fred Astaire and Leroy Daniels
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 330 | April 24, 2019 2:20 AM
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Patty Duke tries to dance in the dykey movie, Billie. Watch for Donna McKechnie who ironically does her best onscreen dancing in this bomb. Watch her get dropped in the wings at 1:30. In the chorus are Robert Banas and Clive Clerk and they're both swoon worthy.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 331 | April 24, 2019 2:21 AM
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The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, “Finally.”
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 332 | April 24, 2019 3:25 AM
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Le can-can! (Skip to 48 seconds.) Juliet Prowse and Shirley MacLaine. High kicks, splits and cartwheels galore and face sitting too. And all danced to Cole's marvelous tune. "If in Cannes every tanned courtesan can, Baby, you can can-can too."
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 333 | April 24, 2019 3:32 AM
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"In my salad days, I met...Romero's niece...had I been other than what I am..."
R310 would you have preferred a Cesar Salad?
by Anonymous | reply 334 | April 24, 2019 3:36 AM
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I love every brilliant and scintillating word of CAN-CAN, with its assonant wordplay in chorus after chorus.
by Anonymous | reply 335 | April 24, 2019 3:44 AM
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'If a Jap with a flap of her fan can'
Would that now be cut?
by Anonymous | reply 336 | April 24, 2019 3:48 AM
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If in Lesbos, a pure Lesbian can, Baby you can can-can too.
by Anonymous | reply 337 | April 24, 2019 3:50 AM
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Jeff Harnar does Cole's Can-Can brilliantly. Only Steve Ross does it better.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 338 | April 24, 2019 3:57 AM
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I think Steve's is the only recording that contains the entire song.
by Anonymous | reply 339 | April 24, 2019 3:59 AM
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Re The Garland version of I'm an Indian Too in Annie Get Your Gun I prefer the original choreography of Robert Alton. He simplify it for the Betty Hutton version.
by Anonymous | reply 340 | April 24, 2019 5:15 AM
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Ah, this thread is in very capable hands. Thanks for the many enjoyable posts since yesterday and whoever posted more of the fabulous Nicholas brothers. Here they are showing skin from Tin Pan Alley...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 341 | April 24, 2019 5:43 AM
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In her day Marilu Henner had really great gams.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 342 | April 24, 2019 5:52 AM
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Here's a rarity: Deanna Durbin Dancing. From the rare film "Spring Parade", i have to explain since I think this clip is in Russian -- Deanna's character bets Mischa Auer for her goat that she can stay upright while dancing with him over the length of the song. But he keeps telling the orchestra leader to speed up, though Deanna gets wise to it. It's funny, and shows that had Universal done more full musicals for Deanna instead of what were usually comedies with songs for her to sing, she'd have been up to performing more dance numbers.
by Anonymous | reply 343 | April 24, 2019 6:08 AM
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Crapshooters Ballet from Guys and Dolls. Choreographed by Michael Kidd.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 345 | April 24, 2019 6:21 AM
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Here's triple threat British star Jessie Matthews singing and dancing to Rodgers & Hart's classic "Dancing on the Ceiling" from the musical "Evergreen".
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 346 | April 24, 2019 6:33 AM
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R343 that is really fun. I love the fact that Deanna was sane enough to get out of Dodge early.
Mischa had a nice ass on him.
by Anonymous | reply 347 | April 24, 2019 8:29 AM
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R343 sixth-billed in that is Anne Gwynne, the grandmother of Chris Pine.
by Anonymous | reply 348 | April 24, 2019 8:40 AM
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"We're a Couple of Swells" from Easter Parade is a delight from start to finish. It's a great number Fred's character who is no longer looking to force Judy to be his Ann Miller replacement; but for the two actors, their enjoyment of the piece is infectious... Judy's delightful (she was a natural comedienne) and the number gives Astaire that opportunity to show how versatile he could be - dancing when not dressed in a tux or suit.
E.P. has never been a favorite... I just can't believe Judy falls for Fred... he's too old and Peter Lawford's actually a nice catch... but "We're a Couple of Swells" should always be in any list of great movie dance sequences.
by Anonymous | reply 349 | April 24, 2019 9:33 AM
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Fred Astaire & Leslie Caron, "Sluefoot"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 350 | April 24, 2019 10:47 AM
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R334 - LOL. Cesar not quite my type but appreciate the humour!
by Anonymous | reply 351 | April 24, 2019 1:07 PM
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Misha (and his maximus) are hilarious in MY MAN GODFREY.
by Anonymous | reply 352 | April 24, 2019 1:24 PM
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Sluefoot is sensational with the back up dancers. I was watching Too Darn Hot from the current revival of KMK. How in the world are choreographers today so frantically busily horrible?
by Anonymous | reply 354 | April 24, 2019 1:27 PM
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"Chattanooga Choo-Choo" from "Sun Valley Serenade" 1941
Dorothy Dandridge, The Nicholas Brothers, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 357 | April 24, 2019 3:18 PM
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Dance sequence from "Down Argentine Way"
The Nicholas Brothers
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 358 | April 24, 2019 3:24 PM
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[quote]Choreographer Onna White is represented at least three times, Oliver, Mame and Bye Bye Birdie
The Music Man, too.
by Anonymous | reply 359 | April 24, 2019 3:59 PM
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There have been several fine clips of the Nicholas Brothers but I think this one best shows what these men could do.
These splits and recoveries impress the hell out of me. Any one of them would have sent me to a hospital.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 360 | April 24, 2019 4:32 PM
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I'm too young to remember them in real time, but back in the 90's I observed a master class in tap Fayard gave at Harvard, part of a day-long celebration of his life and work and followed by a dinner and showing a collection of some of he and his brother's greatest filmed dance numbers by the Harvard Film Archive. Harold was still alive then but couldn't attend.
Fayard was in his 80's then and while he obviously couldn't do what he'd done in the movies, you could see what a great teacher he still was working with the students.
by Anonymous | reply 361 | April 24, 2019 4:54 PM
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R361 Such a lovely family and amazing backstory. His parents went to college, rare for people of color in those days. Here's a A & E special on the Nicholas Brothers done in the early 90's with guest appearances from Donald O'Connor and Gregory Hines, among others.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 362 | April 24, 2019 5:02 PM
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Harold did an off-Broadway show in the 80s or 90s on Theatre Row - he could still dance up a storm
by Anonymous | reply 363 | April 24, 2019 5:40 PM
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The story behind the Carmen Miranda crotch shot is that she usually wore a thong like garment under her costume. She had finished filming a scene and was undressing when they called her out for some newspaper photos with Romero. She didn't bother putting her underwear back on, but the photographers insisted that Romero do some steps and lift her....and one photographer got down on the floor to get a shot.....and he did!
