July 26, 2009 08:00 PM
Late Night Music Club with Cab Calloway
This scene, from the wonderful 1943 film Stormy Weather, offers us Cab Calloway performing his 1939 hit, accompanied by the amazing dance team of Fayard and Harold Nicholas.
I've probably seen this song and dance scene a hundred times, but it never fails to cause my my jaw to drop. It's simply a joy to watch.
Has anyone got any of their favorite song and dance numbers to share? Feel free to link away!
[C&L: This thread also acts as a birthday party for C&L's own Andy K! Happy Birthday Andy!]
Donald O'Conner - Singing in the Rain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW02c5UNGl0
Cab Calloway - Minnie Moocher
BTW, I have always had a thing for 30s movie, I think because when I was growing up, they were on tv all the time. Now you hardly see them. But I loved the singing and dancing movies, and the Nicolas bros are a particular fave. I remember that clip from way back.
me-oww!
Puttin' On The Ritz
Thanks, m_k! Me too, with the '30's flicks. I guess quite a few from the '40's, too. I loved the TV 13 Eyewitness Movie weekday mornings at 9:00am.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
From "Young Frankenstein":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2nQHPs4aA
Minnie Moocher is one of my all-time faves.
West Side Story - Prologue
me-oww!
The Worry Song in Anchors Aweigh
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3i5jh_tom-j...
.
Freakin' freaks freaking out.
.
Wow, those guys could dance! Cab Calloway was a musical treasure.
That clip was fun to watch. Thanks, birthday boy!
:)
Let's Talk Dirty To The Animals
Thank you, cal(garylady ;D)
Hope you like this one. The dancing isn't, uhm, great, but it's really fun.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Gilda was one of a kind!
:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBKgbHNaaXY
The dancing was the great, but man, those split jumps at about 4:15 made me wince. Great clip.
Hooray For Captain Spaulding
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Here's another of his. Lydia the Tattooed Lady from Day at the Circus.
(don't miss the reference to Capt. Spaulding!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8
Awesome clip! And Happy Birthday, Andy K!
If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders.
George Carlin
The Raymond Scott Quintet, War Dance of the Wooden Indians had something not quite as awesome but in the same vein. More fancy footwork than the pure athleticism of the Cab Calloway clip. But if you like that, ( aside from the subtle racism ) you'll like this.
Any idea what era that's from? I'm guessing late '30's, early '40's. I've Never heard of Raymond Scott before.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
A lot of Raymond Scott's stuff made it into the Warner Bros. cartoons later on. I guarantee you've heard the bit that starts at 1:28 of this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfDqR4fqIWE
Plenty of information on him at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Scott
Powerhouse
You're damn straight I've heard it. I've linked this version in the LNMC a few times in the past! Just never read the blurb that credits Raymond Scott. K3wl!!11!111
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I did a lot of research on Raymond Scott many years ago after hearing so many of his songs on Ren & Stimpy. (Love that show, always a great soundtrack)
He was a real innovator, ahead of his time. It's too bad he is somewhat obscure today. I hope there's more out on the interwebs about him now than when I was searching.
Give My Regards To Broadway
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
It's pretty cool. There are videos of the Nicholas Bros too. The early 30's Hollywood movies are the best. That's for two reasons. Art Deco and women ran Hollywood before the Hayes Code clamped down on women having too much fun and power. After that, women were relegated to being wives and doormats in most of the movies after 1935. Turner Classic Movies runs a lot of movies from that era. Check out a book called Complicated Women, Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood, by Mick Lasalle who teaches film in either Berkely or Sf. Women were the shit back then and didn't take crap from men. They had multiple lovers, ran corporations, didn't wear underwear, smoked, drank and had a good fucking time. I missed it by 20 years.
from Singin' in the Rain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKBT_CQYh1U
Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly are amazing.
Good on you. :D
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Great pick. I'm on my second time through...
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Thanks, fiver! Too bad the Tigs couldn't sweep the Southside Sox today.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Go Cubbies.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Ever since we got cable here in the late '70's. I remember when Jack Brickhouse (Hey HEY, Cubs fans!) was making the calls, and the Reuschels and Ivan DeJesus only played in front of full houses on the weekends.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
.. it was Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. In trying to figure out how to spell his name I just found out that he died earlier this year. I hadn't known that.
But my soft spot for the tigers really came from a documentary I saw on the 1968 World Series, not as a sporting event, but in the context of the race riots and what the Series did for the city. I've tried to find a link, but no luck so far.
I also must confess that I have a soft spot for whoever is playing the Sox.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
That hurt. I think I was about the perfect age (10) when he made his big league debut. I was watching that game against Cleveland at J.C. Penney while my parents were shopping for Venetian blinds for my bedroom. IIRC, he took a no-hitter into the 8th. He pitched a complete game, one or two hit shutout. The Tigs still finished under .500 that year ('76), but it was still great fun.
