It was at the turn of the last century, that the wonderful combination of 'the song and dance man', first blossomed, although I think it should be pointed out in advance, that the fairer sex also made an important contribution to the scene. We had passed the era of the Great Waltz, and the impressive marches of Sousa, and arrived at the period when the USA, gave us the Minstrel's, 'The Cakewalk', and 'Ragtime'. The music of Scott Joplin, which featured in the film 'The Sting', gave us songs such as 'The Entertainer', 'The Maple-Leaf Rag'. 'The Mississippi Rag', written by William Krell (1897), was by coincidence, the first tune to carry the name 'rag'.
There were 'Animal Dances', such as 'The Bull-Frog', 'The Turkey Trot', 'The Grizzly Bear','The Snake Hip', and at times Tin Pan Alley became like a zoo, in it's own right, if only in name! Arthur Carringford took the name Fox from his grandfather, as he set out on a career in variety, supplying acts for the theatres of New York. By altering the beat of the music, and including a couple of short 'trot's, Harry Fox had invented what we now know as the 'Foxtrot', originally 'Fox's trot'.When they visited Britain, non other than 'The Dolly Sisters', presented the dance to a wider audience, but the sister's were far from the glamorous Betty Grable and June Haver images, who starred in the film of the same name! At it's peak the dance became so popular, they increased the beat from 32 to 50 bars per minute, later to combine it with 'saunter', then in the late 1920s, it became 'The Charleston'.
There were so many wonderful entertainer from this period, one could fill a book, but let's remember Vernon and Irene Castle. Vernon (1887 - 1918), came from Norwich, England, while Irene (1893 - 1969), came from New Rochelle, New York; together they brought us ragtime, with grace and elegance, along with the 'Maxine' and 'The Tango'
Next came the great dancers like Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, just one of many who succeeded in white vaudeville, later to be given a tribute by Fred Astaire in the film 'Swing Time'. Remember that in vaudeville, and British Music Hall, a bill might typically consist of 10 to 15 act's, made up of jugglers, magicians, singers, dancers, and comedians. After years of variety, stars then went into films, which is exactly what Buddy Ebsen did, as he found success as an actor.
Like many of his time, he had a distinctive style, and it's not surprising, that this tall lanky character, made it look so easy!
Eccentric dancers, like Ray Bolger, had an act which was unique, (witness his cut scenes from 'The Wizard of Oz'),and his ability never the do the same dance twice, because of his ability to improvise, in 'The Great Ziegfeld' (1936), 'Rosalie' (1937), and the classic 'Where's Charley? (1948). The stage version of the latter flopped, when it was later revived, because without Bolger, it had no personality! Along the way there was Evelyn Law, Adelaide Hickey, and Agnes De Mille, bringing 'Legomania' to the Broadway stage, for this was to be the for-runner to syncopation in the dance.
The dance had been witnessed as early as 1890, with 'The Follies-Bergere' in Paris, when British businessman John Tiller gave the world the art of precision - chorus - style routines with his fabulous 'Tiller Girls', which went on until about the 1960s, at places in the USA, and our own famous London Palladium. Tiller's routines were inspired by the English musical comedy, 'A Gaiety Girl', which was an enormous success in New York, as early as 1893, and based on parades and marches of the period. We tend to think of 'The Tiller Girls' as a troupe, but at the start many were trained, all with dancing skills, in groups of 8 and 16 dancers. Where Tiller led, other's followed, like Isodora Duncan, and 'The Gertrude Hoffman Nymphs'.
At this point we move back into films, and mention Florenz Ziegfield, and Le Roy Prinz,('The Great Ziegfeld') MGM 1936). There was 'The Ziegfeld Follies between 1907 and 1932, with 'The Ziegfeld Girls', including Marion Davies and Paulette Goddard, plus shows incorporating Will Rogers, W.C.Fields, Fanny Brice, and Eddie Cantor.
Despite the racial issues of the time, along came Stepin Fetchit, who, after vaudeville, and song and dance, emerged as a successful actor, along with 'Tarzana - the Whoopie Dancer', in 'Big Timers'. Soon he was stereotyped in 'dumb' black parts. Bill Robinson, then known as 'The World's Greatest Tap Dancer', in 'Harlem is Heaven', supported the orchestra of Eubie Blake from the New York Cotton Club. Florence Mills, Josephine Baker, and even Joan Crawford's early career, found her doing 'The Charleston', alongside the Mack Sennett Flappers. George White set out to shock the world in 1926 with his 'Scandles', when he taught dancers how to do &'The Black Bottom'.
As people around the world began to travel more, there was inspiration from South America, with it's fiery dances featuring a mixture of sex, lust, and violence, and along came 'The Tango'. Even Rudolph Valentino performed a tango with Alice Terry, in the film 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' in 1921, and later singers like Carlos Gardel, extolled the virtues of love and passion.
She was a singer, a dancer, and an actress, and the world will certainly not forget Carmen Miranda, (1909 - 1955), who came along with the popularity of 'The Samba', in the 1940s. Her array of fancy - decked head - dressers, were inspired by Hollywood, from the Brazilian street markets, where fruit was transported around in this way, and believe it or not, along came her wardrobes of exotic dresses. She also collected thousands of pairs of shoes!
The special charisma of Carmen can be seen in 'Down Argentine Way','Weekend in Havana', 'Springtime in the Rockies', and 'Nancy Goes to Rio. She was possibly the most vivacious star, to have the biggest impact on Hollywood. About this time, Xavier Cugat brought to the screen a bevy of beauties, such as Abbe Lane, to demonstrate 'The Rhumba', 'The Samba', and many more exotic melodies. Was there much difference in concept between 'The Rhumba', and 'Dirty Dancing' that we saw some fifty years later? As music became a major part of the movies, we saw Prez Prado with 'The Mambo','The Meringue', 'The Salsa' and much later 'The Shuffle', way up to the Riverdance standard, of recent years.
Squeezed in between these latecomers was an era destined to become the cream in entertainment for the millions. Here we saw the talents of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Ruby Keeler, Shirley Temple, Ann Miller, The Nicholas Brothers, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, etc; etc; the list is endless!
To conclude, here's a mention for 'The Jive', 'Rock and Roll', 'The Twist', 'The Freak and 'The Hustle', along with hundred's of other dances, that brought happiness to so many people.
Who can ever forget the great James Cagney, a 'hoofe who developed his own style in 'Yankee Doodle Dandy. Arthur Murray, the man who taught America, and the world, just how to dance. They even wrote a song about him called 'Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurray'! Britain too made a contribution to the music century with 'The Lambeth Walk', 'The Hokey - Cokey', known in the States as 'The Hokey - Pokey', a massive craze throughout the 1930s, and 1940s.
The Song and Dance man is fast becoming a part of movie history, and even on today's television, we rarely see some of the gems from the past. Music was the feature of many of the Disney Productions that some of us were brought up on, and great stars were heard in voice only on the sound tracks, with Nelson Eddy, Cliff Edwards, Peggy Lee, all spreading the Disney magic into our hearts as children. I for one would have loved to have been around at the very beginning, but.......
It would be nice to think that things would turn full circle, and they would all come around again. So limber up those legs, and have them ready just in case, you never know, you might be the next Gene or Fred !
Copyright Bernard Goodwin 2002.