The guy who is Leslie Caron's partner at the beginning of the Slue Foot dance is Kelly Brown who was one of the suitors in 7 Brides for 7 Brothers....and also the father of Leslie Browne one of the stars of The Turning Point - and allegedly the inspiration for the character of the father in the movie.
Billie had another fun number.......
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 364 | April 24, 2019 6:08 PM
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Yes, I did my own dancing in this, no body double for me.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 365 | April 24, 2019 6:55 PM
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Not quite as much choreography as in your....distant...youth, Helen.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 366 | April 24, 2019 7:14 PM
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Sammy Davis Jr. and Gregory Hines in Tap (1989)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 367 | April 24, 2019 7:19 PM
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Bobby Banas became a rosarian.
by Anonymous | reply 370 | April 24, 2019 9:47 PM
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DL fave Val Harper (and some hot guys) in "Li'l Abner."
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 371 | April 24, 2019 9:48 PM
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Listening to Roz sing I was suddenly wondered how she would have done if given the song "I'm Still Here" from Sondheim's Follies... I think she had the acting chops to pull it off. Thoughts?
by Anonymous | reply 372 | April 24, 2019 10:32 PM
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Must return to R&H again to mention the beautiful dance adaptation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" arranged by the slave-girl Tuptim (played by Rita Moreno) ostensibly to entertain the British Ambassador on his visit to Siam, but also to send a message to the King of Siam.
by Anonymous | reply 373 | April 24, 2019 10:58 PM
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"Ain't There Anyone Here For Love" from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"
Jane Russell and the US team onboard the Liberté en route to Europe
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 374 | April 25, 2019 12:24 AM
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Betty, Gwen, and boys.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 375 | April 25, 2019 12:27 AM
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R374 - If Russell had just taken a good look at the men in the number, she'd have known why there was nobody there for love.
I always split a couple of ribs watching that number.
A bit OT but I once read a story about a press call for some movie Russell and Robert Mitchum did together (Macao?), and as Russell was known as an observant Christian, one of the reporters inctuously asked Russell how she squared her Christian morals with the constant exposure of her bosom. Mitchum was about to slug the man, but Russell replied smoothly, 'Christians got tits too, Mister," and MItchum fell over laughing.
by Anonymous | reply 376 | April 25, 2019 12:35 AM
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Did somebody say Technicolor?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 377 | April 25, 2019 12:36 AM
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"The Saga Of Jenny" for "Star"
Julie Andrews
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 378 | April 25, 2019 12:38 AM
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"The Saga of Jenny" from Lady in the Dark, 1944
Ginger Rogers
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 379 | April 25, 2019 12:44 AM
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That costume was ever so 1968, r378. I do wonder, though, if it was perhaps inspired by this one of Jessie's. Jessie was Gertie's understudy/replacement in the Charlot Revue if I recall correctly.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 380 | April 25, 2019 12:55 AM
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Victor/Victoria should have recreated this number.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 381 | April 25, 2019 1:05 AM
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I was stunned when I first saw that number. It really is beyond belief.
by Anonymous | reply 383 | April 25, 2019 9:47 PM
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She's a fabulous dancer, but she has zero sex appeal.
by Anonymous | reply 384 | April 25, 2019 9:51 PM
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But, R384, at least SHE can dance...
by Anonymous | reply 386 | April 25, 2019 9:58 PM
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I wouldn't have minded snagging a young Glen Ford. If not on screen then clearly off she was hot stuff.
by Anonymous | reply 387 | April 25, 2019 10:00 PM
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Higher and wider, r387.....
by Anonymous | reply 390 | April 25, 2019 10:06 PM
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Barbara Stanwyck is no Ginger Rogers, but backed by Gene Krupa she has a certain charm
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 391 | April 25, 2019 10:10 PM
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You should seek her "Put It on the G-string " in " Lady of Burlesque."
by Anonymous | reply 392 | April 25, 2019 10:14 PM
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Jitterbug at 3:30........
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 395 | April 25, 2019 10:30 PM
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I think this should count....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 396 | April 25, 2019 10:37 PM
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More acrobatics than dance......
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 397 | April 25, 2019 10:44 PM
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I can't find the whole scene, but I've always liked this combination of song and dance.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 398 | April 25, 2019 11:19 PM
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Jesus, how many times did Sondheim watch that scene with Julie Andrews in order to write "Lucy and Jessie" for Follies?
by Anonymous | reply 399 | April 25, 2019 11:26 PM
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When giants walked the earth, r383...
'Jesus, how many times did Sondheim watch that scene with Julie Andrews in order to write "Lucy and Jessie" for Follies?"
He didn't have to-- he would have known the song since 1941.
I always found Glenn Ford the dullest of film actors. But maybe Eleanor knew something I didn't...
by Anonymous | reply 400 | April 25, 2019 11:29 PM
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"Rock-A-Hula" from Blue Hawaii
Elvis Presley and Angela Lansbury (with a terrible accent) as his mother.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 403 | April 26, 2019 12:43 AM
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There was a great little routine on "I Love Lucy", where Lucy tried to be in Ricky's show ( a shock, I know), doing a jitterbug routine. Of course she gets drops in her eyes that screw up the whole thing, but when she originally does the routine, it's pretty good.
Man, Glenn Ford got around. Wasn't he also married to the actress who played Kim Hughes on As The World Turns?
