For fun
How to walk downstairs with some zip in your step, by James Cagney (aka George M. Cohan):
As a child, I loved that scene. In particular, I liked the fact that it builds to a peak and then calms down again.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
It always amuses me to see Cagney in his movies as a singer and dancer, because, of course, by my day, he was known only as a mob villain.
I get the same sense when I watch Vincent Price pre-horror, or Bette Davis in her youth, or John Wayne not in a Western (we raised our family watching “The Quiet Man” monthly, if not more often).
And Lucy Ball was a music hall star before becoming the quintessential Funny Girl.
When I was a kid I wasn’t into musicals, Cagney or old BW films, but I sure got sucked into “Yankee Doodle Dandy” one Saturday afternoon.
Today, or at least back in 2001, we have Christopher Walken funking out to Fatboy Slim and Bootsy Collins in an empty hotel lobby. The same boring old white guy in a suit, who blows you away with his moves, then settles back down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ7z57qrZU8
Walken danced that in his late fifties. He started as a dancer before becoming an actor.
So talented! !!! BTW Lucille Ball traversing the stairs in that heavy showgirl headress when she lobbies for a part in a movie, is beyond hysterical !!!!
My favorite novelist, Walker Percy, had one of his characters say “Cagney. He was a hoofer, you know. The man could dance!”
That’s a great little scene! Thank you.
The Jack Benny Podcast is the hub of a ton of fantastic audio entertainment. So many of the great performers from the golden age of Hollywood appeared in various radio programs from the 1930s-50s. Like with the Cagney clip, it is easy to see (or hear) what made them stars.
I found this routine with Bob Hope, while not a big dance lover, this always makes me smile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoNOs8Ql28
I tried for years, in vain, to get my 20 something daughters educated in the movies of 30’s, 40’s, and early 50’s when they were growing up. The closest I came was with Monroe’s Some Like it Hot, which they actually watched and liked. but trying to get them into the B&W classic era was a no-go. Sad, as I think they are really missing out on great entertainment.
Neo: Love the Cagney clip! Thank you! :>))))
Personally, when I walk down stairs I am definitely trepid, watching my feet carefully and clinging for dear life to the banister. :>(
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By the way, here is a wonderful collection of short dance clips from old movies, many of which I haven’t seen before. There’s one with Bojangles and Shirley Temple, and best of all quite a few with Eleanor Powell. (There is no such thing as “plenty” of Eleanor Powell!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE
Great clip! Have you noticed that virtually all of the great song and dance men-except Astaire, an excellent interpreter of great lyrics-actually couldn’t sing? Cagney could do anything, including any sort of acting you could imagine, but sing.
John Salmon:
Well, I guess you didn’t see my Tommy Rall post. The guy could dance up a storm. And he was a great singer, both popular and opera.
See Tommy Rall: the man who could do everything.