Happy People | Syracusefan.com

Happy People

SWC75

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I like watching dancing routines form the Golden Age of Hollywood. Everyone looks so happy. I thought I'd start posting some of them just to cheer us up. Here are a couple great ones from Gene Kelly.

 
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This is less famous but no less fun:

 
Then there's Bobby Van's famous "jumping" dance. A simple idea, tremendous stamina, (with a few barely discernible cuts), plus some great arches makes for a great dance!

 
kelly's newspaper dance from "summer stock"
 
Donald O'Connor's classic "Make 'Em Laugh" Routine:




Backstory #1: That was take #2. O'Connor had spent three days in bed after the first take, (he was a chain-smoker), but there had been a problem with the camera so he had to do it again.
 
Backstory #2: The song was a rip-off of "Be A Clown, which Cole Porter had written for another Gene Kelly film from 4 years before called "The Pirate". But Porter, for some reason, never filed a lawsuit over it. otherwise, it might not be in the film.


 
Gene's dance partners in "Be a Clown" were the fabulous Nicholas brothers, who performed what, by acclamation , is the most spectacular dance number in the history of the movies in "Stormy Weather" (1943):


Imagine what their groin muscles must have been like!
 
It's hard to believe that the Nicholas Brothers had any rivals but in 1938 they had a 'dance off' at the Cotton Club with the Berry Brothers and, while the results are disputed, many came away thinking the Berrys had won the evening. See what you think.

 
Seven Little Foys with Bob Hope and James Cagney. Great table top dance routine.
 
Right after the berry brothers went off-stage in "Lady be Good", we see the tapping feet of another dancer. They belong to my favorite female dancer, Eleanor Powell. From childhood she was billed as the "World's Greatest Tap Dancer" and nobody ever argued. She grew up to be a beautiful and charming movie star. There are other great female dancers in the movies like Ann miller, Vera Ellen and Cyd Charisse but they never had entire movies built around them as the star. Ellie did. if it was an ice skating extravaganza, it was Sonja Henie. If it was an acquatic spectacular, it was Esther Williams. If it was celebration of dancing talent, it was Eleanor Powell.


(I thought they were going to drop her on the 6th flip.)
 
This is how they shot that sequence. (What they don't explain is how her hat stayed on.)

 
Here's Ellie's star-making performance in "Broadway Melody of 1936' in another glued-on hat. Talk about a 'Star-Spangled Girl'! It's a dancers job to not only make it look easy but fun and they do that with an equally glued-on smile, aided by their make-up job, (including lipstick you could see a mile away). Everybody knew Ellie was a great dancer but some weren't sure she'd be photogenic. The make-up people went to work and I think you can see they won that battle.



I wonder if spinning like that is easier for a skater or for a dancer?
 
My favorite Eleanor Powell movie is "Rosalie", (1937), a strange but amusing combination of a campus/football story, a Ruritanian romance and an elephantine musical, all popular genres of the time which showcases Nelson Eddy's singing and Ellie's dancing. The two most memorable numbers are Ellie's marching dance with West Point cadets, (she's pretending to be one):


What is unfortunately missing from this is the first half of this number, where she leads the cadets in marching drills, shouting out orders to them and they march around her. But it can be seen in the whole movie, which is also available on You-Tube: Rosalie
 
The second great dance sequence is at the birthday party given for Rosalie back in her home country, where Ellie turns a massive production number into what turnout to be a rather intimate tap dance:

 
Gene's dance partners in "Be a Clown" were the fabulous Nicholas brothers, who performed what, by acclamation , is the most spectacular dance number in the history of the movies in "Stormy Weather" (1943):


Imagine what their groin muscles must have been like!
thats the guy from the Blues brothers?
 
This is what is known as the "Summit Meeting". When Fred Astaire left RKO and Ginger Rogers, MGM paired him with Eleanor Powell. it doesn't get any better than this:


Fred danced with his whole body- framing his movements with his hands. Ellie was a master at projecting joy with that 100 watt smile. I like watching them in that second number. Ellie sees Fred moving his hands so she moves her hands. Then Fred watches her and realize she's making love to the camera so he turns his head forward and stretches his mouth into a big smile. Always learn from them best...
 
Of course, Fred Astaire is the most famous movie dancer of all. Here he is so happy, even the laws of gravity can't contain him!

 
Fred was no ordinary dancer but that was no ordinary hotel room:

 
Of course Ginger taught Fred to Dance in "Swing Time", with much difficulty:

 

Ginger always said she had to do anything Fred did, "backwards and in heels".
 
Here's a great Fred and Ginger dance, also from "Swing Time"

 
It looks easy, doesn't it? It's not...



But they still have to look like Happy People...
 
Dancing with Ginger could be hazardous. Her mother designed all of her gowns and this one had ostrich feathers that were better off on the ostrich. They kept hitting Fred in the face but he kept dancin'!


It almost broke the pair up - but they litterally patched it up!
 

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