Could someone with more technical prowess than me post the "Boys In The Band " scene where they all dance to Martha and the Vandellas' "Heat Wave"? (By the way, what is a vandella?)
by Anonymous | reply 404 | April 26, 2019 12:46 AM
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That makes me want to post this one again, r404.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 406 | April 26, 2019 12:48 AM
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No dancing here but this musical medley never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
Susan Hayward as Jane Froman in With a Song in My Heart. This is the spectacular finale, also (briefly) featuring Thelma Ritter and Rory Calhoun.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 407 | April 26, 2019 3:34 AM
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A history lesson including Valerie Harper and Donna Douglas.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 408 | April 26, 2019 3:58 AM
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Not movies but since the Nicholas Brothers are so well represented, Gregg Burge and Hinton Battle do their Nicholas Brothers tribute in Sophisticated Ladies on It Don't Mean A Thing. Especially watch Burge's taps during the "Doo Wah, Doo Wah" finale of his solo. His feet are right on the beat and it doesn't seem quite humanly possible. The number is sung by the incomparable Phyllis Hyman.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 409 | April 26, 2019 4:48 AM
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Vera-Ellen and Fred Astaire in the final part of the Currier and Ives segment of "The Belle of New York" is a rather sophisticated tap partner dance with lots of pirouettes that many of his other partners probably couldn't have pulled off as well as Vera-Ellen. Her back and stomach muscles must have been extremely strong when he pulls her back and takes his arms away from her at one point. Their partner work is dazzling. This is considered actually one of the more difficult dances Astaire did in terms of choreography, looking deceptively simple, but it's really not -- it's great artistry between the both of them.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 410 | April 26, 2019 5:21 AM
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The deleted Scarecrow dance from the Wizard of Oz...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 411 | April 26, 2019 5:30 AM
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Better still is Bolger's gay-ish number from "The Harvey Girls":
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 412 | April 26, 2019 6:35 AM
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R30. I've always loved this!
by Anonymous | reply 413 | April 26, 2019 7:08 AM
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I've always wondered why Victor Fleming's extended Scarecrow dance survived but not The Jitterbug nor the extended Emerald City musical sequences.
Trivia: watch how Judy's hair length goes back and forth in that scene, in both the deleted footage and even in the finished film.
Thanks to r411 and indeed to everyone who's posted in this wonderful thread. Here's my first contribution, the fantastic swing number from 1941's Hellzapoppin. performed by Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. I found it while searching for a different swing number which I'll post when I can find it.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 414 | April 26, 2019 8:37 AM
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[quote]I always found Glenn Ford the dullest of film actors.
He had amazing charisma with the right partner.
by Anonymous | reply 416 | April 26, 2019 12:06 PM
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No wonder I can't get through "Gilda" even though Rita Hayworth is so gorgeous otherwise.
by Anonymous | reply 417 | April 26, 2019 3:51 PM
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R417 Same here. Glenn Ford has zero charisma. Zilch. Negative. The original 3:10 to Yuma suffers for it, too.
by Anonymous | reply 418 | April 26, 2019 4:29 PM
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Wow. I love Gilda. And I find Glenn very smoldering cute. It's a terrific film. 'Sure, I'm decent.' Kills me every time.
John Hodiak. Another hottie. What's he doing in a MGM musical? Well, what's Robert Walker doing in a MGM musical?
by Anonymous | reply 419 | April 26, 2019 11:12 PM
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From Carlos Saura's "Carmen" - the rehearsal of the number where the factory girls' face off - it's a fabulous film and although it has lots of great dance moments, this number stands out. Performers were Laura del Sol and the great Cristina Hoyos. The real deal for you flamenco aficionados out there.
by Anonymous | reply 420 | April 27, 2019 12:00 AM
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Travolta and Thurman go retro in this dance scene from Pulp Fiction (1994) (starts @ 1:20)...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 421 | April 27, 2019 4:59 AM
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I hated that fucking dance scene (if you can call it that) with Uma Thurman and Travolta in "Pulp Fiction." Actually, I hated that entire overrated piece of shit movie.
by Anonymous | reply 422 | April 27, 2019 5:09 AM
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Rita and Fred, The Shorty George
by Anonymous | reply 423 | April 27, 2019 7:07 AM
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That film 'You Were Never Lovelier' also has the sublime 'I'm Old Fashioned.' It inspired Jerome Robbins to create a ballet about it at the NYCB. It was done often at the time but it wasn't very good. He had lost his musical comedy chops by then. And he never really had ballet chops to begin with. Which is why Mr B had him there. He could pad the rep without being any threat.
by Anonymous | reply 424 | April 27, 2019 10:04 AM
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Ann Miller in her film dancing debut.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 425 | April 27, 2019 11:07 AM
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R422 - Second that on all points re "Pulp Fiction".
by Anonymous | reply 426 | April 27, 2019 2:05 PM
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This is the opening of a silly movie called GET OVER IT from 2001. I wish the rest of the movie had been as much fun.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 427 | April 27, 2019 2:08 PM
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That "I'm Old Fashioned" sequence is about as romantic and lush as ballroom dance can get. I think Hayworth partnered Astaire as well as Ginger did.
by Anonymous | reply 428 | April 27, 2019 2:25 PM
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[quote] Ann Miller in her film dancing debut.
At age 14 for god's sake.
And I love Uma's Pulp Fiction dance.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 429 | April 27, 2019 3:01 PM
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Except for the bouffant hair, Ann Miller looked about the same at 14 as she did at 60. My god, what a dancer, though!
by Anonymous | reply 430 | April 27, 2019 3:03 PM
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Was Ruby Keeler considered a great tapper in the early 1930s? Her dancing is so different form what we see Ann Miller and Eleanor Powell doing just a few years later. Or did the art of tap dancing change a lot in just a few years?
by Anonymous | reply 431 | April 27, 2019 3:12 PM
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It's hard to imagine she would have been considered great--all that galumphing around, and watching her feet. Her dancing in the 42nd Street sequence is execrable.
by Anonymous | reply 432 | April 27, 2019 3:17 PM
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"Ev'ry Street's a Boulevard in Old New York" from "Living It Up" 1954
Martin and Lewis
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 434 | April 27, 2019 3:45 PM
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R431 Ruby Keeler was not considered a great dancer, nor even a particularly good dancer. But she was a famous one since the movies she was in were fabulous, especially those Busby Berkeley creations. She was, however, endearing in her personality on screen and, I think that people thought that if she could make it and become famous dancing like she did (which wasn't that outstanding), they could, too! Plus, of course, she married huge star Al Jolson, encouraged by her father to do so, to help her career and get Broadway and movie gigs.
by Anonymous | reply 435 | April 27, 2019 4:10 PM
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Ruby was a hoofer. Taps were wood before they were metal and you had to slam your feet down to get the sound.
by Anonymous | reply 436 | April 27, 2019 4:13 PM
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She also looked at her feet at times while she was dancing, which is usually a no-no, but endeared her even more to audiences (maybe subliminally).
by Anonymous | reply 437 | April 27, 2019 4:16 PM
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I was the poster who was critical of her dancing, and I should have added that I also found her adorable.
