Fred Astaire & Eleanor Powell - Jukebox Dance

[51Saffron]

Love both of them.

[tamarexxe]

It's when I see things like this that I am so thankful that film exists. What a complete tragedy if dancing like this were lost forever. It makes me understand why tap was so popular then.

[moviegal57]

Ginger Rodgers must have hit dislike.

[mikebgoode005]

Eleanor tapping and spinning Fred around is one of the coolest things i ever saw

[SnowCrasher]

They make it look so easy T-T

[bootsamou]

Quite simply ~ they are the best tap dancers you are ever likely to see.

It's not just the syncopation or the technicality of the execution ~ it's the DANCING.

Making it all flow seemingly effortlessly with STYLE.

Fred really liked his routines filmed in one take, but you will see here that there is a "join" @ 1.52. Just how many times must they have done this to get it right?

Arguably my favourite dance routine of all time. Wonderful.

[gabydesbrumes]

Merveilleux couple qui a fait rêver les tap dancers du monde entier...

[clearlogicify]

She almost look like she is cruising while Fred looks like he's at max speed.

[davewvu1]

@clearlogicify She was.

[joansutton]

SIMPLE!!!

[FiveOhToo]

Hah I learned that simple step that dance is shaped around and I did it basically everywhere and my friends got so annoyed. But it's really fun!

[JeanEtchepare]

ginger was not a tap dancer, but she was a good allround dancer!! not as good as E.P in any way

[BonbondeParis]

I love Eleanor Powell - she could dance circles around Ginger! I met her once, (she was a friend of a friend) and I blubbered all over her!

[lcg101]

I'm smitten.

[mrsGingerrogers619]

The video is a little faster than the audio :(

[EandMetal]

I like how they both smile and giggle at each other at the end. They both had the greatest admiration for each other in real life, and they both earned their admiration from their fans. Seriously these kinds of performers are the reason I love Youtube. I got introduced to Eleanor Powell through Youtube, and I got to see a lot more of Fred Astaire than I see on TV. They're legends.

[potterabbit]

Did I miss something here? What's all the hollering about? Can someone please fill me in. The two were great. They make me smile whenever I watch them. 70 years later and they are still making folks smile. No harm in that I say....

[potterabbit]

Did I miss a something whats is all the hollering about anyway? Can someone fill me in??? I am clueless. These two were great together. I smile whenever I watch them on the screen. How can that be bad. 70 years later and they are still making people smile.

[hajune]

Once upon a time I did autograph shows with famous celebrities. Most have died. I have some historical background about many of the celebrities. I was a manager in a band during the 60's. To some of the still living stars I have asked them questions just about anything. Comments about Ellie are always positive.1 of my friends was Kathlyn Grayson who just died. Ellie was the most most popular person within the studio until Kathlyn took up the torch when Ellie retired. Not a phony bone in either.

[ErchieMcGeakle]

@hajune I suspect that for ever 100 people who thank you for your anally retentive monitoring of every Powell video there are 1000 who wished you'd just shut the Hell up and let other people express an opinion without you jumping all over it in your insufferably, and woefully misguided, superior fashion. I'm a historian too; I'm currently studying the Cretaceous period and wondered if you'd allow me to make a case study of you? Dinosaurs are my specialty...

[hajune]

For anybody wanting to hear Ellie at the the Variety Theatre it was recently posted. ( Great stuff 10 parts) Saw it for the first time and I need not retract one word in my extensive research. Turner Station had an interview with the then living dancers and ALL agreed Ellie was the greatest dancer they ever saw.( Donald O'Connor, Ann Miller , Fayard Nicholas, Cyd Charise and also Robert Osbourne.) Ann admitted she could not tap as fast as the Queen of Tap Ellie. Culled that title at age16, WOW!

[hajune]

Don't know why anybody would think Fred could dance more fluidly. He was a ballroom tapper. Ellie was a rhythm tapper. Fred hired John Bubbles ( father of rhythm tapping) to dance with Ellie while Ellie danced with John at many matinees. A grandstand was built for all of Ellie's dances and ONLY for her. When Arturo Toscanini visited MGM and watched Ellie dance he tearfully said ,"3 things I hold dearly to me, the splendor of a sunset, the granduer of the grand canyon and Eleanor Powell dancing.