That '68 team did help ease the pain from the '67 riots. Not that I remember it, but that's what I've been hearing for decades from people who experienced it.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Cab Calloway - Reefer Man
SF Chronicle: State voters could get a say on pot
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
The possible legalization of pot is always great news. Most excellent, MM!
Snapping their fingers, dancing their asses off, and fightin' to the death!
West Side Story - Dance at the Gym
"Walk tall!"
"We always walk tall! We're Jets!"
"We're the GREATEST!"
BTW, loads of amazing athletics in Jerome Robbins' choreography.
me-oww!
Speaking of snapping fingers, remember that show 77 Sunset Strip? There was a guy named Kookie on it who was always combing his hair.
My older sister and I would sing along with the theme music and snap our fingers every time the show came on!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44pyeEvhcQ
he was the coolest cat around.
New York, New York
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Gene Kelly, tapdancing on rollerskates! I smile every time I see it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aus1PA5-SyI
That was amazing! Thanks, johnkalel!
:)
Kansas City
From Oklahoma
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Aquarius
(with Danish subtitles for Nicole and sphinx)
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Aquarius is such a wonderful movie.
Andy, I hope you're enjoying your birthday.
Zeds are calling me ... Goodnight and cheers to you :)
I hear 'em too!
Thanks to everyone for your contributions. I learned some things here tonight. First, I learned that Betty Sue doesn't like it when I pull her pigtails. Then I learned that Raymond Scott wrote Powerhouse. And then I learned the most important lesson of 'em all: That if we all pull together, we can get the job done, and everyone will go to bed happy- even Old Man Whithers...Yes, and you, too, Rusty, ya little squirt.
Well, goodnight all! Don't be strangers!
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Hey, I was IN that picture! In the boot camp segment I'm standing right next to John Savage...The filming was done in Barstow at the base where the have the big desert warfare training range...most of the guys in the pic were local GI's, airmen from George AFB, Marines from the big Marine supply base in Barstow, and National Guard guys from somewhere...it was very cool to make $500 (1976? money) for learning how they make a movie...the most annoying thing about it was the HORRIBLE haircut they gave everyone, and the second most annoying was that the Marines were the biggest snivelers (I'm a Marine brat, born at Quantico, raised at New River)and I just expected better of them. I mean, us soft propeller-heads and weekend warriors should have been the snivelers, right?)
"Ronald Reagan is DEAD! His policies live on but we're doing something about THAT!"
I worked as an extra in the movie Private Benjamin and briefly met Hal Williams and Goldie Hahn.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
More my speed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqKzQ8yeL4Q
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I'd rather have a root canal than have to sit through one..
Granted, less song than dance, but still a treat with Whitey's Lindy Hoppers in their prime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTg5V2oA_hY
The film Stormy Weather ties together some various African-American musical acts of the day together with a loose plot about a veteran of WW I (Bill "Bojangles" Robinson) who makes his way up the showbiz ladder after the war. You can watch each musical number on its own, like an MTV (well, M2 these days) video. This vid captures the experience of the nightclub floorshows of the time.
Fats Waller & Lena Horne are pretty great in the film, too.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
All the same...
The Jumpin Jive routine is pretty much the best dance number on film... most dancers including Baryshnikov agree...
for a more musical number, here is the Nicolas Brothers in Down Argentina Way - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLJL01VpvbE
Tell me you don't see the roots of breakdancing in this...
No, the British one.
Jumpin' Jive
near me. I could probably get a card from a doctor, but I'm waiting for it to be legalized.Until then, I use someone else. Why should I pay a dr. $175 a year for a card when I can get it on the street and not have to pay a middle man.
How about Blazing Saddles, The French Mistake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMK6lzmSk2o&fe...
Yesterday was my birthday too. Surprised nobody mentioned this routine from "All That Jazz."
Porgy & Bess
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_MaZ0NcuEY
Sammy Davis Jr. - Mr. Bojangles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5voM2HExV_Q
The finale in An American in Paris is amazing, it's about 20 minutes long and it looks like it was one shot with no cuts or edits...I could be wrong, but that's my memory of it....
"Ronald Reagan is DEAD! His policies live on but we're doing something about THAT!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ7msthcyuc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZOXF83zBg
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Could j'all imagine Cab Calloway with the jonas brothers?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPbicuTjBjo
Oscar, well known as a guitarist, singer and bandleader, also had some great dancing chops...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpfw1i4lydU
Great movie, but in addition to Elwood and Jake was the great Cab Calloway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NTozy51AY0&fe...
Cab was of a generation earlier than mine, yet when he did the finale performance in the music hall in his white tux, I was totally impressed at the talent this man had even in his later years. And watching some of the performances on YouTube, I can see why he was so popular in the 30's an 40's.
Swing on Cab, there will never be another like you! Hi-de-ho!
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
You can't top the Nicholas Brothers. Those guys were crazy.
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