by Anonymous | reply 438 | April 27, 2019 4:18 PM
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"Me Ol' Bam-Boo" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 439 | April 27, 2019 4:30 PM
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"Shall We Dance" from The King and I (1956)
Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 440 | April 27, 2019 4:36 PM
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that's the pinnacle. thrilling.
by Anonymous | reply 441 | April 27, 2019 4:40 PM
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Someone on DL made a very astute observation about Keeler, No, No, Nanette and Follies, which opened around the same time. Keller's big number in NNN was I Want To Be Happy. In it, the young dancers speed up, she speeds up and it ends with everyone in unison. The old gal's still got it. It was like Times Have Changed but I can still keep up. Follies' Who's That Woman has the number slow down. The women and the ghosts show that things weren't what we thought they were.
by Anonymous | reply 442 | April 27, 2019 4:44 PM
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Donald O'Conner was another dancer who always watched his feet. This is a great routine with Noreen Corcoran (Bachelor Father) - tapping starts at about 3:10.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 443 | April 27, 2019 4:49 PM
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She was a star on Broadway. An up and comer bright faced popular ingenue.
You wouldn't think it but she could hold a stage as anybody who saw NNN can attest. Inexplicable but she had IT.
by Anonymous | reply 444 | April 27, 2019 6:00 PM
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R425 and R433 Thanks for the young Ann Miller. She has a remarkable story...
[quote]Her father... was a well-known criminal lawyer who defended such infamous gangsters as Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie Parker, and Clyde Barrow; her mother, Clara Birdwell, was a Cherokee. ... her mother saw to it that she studied piano and violin, but mostly tap dancing, partly to build up legs that had been affected by rickets, a condition caused by a vitamin D deficiency that can lead to softening of the bones and deformity.
[quote]Miller was signed by MGM to star in its most memorable musical films. In Easter Parade (1948), she danced most gracefully with Fred Astaire (she was considerably taller than he and had to wear ballet slippers) as she tried to woo him away from Judy Garland; but it was her singing and tap dancing solo, "Chasing the Blues Away," that she claims as one of the best song and tap dances on musical film.
[quote]In her heyday, Miller was America's leading female tap dance star, inheriting the mantle from Eleanor Powell. She preferred a vigorous approach to dancing that was athletic and speedy, and claimed to be able to dance at 500 taps per minute, which no one disputed.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 445 | April 27, 2019 6:04 PM
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Another early Ann Miller routine...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 446 | April 27, 2019 6:07 PM
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Ann was very young when she did Stage Door but she looked like a total geek. The studios did a great job in making her over.
by Anonymous | reply 447 | April 27, 2019 6:39 PM
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In this 1996 interview , Ann Miller (still classy at 73) is frank, funny and down-to-earth as she recalls her years in Hollywood...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 448 | April 27, 2019 6:53 PM
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"And I love Uma's Pulp Fiction dance."
You call THAT dancing? I don't.
by Anonymous | reply 449 | April 27, 2019 7:23 PM
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[quote] You call THAT dancing?
I guarantee it's better then mine
Interesting to see Eddie Canton slip in a shot at Henry Ford's anti-semetism
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 452 | April 27, 2019 7:58 PM
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Ruby and Sandy.....thanks so much for those clips.......
Tap dancing is HARD work but you wouldn't know by watching these two ladies in that number.
by Anonymous | reply 454 | April 27, 2019 9:30 PM
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You said it, r 454. Honestly, I don't know how dancers and choreographers do it, how they create routines, and what it must feel like to be so in touch and in control of one's body. For someone who's been unathletic and earthbound all his life, to me it's nothing short of a mystery and a miracle.
by Anonymous | reply 455 | April 27, 2019 9:35 PM
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R442 When my friend saw "No, No, Nanette!" he told me that he never heard a performer breathing as hard after a number than Ruby after that number. Perhaps she was going off stage in the middle of the number to recharge via an oxygen machine before coming back on for the big finish? It's also cute that in "Give a Little One Step" she starts off singing, but almost a phrase in the boys start singing with her to cover up what apparently isn't very much left of a singing voice. It's kind of so transparent on the OCR.
by Anonymous | reply 456 | April 27, 2019 11:21 PM
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[quote]Perhaps she was going off stage in the middle of the number to recharge via an oxygen machine
Hah! And why the hell not? And thank gawd for the boys in the chorus. It all comes together.
by Anonymous | reply 457 | April 27, 2019 11:40 PM
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I love how Ruby, 35 years later, still has that bouncing lock of hair curling down over her temple as she taps. And the adorable way she gently lifts her skirt at the side. Really thrilling, I saw the show in its Boston try-out!
by Anonymous | reply 458 | April 28, 2019 1:48 AM
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I don't believe she ever discussed anything about her marriage to Jolson. That must have been something to be married to the biggest egomaniac of all time and to never want to mention it again.
by Anonymous | reply 459 | April 28, 2019 1:50 AM
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In the 1970's on some morning game show her adopted son was a contestant. There were about 30 folks on stage and they answered questions to win money - I can't remember the name of it.
But they introduced him as John Lowe, Jr.....but as he talked to the emcee they mentioned his mother....
by Anonymous | reply 460 | April 28, 2019 2:13 AM
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I know the dancing in the scene from Moonlighting with Sandahl Bergen and Bruce Willis was probably not considered stellar by some of you but I find myself going back to watch it again and again. Love it in combination with the music and how it advances the storyline.
by Anonymous | reply 461 | April 28, 2019 2:15 AM
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Finally after nearly 500 posts Ruby is getting her just desserts. So much more personality than Powell.
by Anonymous | reply 462 | April 28, 2019 2:19 AM
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Did anyone mention Gene Kelly's sexy pirate dance in THE PIRATE, complete with short-shorts?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 463 | April 28, 2019 2:25 AM
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'just desserts'
a classic DL 'oh dear' to you. I think. Or did you mean literally desserts?
Maybe you meant recognition? Which is a different thing than 'just deserts.'
by Anonymous | reply 464 | April 28, 2019 2:27 AM
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either spelling is now considered acceptable. "Deserts" is archaic, and means something deserved or warranted. Contemporary usage recognizes "desserts" as well, and it's probably more common (though not preferred).
by Anonymous | reply 466 | April 28, 2019 2:34 AM
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Ann Miller had a years long love affair with Louis B. Mayer.
