Lots of Toe Dancing!

[Mme. Hermine]

A recently uploaded clip featuring dance moments from a 1930 play called Rio Rita:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHR_OlK9T8g

[bart]

What a marvelous bit of show biz history, not excluding the interesting background provided by the poster of the video. I've never seen anything like it.

I gather this production was based on a 1927 Broadway hit. Does anyone know more about this kind of musical comedy dancing in that period? Was it rare? fairly common? Where did they get the trained dancers?

[carbro]

Thanks for that, Mme. Hermine. Can anyone tell whether the man who first appears at about 1:50 is Ray Bolger, or just someone who has his style down pat?

[bart]

The name given is "George Gee." Google gives us a Chinese American swing bandleader named George Gee and a Nissan dealer, among others, but a quick glance didn't turn up anyone appropriate to this time and place. There's a little bit of Chaplin's tramp in his number as well (walking in first position).

[richard53dog]

What a lot of fun!

[Mel Johnson]

George Gee was a British music hall "eccentric dancer" and singer who fl. 1930. He was in the West End production of On Your Toes in the Bolger role.

[carbro]

The name given is "George Gee."

I took "George Gee" to be the name of the character, not a credit, but you are right. Here's his --> IMDB page, which does not include the Rio Rita credit.

From the Wikipedia entry on Rio Rita, this tidbit:

The 1929 Rio Rita is a faithful rendering of the stage version of the show. It is one of the few films personally supervised by legendary showman Florenz Ziegfeld, who also produced the musical onstage. It is very likely that the film gives an accurate impression of what a Ziegfeld stage presentation was like.

Interesting!