Filed under: Cab Calloway; Nicholas Brothers; tap dance; jazz; Fred Astaire; Gene Kelly; jazz; Stormy Weather, arts, cinema, classic movies, culture, history, hollywood, movies, vintage
These fellas need no introduction. The Nicholas Brothers were and are, simply, the most unbelievable dancers to ever grace our planet earth. Here they share screen time with Cab Calloway and exhibit the sort of gracefully artistic yet hard-core athleticism that led to their ultimate immortality. Now, I simply adore Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, but even they were obliged to tip their hats at the true masters of tap: Fayard Antonio and Harold Lloyd Nicholas.
There simply aren’t words, ladies and gents. No words. Only perfection.
Filed under: cinema, classic movies, history, hollywood, movies, music, nostalgia, vintage | Tags: swing music; swing; 1940s; danny kaye; howard hawks; virginia mayo; lionel hampton; louis armstrong; benny goodman; tommy dorsey; jazz music
Hi all!
Kitty Packard has been having something of an extended sojourn as of late and I felt it necessary to implore your forgiveness with this post. A personal favorite from 1948, A Song is Born is the Howard Hawks‘ remake of his beloved 1941 screwball Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper starrer, Ball of Fire.
In my opinion, this particular segment of celluloid is living history in its most impressively organic form. Here we have the unprecedented (and arguably unmatched) interracial jazz ensemble of Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Mel Powell, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnett (WOW) and Pops himself, Louis Armstrong, jamming together in the film’s titular ‘A Song is Born.’ The rehashed plot with Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo may lack Hawk’s original, shall we say, oomph, but the music makes the film positively priceless. (And in my opinion, the Kaye-Mayo combo is amongst the most underrated screen successes.)
Watch here as some of the very greatest jazz greats get their groove on.
