This is a blast!!!!

[KarenAG]

[sandik]

I was playing "name that dancer" for a solid hour when I first saw this!

[volcanohunter]

Thank you. I can never have enough Eleanor or Fred in my life. (But it would have been nice to have just a teeny bit of Tommy Rall in there.)

[vipa]

Thank you what a pleasure.

[California]

Along with all the great fun, there's an important piece of cultural history in those clips and I'm glad to see it reappear: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson dancing with Shirley Temple in 1935 - the first interracial couple filmed dancing together. More, they hold hands! Imagine this, in the worst depths of Jim Crow, a little white girl holding hands with a big black man. I have seen reports that movie theaters in the south refused to show the film unless those scenes were cut. (I've never been able to find out whether the studio acquiesced to those demands or if the film simply wasn't shown in the south. Anybody know?)

In this time of continuing racial tension, I think it's wonderful to be reminded of the pioneers (especially in the arts) who helped the arc of justice move forward, however slowly. Interesting story about them on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2014/02/14/276986764/shirley-temple-and-bojangles-two-stars-one-lifelong-friendship

[sandik]

Thanks for the link to the story about Robinson and Temple. He was a giant in the field -- I'm just glad we have some of his work on film.

But this mashup is indeed great fun. True, there's no Tommy Rall, but we get Cagney dancing, and Bob Fosse with Carol Haney.

In a related vein, there's a new book out about tap dance -- it looks fabulous.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

Well that was a nice jolt of joy before breakfast! All hail Nerd Fest UK for some spectacular editing.

If you didn't click through to watch on YouTube:

Mr. Fest is this guy: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00O7DHBSK/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Michael+Binder&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Michael+Binder&sort=relevancerank He put the video together to pitch making donations to film preservation charities.

If you turn on the captions, you will see the films' titles and years made.

One of the YouTube commenters put together an IMDB list of all 66 movies excerpted in Nerd Fest UK's compilation: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls031777718/

Lordy, I love what nerds get up to on the internet.

[sandik]

I didn't know about the captions trick to get the names of the films.

So I had to watch it all over again. A couple times.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

So I had to watch it all over again. A couple times.

Oh darn! Me too!

[KarenAG]

So happy you all enjoyed it. Thank you, California, for your comment and the link to Shirley's interview and Sandik for the new dance book recommendation.

Thanks for the link to the story about Robinson and Temple. He was a giant in the field -- I'm just glad we have some of his work on film.

But this mashup is indeed great fun. True, there's no Tommy Rall, but we get Cagney dancing, and Bob Fosse with Carol Haney.

In a related vein, there's a new book out about tap dance -- it looks fabulous.

.

Along with all the great fun, there's an important piece of cultural history in those clips and I'm glad to see it reappear: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson dancing with Shirley Temple in 1935 - the first interracial couple filmed dancing together. More, they hold hands! Imagine this, in the worst depths of Jim Crow, a little white girl holding hands with a big black man. I have seen reports that movie theaters in the south refused to show the film unless those scenes were cut. (I've never been able to find out whether the studio acquiesced to those demands or if the film simply wasn't shown in the south. Anybody know?)

In this time of continuing racial tension, I think it's wonderful to be reminded of the pioneers (especially in the arts) who helped the arc of justice move forward, however slowly. Interesting story about them on NPR: http://www.npr.org/2014/02/14/276986764/shirley-temple-and-bojangles-two-stars-one-lifelong-friendship