Eww.
by Anonymous | reply 467 | April 28, 2019 2:44 AM
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R461, many may not believe it but the scene was quite famous because it was the first time Maddie and David kissed, albeit in a dream sequence.
by Anonymous | reply 468 | April 28, 2019 2:50 AM
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You're thinking of Ginny Simms.
Or did he ride Ann as well?
by Anonymous | reply 469 | April 28, 2019 2:50 AM
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According to Annie, the newly divorced LB Mayer loved to dance and he often coerced to go out to the Coconut Grove for just that purpose, but she always brought her mother along, just in case.....
by Anonymous | reply 470 | April 28, 2019 2:58 AM
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The very young and adorable Alice Faye sings "According to the Moonlight" to James Dunn in 1935's George White's Scandals while a bevy of beauties dance and cavort around them.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 471 | April 28, 2019 3:00 AM
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Why did it take practically until the 1950s for Ann Miller, who had been in both A and B pictures at her other studios, to finally get into A pictures over at Metro?
by Anonymous | reply 472 | April 28, 2019 3:03 AM
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She took whatever she was offered and it was RKO and Columbia that made offers. Ann was set to do The Petty Girl at Columbia when her husband insisted she give up her career for him. The timing was also ironic because Rita Hayworth was to leave the studio and that made the path clear for Ann to be their new A musical comedy star. She only played supporting roles at MGM.
by Anonymous | reply 473 | April 28, 2019 4:03 AM
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Tap dance is wonderful but also rather bizarre.
by Anonymous | reply 474 | April 28, 2019 4:10 AM
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I always found this number charming.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 475 | April 28, 2019 4:45 AM
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'Tap dance is wonderful but also rather bizarre.'
Like ballet.
by Anonymous | reply 476 | April 28, 2019 5:05 AM
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Except tap dance is enjoyable.
by Anonymous | reply 477 | April 28, 2019 6:06 AM
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Also, if you believe Ann Miller was only 13 when she made Stage Door in 1937, she'd still be in her mid-20s by the time she finally arrived at MGM in the late 1940s.
Miller filled the gap left by Eleanor Powell who by then had aged out of lead roles and retired to marry Glenn Ford, even if Miller never ascended into lead roles herself. But she was the perfect second banana to MGM's Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Esther Williams and others.
I think it's so impressive that MGM's musical units were so productive they were able to employ not only Miller but the varied dancing talents of Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron and Vera Ellen as well.
by Anonymous | reply 479 | April 28, 2019 4:22 PM
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But I maintain that Warner Brothers had better dancing than MGM, with Busby Berkeley and Ruby Keeler.
by Anonymous | reply 480 | April 28, 2019 4:37 PM
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"Moses supposes his toeses are roses but Moses supposed erroneously" from "Singin' in the Rain"
by Anonymous | reply 481 | April 28, 2019 4:40 PM
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^* damn it all . . "Moses SUPPOSES erroneously"
by Anonymous | reply 482 | April 28, 2019 4:40 PM
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OK, but Busby Berkeley had pretty much moved his choreographic services to MGM by the late 1930s. And Ruby Keeler had retired.
If you want to make an argument for the accomplishments of RKO with their Astaire/Rogers musicals, that might be reasonable, r480, though even those were finished by 1939. And then Fred moved on to MGM where he was eventually reunited with Ginger in 1949's The Barkleys of Broadway.
by Anonymous | reply 483 | April 28, 2019 4:43 PM
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Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 484 | April 28, 2019 4:43 PM
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No love here for the fantastic Eleanor Powell and her fabled and nearly endless number in Berkeley's "Broadway Melody" (1936 or 1938?)?!
by Anonymous | reply 485 | April 28, 2019 4:43 PM
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Isn't that where out of jealousy she had one of Judy's (who was still a young teen) knock-out numbers cut? It was HER film. No kid was going to steal it.
by Anonymous | reply 486 | April 28, 2019 5:01 PM
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Good point about RKO, r483. Astaire and Rogers were great, but they didn't have the Berkeley extravaganza. Both RKO and WB Had better songs than MGM in the '30's.
by Anonymous | reply 487 | April 28, 2019 5:16 PM
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I prefer the Berkeley of 20th Century Fox and MGM. Except for Lullaby of Broadway which was the best thing he ever did.
RKO was even better than WB because they had the greatest American Broadway composers of the period writing original scores.
by Anonymous | reply 488 | April 28, 2019 5:27 PM
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Mitzi Gaynor, Anything Goes
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 489 | April 28, 2019 5:36 PM
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R491 Utterly charming. Thanks for posting this version which is more complete and not colorized like the one I posted earlier. I love how the scene is heartbreaking but not sentimental. It's rare when Hollywood gets that right.
by Anonymous | reply 492 | April 28, 2019 7:02 PM
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"Play a Simple Melody" from There's No Business Like Show Business
Ethel Merman and Dan Dailey
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 493 | April 28, 2019 9:39 PM
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Dan Dailey is much too hot fro Ethel Merman. Dat ass!
by Anonymous | reply 494 | April 28, 2019 9:42 PM
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But, R494, Ethel was a pistol!
by Anonymous | reply 495 | April 28, 2019 9:44 PM
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Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin in the end credits of All Of Me deserve a nod for joyous silliness.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 496 | April 28, 2019 9:57 PM
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June Haver quit the business to become a nun - then left the convent and married Fred MacMurray. That's what I call changing your mind with a vengeance.
by Anonymous | reply 497 | April 28, 2019 9:59 PM
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I know this is more singing than dancing but as we're on the subject of Merman... Here she is in 1936 belting out Cole Porter most adorably with B-B-B-Bing....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 498 | April 28, 2019 10:12 PM
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That clip of "All of Me" has the name of the one of the Westmore brothers, doing the makeup as they had in countless films at different studios. The word was that some of them were even more handsome than some of the stars they were paid to make more beautiful. Does anyone have more info or dish on them?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 501 | April 29, 2019 12:29 AM
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There were even more Westmores and generations of them.
by Anonymous | reply 502 | April 29, 2019 12:30 AM
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I finally discovered that Perc Westmore pronounced his name Purse not Perk. As in short for Percy.
by Anonymous | reply 503 | April 29, 2019 1:48 AM
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How about the classic dance sequence, set in an amusement park funhouse, with music and lyrics by the Gershwins, and sung by Gracie Allen, and danced to by her Fred Astaire and George Burns. Mr. Burns and Ms. Allen really could keep up with Mr. Astaire. It's a great number with wonderful, sophisticated music, even using semitones at one point.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 506 | April 29, 2019 5:29 AM
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I love peak Judy Garland. Although not "A Couple of Swells" which everyone likes a lot more than I do, this number also from "Easter Parade" is just simple and charming.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 507 | April 29, 2019 5:39 AM
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R506 That's from "Damsel in Distress", btw.
by Anonymous | reply 508 | April 29, 2019 5:39 AM
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E507 it was while watching that one that I first realized that you look at her even when Astaire is her dance partner.
