Tap dancing?

Hellzapoppin?

Daaaaaannnnce Nerrrrrd!



Congratulations! Does this mean I'm dating a rockstar?

yehoshua: you are indeed correct that the song is called "Jumpin' Jive", the clip itself is from a film entitled "Stormy Weather".

Incidentally: according to the Youtube poster, Fred Astaire referred to this routine as the single greatest tap-dancing bit ever captured on film. Well, I suppose he would know, so no argument here!

I can handle a lot of things in life.. but a tap dancing - transgender with severe polio - I have limits. Sorry for the downvote.

well, I think it almost becomes something rednecks pass around to one-another.

Sure, with a backstory, it is more interesting, but I think there are just too many hard-to-watch things all piled in this video. So you go the polio which is hard to watch, then you've transgender which is hard for some people to watch, then you've got a bad tap-dance routine, and a parasol. So if you don't read the comments, then you might downvote. Anyways, this video is missing an interview or maybe a biography. By itself, I think it has more of a numa numa appeal.

(My last Nicholas Bros was a repost. D'oh! This is my second favorite Nicholas Brothers clip after http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=3588)

Shown here are Fayard and Harold Nicholas in Orchestra Wives (1942) backed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra to "(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo".

Who are the Nicholas Brothers?

The Nicolas Brothers opened at the Cotton Club in 1932 and astonished their white audiences just as much as the residents of Harlem, slipping into their series of spins, twists, flips, and tap dancing to the jazz tempos of "Bugle Call Rag". It was as if Fayard and his still younger brother had gone dance-crazy and acrobatic. Sometimes, for encores Harold would sing another song, while Fayard, still dancing would mockingly conduct the orchestra in a comic pantomime that was beautifully exaggerated. They performed at the Cotton Club for two years, working with the orchestras of Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Lunceford. During this time they filmed their first movie short, "Pie Pie Blackbird" in 1932, with Hubie Blake and his orchestra. -- http://NicholasBrothers.com

A snippet from http://NicholasBrothers.com :

[...] the Nicolas Brothers opened at the Cotton Club in 1932 and astonished their white audiences just as much as the residents of Harlem, slipping into their series of spins, twists, flips, and tap dancing to the jazz tempos of "Bugle Call Rag". It was as if Fayard and his still younger brother had gone dance-crazy and acrobatic. Sometimes, for encores Harold would sing another song, while Fayard, still dancing would mockingly conduct the orchestra in a comic pantomime that was beautifully exaggerated. They performed at the Cotton Club for two years, working with the orchestras of Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Lunceford. During this time they filmed their first movie short, "Pie Pie Blackbird" in 1932, with Hubie Blake and his orchestra.

Youtube comments:

From Hellzapoppin' (1941), the hilarious Hollywood production directed by H.C. Pootter and starring zany commdians Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, this clip features Rex Stewart (co), Jap Jones (tb), Elemer Fane (cl), unknown (ts), Slim Galliard (p,g,tap-dancing), Slam Stewart (b), Cee Pee Johnson (d), The Harlem Congaroos (dancers, AKA Whitey's Lindyhoppers).

http://www.savoystyle.com/hellzapoppin.html
"This movie, based on a hit Broadway play, showcases Whitey's Lindy Hoppers dancing the most famous and most spectacular Lindy Hop scene ever preserved on film. The dancing was choreographed by Frankie Manning.

"The scene starts when musicians Slim Galliard and Slam Stewart, in workmen's garb, discover some musical instruments while supposedly delivering a package backstage. They play a few tentative notes, and a spontaneous, swinging jam starts cooking . More backstage 'workers' join the jam, including Rex Stuart on trumpet and C.C. Johnson on the 'bongo drums'. The music builds in excitement until, as if out of nowhere, four Lindy Hopping couples, dressed in overalls and uniforms, swing out into the cameras at a frenetic tempo. Each couple executes amazing acrobatic shines. Then the group unites for precision ensemble work filmed at an angle that emphasizes legwork and speed.

"The choreography and the dancing are as near to perfect Lindy Hop as you can see anywhere! The scene will take your breath away no matter how many times you see it. It is no wonder that this film was responsible for the simultaneous revival of Lindy Hop in Sweden and Britain in the 1980's.

"An interesting sidenote: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers' routine in Hellzapoppin' was originally danced and choreographed to different music, namely 'Jumping at the Woodside'. Universal Studios had a composer who was on staff write new music for the routine."

Harlem Congaroo Dancers
( aka Whitey's Lindy Hoppers)
# William Downes (overalls) and Frances "Mickey" Jones (maid).
# Norma Miller and Billy Ricker (chef's hat).
# Al Minns (white coat, black pants) and Willa Mae Ricker.
# Ann Johnson (maid) and Frankie Manning (overalls)