Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Jumpin' Jive

This is the dance routine Fred Astaire called "the greatest movie musical sequence ever seen".  It stars the Nicholas Brothers (Fayard & Harold) and it's from the finale of Stormy Weather, a 1943 film.  The film was made back in the days of Hollywood segregation and features an all-black cast including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (who co-starred in the early Shirley Temple films), Lena Horne, Dooley Wilson (the As Time Goes By piano player from Casablanca - another 1943 release), and Cab Calloway and Fats Waller playing themselves.

The first 1:30 of this clip features Cab Calloway (who also appears in the Satchel Paige post) leading his band on the tune Jumpin' Jive.  The Nicholas Brothers take it from there.  The last sequence (starting around 4:00) is astounding.

1 comment:

  1. The Dancing w/the Stars folk have nothin' on these guys! dm

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