Same thing when her mentor Kay Thompson dances with Astaire in Clap Yo Hands in Funny Face.
by Anonymous | reply 509 | April 29, 2019 7:43 AM
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[quote] There were even more Westmores and generations of them.
McKenzie Westmore of Passions and Face Off, I assume, is one of them. (and her father)
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 510 | April 29, 2019 10:37 AM
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In Easter Parade I want to know who the trombone player is whom she sings with in I Wish Again That I Was in Michigan when she's still a waitress in a small restaurant. Impossibly handsome and all American cute. I love when he starts rocking back and forth with her.
by Anonymous | reply 511 | April 29, 2019 2:13 PM
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That’s Norman S. Barker, R511. A very nice tribute by his son at link.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 512 | April 29, 2019 6:52 PM
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Thank you so much for that R512. It's always been one of my favorite moments in a movie musical and I was always struck by this guy. Garland is at her best singing this simple lovely Berlin tune and the chemistry she has with this musician is wonderful to see. Never could I have imagined that I would read an article about the guy.
by Anonymous | reply 513 | April 29, 2019 7:41 PM
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How were you able to find that, r512? r511's post intrigued me, so I went a-googling and tried to find a list of the MGM Studio Orchestra players without success.
by Anonymous | reply 515 | April 29, 2019 9:27 PM
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I'm impressed that MGM actually had the real musicians of their orchestra playing the orchestra in the film.
by Anonymous | reply 516 | April 29, 2019 10:20 PM
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He’s listed in the full cast section at IMDB as "Trombone player in bar", R515. I just googled his name + trombone, and it was one of the first things to come up.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 517 | April 29, 2019 10:28 PM
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That's amazing. I thought I was the only one who even noticed this musician.
by Anonymous | reply 518 | April 30, 2019 12:18 AM
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Anyone else think the Michigan song sounds a lot like "I Love a Piano," which she sings later in the film?
The dance they do to that is quite charming. And they always manage not to trip on that bear rug.
by Anonymous | reply 519 | April 30, 2019 2:06 AM
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Well, this is ABOUT movies.......
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 520 | April 30, 2019 2:26 AM
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From TV ("The Garry Moore Show") and not a movie, but it's FOSSE and VERDON, so who cares?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 521 | April 30, 2019 5:27 AM
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Not sure how the rest of the movie is but this number is a lot of fun:
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 522 | April 30, 2019 9:05 PM
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R522 that was a lot of fun....the ending was kind of a weird letdown......but this was one of the movies Fox has planned for Marilyn Monroe before she became a "method actress" and refused anything light and fun....Sheree North was put in a lot of them and she was fun....but she wasn't Marilyn.
by Anonymous | reply 523 | April 30, 2019 10:24 PM
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Gene Kelly still looked and moved great when he was pushing 70. His last dance scene.
I know, the movie was a joke. But it's a nice five minutes.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 524 | May 1, 2019 2:08 AM
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What movie did Gene Kelly do that amazing dance sequence with The Nicholas Brothers?
by Anonymous | reply 526 | May 1, 2019 2:47 AM
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R524 Awww. That's new to me. Gene's still got it.
by Anonymous | reply 527 | May 1, 2019 2:50 AM
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I loved this...thank you.
by Anonymous | reply 529 | May 1, 2019 2:57 AM
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Not really a dance, but the You Stepped Out if a Dream number from Ziegfeld Girl is perhaps the quintessential "showgirl" number from the golden era of musicals. The song is as gorgeous as Hedy Lamar is. And the stage just keeps getting improbably bigger and bigger.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 530 | May 1, 2019 4:11 AM
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Like R530, this is mostly a production number, but it is one of the most fantastical things I've seen. It's a hodge-podge of music, but the fact that this was actually built, orchestrated with 100s of dancers, cameramen, technicians who worked the huge revolving stage, even coordinating the curtain so that it rises and falls seamlessly, the whole thing is startling. It includes the lovely Dennis Morgan, whose singing was dubbed by Allan Jones, supposedly to the surprice of Dennis Morgan who found out at the premier.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 531 | May 1, 2019 5:35 AM
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MGM used that fabulous expensive circular curtain several times, most notably in Waitin' for the Robert E Lee in the Babes on Broadway finale and Eleanor Powell tap dancing to Fascinatin' Rhythm in Lady Be Good.
Can you imagine if some of these MGM musicals in the 1930s were filmed in technicolor?
by Anonymous | reply 532 | May 1, 2019 10:37 AM
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This is one of the best threads on DL.
by Anonymous | reply 533 | May 1, 2019 11:42 AM
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I Don't Dance, bitches...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 534 | May 1, 2019 2:02 PM
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I ordered my Lullaby of Broadway - the Best of Busby Berkeley at Warner Bros.....a 2 CD set.....got it from an Amazon seller for $7.....all of these songs we've been talking about and MORE. Great booklet with lots of info and photos. TCM/Rhino CD. These are the original soundtrack recordings!
Sound is pretty good.....and it's fun. Try it if you're a fan of this thread!
by Anonymous | reply 535 | May 1, 2019 4:56 PM
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They are all GREAT songs, r535, and the period orchestrations are thrilling and hilarious, all at once!
by Anonymous | reply 536 | May 1, 2019 5:00 PM
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Eleanor Powell is praised here, but I like Ruby Keeler much more for three reasons, although Powell admittedly was a better tap dancer: Ruby had more personality, Ruby was in much better movies (42nd Street) , and Ruby had a great swan song with No, No Nanette while was traipsing around in nightclubs.
by Anonymous | reply 537 | May 1, 2019 5:21 PM
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I love Eleanor, r537, but I do think an all-tap nightclub act would get old after a couple of numbers.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 538 | May 1, 2019 5:30 PM
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Judy Garland & Gene Kelly - Ballin' the Jack
Back when singing & dancing meant singing & dancing.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 540 | May 1, 2019 6:08 PM
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It was worth posting twice.
by Anonymous | reply 542 | May 1, 2019 6:20 PM
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Nicholas Brothers .. The greatest dance sequence
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 543 | May 1, 2019 6:22 PM
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Ellie could hula too.
