Saturday, October 22, 2016

Friday Night Dancing

I loves me some tap dancing:

Bill Bailey



Astaire and the beautiful Ava Gardener



Sammy:




Eleanor Powell & Fred Astaire "Begin the Beguine" 



13 comments:

  1. I loved, loved, LOVED this post! Thank you, dear Fay.

    Great find on that first video, Michael Jackson had to have stolen the moon walk from him. I thought Chuck Barris was the first to do it but I guess it was Bill Bailey. I thought Bill Bailey was just a song, is this the man they are talking about? I looked him up and saw that he's Pearl Bailey's brother.

    Fred Astaire is just so smooth and Rita Hayworth, what legs! The video was fairly short so I'm glad you added the last one with Eleanor Powell. Wow, what a great duet of tap dancing. Every time I see him dance, I think about his hands. He has the opposite problem as Big Daddy Orange (hee hee), Fred's hands were large so he'd hold them in certain ways to make them look smaller as he danced. Now I can't tell if his hands are big, I just read that little nugget years ago.

    I saw Sammy Davis Jr. around 1980 at Lake Tahoe. He was awesome! What a voice and a great entertainer. He was a small man but had giant talent; and it was tough for him back in the bad old days. He even took a lot from Sinatra, etc. I'm so glad I got to see him perform. That first number he danced to is one that Jerry Lewis did a crazy dance routine to, I don't know the name but I recognized it. I'll have to send that video to Tom, he'll love watching the drummers. Nice finds!

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    1. So glad you enjoyed it florrie. I've never heard that story about Astaire's hands...now I'm going to be obsessively looking at them every time I see him dance LOL.

      Yes Sammy was so talented, I would love to have seen him (and Dino) live. I know he took a lot from Sinatra but Sinatra really took care of him when he lost his eye.

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  2. I saw a video of Ray Anthony doing the moonwalk that may have even preceded this video (not to say that Bailey had been doing it for years).

    I ought to find some videos of the Nicholas Brothers. I think I may have post a video of them a long time ago.

    Of course Fay will tell you that none of the people dance a good as I do....

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    1. "Of course Fay will tell you that none of the people dance a good as I do...."

      :-D So sweet, that's love!

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  3. Err, ...Bailey hadn't been doing it for years.

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  4. I messed up too, I meant Chuck Berry. I'm laughing to think of the Gong Show show host - Chuck Barris - doing the moon walk...

    I'd blame it on my advanced age (29 3/4) but I've been making these mistakes for several decades.

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    1. Wow I didn't realise that were 29 3/4 florrie ;) Looking good for your age!

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    2. I caught that too but I figured maybe I just wasn't paying attention and missed something.

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    3. Dang girl, when did you turn 29 3/4? You don't look a day over 29 1/2!!!

      Chuck Barris and the Gong Show...oh my gosh, that was the stupidest show on TV at the time! And I watched it! :))

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    4. I watched it too!!

      "Dang girl, when did you turn 29 3/4? You don't look a day over 29 1/2!!!"

      Let's see now...that would have been a couple years ago.

      :-D

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  5. I watched these last night at work as I had time. I just love dancing! Especially Fred Astaire. Thanks for this Fay!

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    1. So glad you got to watch lr, it;s been so long since I've seen you, the search party was about to launch!

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    2. If you send a search party, let it be a cute puppy with a rum flask or two. :))

      SRSLY though, between being super busy and this damnable election, I've been at a loss for words. I mostly just race around scowling and growling.

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