Also Warners had a DVD collection at one time(maybe it's still available)of Berkeley's Warner Bros musicals with a I believe a separate DVD of just the musical numbers.
Berkeley was a drunk who killed a couple of people in a terrible head on collision from which he walked away from and was never punished for.
by Anonymous | reply 544 | May 1, 2019 7:51 PM
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Thanks for the info LP/r523. Someone in the comments for that video mentions that Sheree didn't sing so she was dubbed. I remember reading somewhere that the Harvard Lampoon really tore her to shreds in their annual movie worst list one year back then.
by Anonymous | reply 545 | May 1, 2019 8:03 PM
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I've always wondered why Judy and Gene look like they're costumed for two different numbers in Ballin' the Jack at r540.
by Anonymous | reply 546 | May 1, 2019 10:28 PM
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It's true that those early Warners Busby Berkeley musicals, as silly as they are, have much better books than most MGM muscals. Except for some of the musical numbers, which are spectacular, the MGM lot mostly stink.
by Anonymous | reply 547 | May 1, 2019 10:31 PM
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Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet but here's Joan Crawford and Fred Astaire (in his screen debut!) in MGM's 1933 DANCING LADY singing Heigh-Ho the Gang's All Here.
The number is great fun, if not very good, and the film was MGM's attempt to do a backstage musical a la Warner Bros, with some nods to Busby Berkeley choreography. I don't know why the chorus girls here aren't prettier. Or why most of them can hardly utter their lines.
Was it any wonder Fred high-tailed it over to RKO where he could demand more control over his artistic output? If he ever had a problem with any of Ginger Rogers' dance costumes, what must he have thought of Adrian's gaudy and distracting gown for Joan, not to mention her galumphing which he barely saves? I believe it is her own singing voice.
The movie is actually pretty interesting, directed by Robert Z Leonard with scenes of a studio-created Times Square shot in an almost expressionistic style. And Clark Gable is really at his hottest, especially in gym shorts and a tank top excercising with Joan and a big medicine ball. It's where he famously slaps her on the behind and she answers: "Thank you!"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 548 | May 1, 2019 11:01 PM
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Chorus Line/Musical Movie - "ONE"/Closing Sequence - 1985
I'm surprised no one has posted this
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 549 | May 1, 2019 11:13 PM
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R530 I love that sequence, including Hedy's little wobble at the very end, when the camera has pulled back and she shifts her weight. She almost ruined the take.
by Anonymous | reply 550 | May 2, 2019 5:17 AM
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I think the 20th Century Fox had the best color in their musicals -- their Technicolor just seems richer and eye-catching than that used by the other studios. Fox usually only had one reigning female musical star at a time (at least adult ones when you exclude the very big box-office of Shirley Temple), but it was mainly Alice Faye, then Betty Grable, then Marilyn Monroe with second stringers Vivian Blaine and June Haver, with Carmen Miranda a big star, but almost always supporting. Some of those films are a lot of fun and not as discussed as the ones at MGM. Don Ameche was really pretty terrific and very cute and he especially fine playing a dual role in "That Night in Rio" (a remake of "Folies Bergere with Maurice Chevalier and later remade as "On the Riveria" with Danny Kaye). Here he is joining in after Carmen Miranda does the first verses of one of her classic numbers "Chica Chica Boom Chic". S
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 551 | May 2, 2019 5:19 AM
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He can call me on the Ameche anytime!
by Anonymous | reply 552 | May 2, 2019 5:22 AM
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Another Fox musical, "Up In Arms," with Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore. It's such an artifact from the 40s but it's a lot of fun.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 553 | May 2, 2019 5:50 AM
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As goofy as it is, MGM's 1933 DANCING LADY was a huge hit. I think it was one of the top ten grossing Hollywood films that year.
by Anonymous | reply 554 | May 2, 2019 6:40 AM
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Crawford and Gable are not thought of today as a classic screen team but they made a number of films together and they were hugely popular. I guess today we see no special chemistry there.
by Anonymous | reply 555 | May 2, 2019 1:01 PM
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By the very few posts here of Astaire and Rogers, I think it's interesting to see how we've come to take them for granted.
They really were brilliant and have never been surpassed.
by Anonymous | reply 557 | May 2, 2019 11:37 PM
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Sorta like Nelson and Jeanette.....
by Anonymous | reply 558 | May 2, 2019 11:39 PM
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R554 someone wrote a review of Dancing Lady some years after it came out and there was a sentence that began "Joan Crawford, her feet dipped in lead..."*
I think Fred Astaire is "himself" in that.
by Anonymous | reply 559 | May 3, 2019 3:08 AM
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Strictly Ballroom final dance scene annoyingly intercut with reaction shots by annoying director Baz Luhrmann...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 560 | May 4, 2019 3:08 AM
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R560 There are NO new Federation steps!
by Anonymous | reply 561 | May 5, 2019 2:11 AM
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I've always thought that little wobble was intentional R550. It foreshadows her discomfort with a career as nothing more than a beautiful object.
by Anonymous | reply 562 | May 5, 2019 4:09 AM
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R562 Interesting observation. That's a helluva lot of predestination in a little wobble.
by Anonymous | reply 563 | May 5, 2019 4:35 AM
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I may be reading too much into it R563, but Ziegfeld girl isn't really a musical. It's a cautionary tale of the perils of instant fame, essentially a soap opera with a few big production numbers and some comic relief from Judy Garland and her father's vaudeville entourage. Not too many Hollywood musicals of the era ended with the leading lady succumbing to alcoholism in a dingy Flatbush rowhouse.
by Anonymous | reply 564 | May 5, 2019 5:05 AM
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[quote]I may be reading too much into it
R564 Not at all. I think you nailed it on many levels.
[quote]"My face has been my misfortune," she wrote in her 1966 autobiography, "Ecstasy and Me." "It has attracted six unsuccessful marriage partners. It has attracted all the wrong people into my boudoir and brought me tragedy and heartache for five decades," she wrote. " My face is a mask I cannot remove. I must always live with it. I curse it." Unimpressed with roles in which she was required only to look pretty, Lamarr was often quoted as saying: "Any girl can be glamorous; all you have to do is stand still and look stupid."
[quote]She was acquitted of shoplifting charges in Los Angeles, and charges that she stole eyedrops and laxatives in Florida were dropped after her promise that she would not break the law. "I have no idea where my next meal is coming from, and some days I go hungry," she told a curious fan without bitterness as early as 1965.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 565 | May 5, 2019 5:33 AM
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"We Got Annie" with the fabulous Ann Reinking (1982)...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 566 | May 5, 2019 6:01 AM
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Ann-Margret bobbles at the end of "Gotta Lotta Livin' To Do" in the clip WAY above......
by Anonymous | reply 567 | May 5, 2019 4:13 PM
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Jean Dujardin (as George Valentin) and Bérénice Bejo (as Peppy Miller) in the Artist (2011)...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 569 | May 5, 2019 9:37 PM
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Call me a sentimental old hoofer - yeah, I know the taps were dubbed in later and Gene Kelly had a fever and it's corny AF - but it always brings a tear to my eye.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 570 | May 5, 2019 10:12 PM
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Why is it corny AF, r570? Because it communicates genuine feeling and celebrates emotion and (dare I say it?) love?
by Anonymous | reply 572 | May 6, 2019 1:57 AM
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R572 When you're right, you're right. Gene with kids in "I Got Rhythm" from An American in Paris (1951)...
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 573 | May 6, 2019 2:16 AM
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Alas, dance aficionados, Miss Barbara Perry has departed.....
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 575 | May 6, 2019 5:24 PM
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My favorite part of AAIP outside of the beyond genius Sharaff's(people like her simply don't exist anymore. What gives?) design of the ballet is Kelly singing Tra La La La.
by Anonymous | reply 577 | May 6, 2019 9:01 PM
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Because studios, with hundreds of people to design, measure, make, maintain, clean, catalog and store costumes don't exist anymore.
Edith Head and Gilbert Adrian and Irene Sharaff and Jean Louis and Orry-Kelly all worked for the studios. Nobody could afford the overhead to do it today.
by Anonymous | reply 578 | May 6, 2019 9:32 PM
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Would you say people are as gifted today but simply do not have the resources these people had?
by Anonymous | reply 579 | May 6, 2019 9:36 PM
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Also, r579, take this for example. Unable to get fine French lace (because of the war) for Astor's MMISL costume, Sharaff had the workroom make their own "lace" on net, using covered buttons for the grapes. Who has the budget to do that today?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 581 | May 6, 2019 9:49 PM
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Budget, artistry and volition.
by Anonymous | reply 582 | May 6, 2019 10:02 PM
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R564 I'll have you know that Lana succumbs at the Ziegfeld Theatre, not in a dingy boarding house! Her nickname is "Flatbush." The "3 girls encounter fame and misfortune " trope is a frequent one, from "Three on a Match," to "The Best of Everything " to "Valley of the Dolls." In each, one of the three kicks off.
I guess Hedy's wobble could also prefigure some of her Sturm und Drang. But I thing the discontentment theory is inspired. She's one of the stars, along with Bacall, whose images were used by Josph Cornell in some of his art pieces.
by Anonymous | reply 583 | May 7, 2019 1:35 AM
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Don't forget those madcap girls in The Road to Moscow, r583!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 584 | May 7, 2019 1:53 AM
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I love those gals, but the theater must have shook (shaken?) from their combined nervous tics.
by Anonymous | reply 585 | May 7, 2019 1:59 AM
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[quote][R564] I'll have you know that Lana succumbs at the Ziegfeld Theatre, not in a dingy boarding house! Her nickname is "Flatbush." The "3 girls encounter fame and misfortune " trope is a frequent one, from "Three on a Match," to "The Best of Everything " to "Valley of the Dolls." In each, one of the three kicks off.
Who said anything about a boarding house R583? After said stunning collapse she's brought home to make peace with Jimmy Stewart & her loving Irish family in their very modest Flatbush home. Also, I'm fully aware of the one in three bites the dust trope - but this one comes with Berkeleyesque pageantry and Vaudeville comic relief not typically associated with the genre. There's not to many feel good musical moments in Valley of the Dolls - even if the plot is pretty similar.
by Anonymous | reply 586 | May 7, 2019 2:05 AM
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And we were having such a nice party...
by Anonymous | reply 587 | May 7, 2019 2:11 AM
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Fred Astaire. Lucille Bremer. YOLANDA AND THE THIEF.
The music is in 4/4. The choreography is in 5/4. And the art direction compliments it all.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 589 | May 7, 2019 2:35 AM
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Wasn't Kay younger than her son Vic? Unusually fat for an entertainer of that era. Except for Kate of course.
by Anonymous | reply 590 | May 7, 2019 2:38 AM
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Not exactly Busby Berkley choreography but it has lots of personality
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 591 | May 7, 2019 2:42 AM
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That's Jack Cole choreography! Infinitely more important than any steps Busby Berkley ever strung together.
by Anonymous | reply 592 | May 7, 2019 2:44 AM
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Well excuse me, r593, for not checking the previous 400 posts. Anyhoo, here's a link to a second thread before this one Bajours.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 594 | May 7, 2019 2:57 AM
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The Madame Bovary Waltz. Minnelll and Jones at their most neurotic. A brilliant summary of Emma's romantic delusion.
by Anonymous | reply 595 | May 7, 2019 3:45 AM
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[quote] And the art direction compliments it all.
The art direction can talk?
by Anonymous | reply 596 | May 7, 2019 3:51 AM
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Art de Rectionne. Better than Cedric Gibbons.
by Anonymous | reply 597 | May 7, 2019 3:54 AM
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Maybe the movie equivalent of Bajour!: Carol Channing saying "Raspberries" all through "Thoroughly Modern Millie".
Raspberries!!!!
(though sometimes, according to legend, it was corn)
But for now Raspberries!
by Anonymous | reply 598 | May 7, 2019 5:44 AM
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Not a dance number, but irresistible: it's Clint Eastwood playing opposite love interest Carol Channing in "The First Traveling Saleslady"
Bajour!
Raspberries!
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 599 | May 7, 2019 5:47 AM
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The Girl Hunt Ballet from The Band Wagon"
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 600 | May 7, 2019 5:53 AM
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