[cemooney48]

I want to thank who ever found this clip. I have been a big fan of Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell and Ginger Rogers. I grew up with these dancers and this type of dancing, the grace, and flow puts a smile on my face. I would love to see some new tap dancers, especially female, who could dance like this. I've seen some but they do not seem to have the grace of Eleanor Powell, Vera Ellen, and especially Ginger Rogers. Thank you again.

[hajune]

Here is some evidence that perhaps even you can see. I have a ton of it. Ellie could do as many as 3 forward pirouettes in1 second as seen in the Elanor Powell You Tube video introduced in the movie That's Entertainment by Sammy Davis saying " Quite frankly she was the VERY BEST. In her Honululu dance as seen on You Tube she does 16 pirouttes in 10 second while CHANGING LEADS and in high heels. Fred on the other hand does only 9 in 9 seconds in his famous Putting on the Ritz dance on YTube cont

[jeryd2003]

@hajune lets call them spins fred could do them 2 they both do about 2 1/2 backwards spins very fast in this no. ann miller could spin all day long so what? after a few of them they leave the audience bored. as far as bragging on people its about hyberbaly-they get caught up in the exaggeration & drama. professional sports heros have always done that 2-exaggeration,hype,story telling. fred was 40 and ellie 27 here.judge dancing,quickness,sharpnes & ease of movement.fred did same steps,lesseffort

[hajune]

@jeryd2003. Fred was was intimitaed to dance with Ellie because she could do things no other dancer could do. What a stupid statement to say spin moves are boring. Shew as the only person who could do them and spin at the same time. MGM had 180 men in the background when Ellie danced. She did solos because no man could dance with her. Other then this number Ellie got the most dance time between Fred and her. How stupid is it to compare a 40 year man with a 27 year old woman.

[hajune]

@jeryd2003 A 40 year old Nolan Ryan throwing a baseball to 27 year old woman would be nocontest or to a 27 year old woman. Give us break. That is truly a stupid statement . Fred himself admitted he could not dance with Ellie and he could not keep up with her in the Begin the Beguinne dance. SHEGOT THE FIRST 2:40 TO HERSELF. She did ballet, acrobatic, lifted perpendicular, bent backward and touched her palms to the ground and as ALL 9 of my basketball friends said she easily was the best. cont.

[jeryd2003]

@hajune acrobats, flexibility,spinning on head & rearend, running, walking posing, gymnastics all r not dancing they don't belong on the dance floor. one primarily dances with ones legs and feet 85% with 15% upperbody u can do both simultaneoulsy. point being dance with legs and feet. like muhammad ali fred astarie danced to his competiotion as if he was toying with his partner. whenever he went 100% it was evident he was superior to eliie and everyone else.he could do every dance step invented

[hajune]

@jeryd2003 You are and remain an idiot. Almost everybody including Fred himself called Ellie the greatest ever. As HE said she danced in a CLASS BY HERSELF.Please learn to punctuate and spell. It shows your ignorance. Read the comments of others. They OVERWHELMINGLY disagree with you,along with Ann Miller, Bill Robinson, Sinatra, Sammy Davis etc. As Toscanini said ," 3 things I will carry with me all my life; The glory of a sunset, the granduer of the Grand Canyon, and Eleanor Powell dancing".

[hajune]

@jeryd2003 He was toying with his competition! He always went 100% and he wasn't competing dummy ,he was her partner. She got the 1st 2:30 to herself. He advised Ellie to dance solos because NO MAN could dance with her and do justice. Ellie dance to the 2 biggest musicals ever. She had 2000 extras in 1 movie ,360 in another and 100+ in several more. That many extras was reserved for ONLY Ellie. Ann Miller said she saved MGM from bankruptcy twice.At least 35+ celebrities called her the best.

[jeryd2003]

@hajune gene kelly said dance is a sport so to speak so if men are better than women at sports it stands to reason they are better at dance also. that probrably why gene kelly asked fred astaire to dance with him in ziegfield follies and not eleanor powell. if eleanor and fred danced side by side in the same dance routine i would bet on fred everytime.

[hajune]

@jeryd2003 Please learn to spell. Use spell check. Both Gene and Fred considered Ellie their superior as did many many others including the overwhelming amount of You Tube comments. She was the only one doing pirourettes, could kick perpendicular, did backward hand bends to the floor, did ballet, did acrobatic, was the1st rhythm female tapper, was called machine gun Ellie for her rapid fast tapping , did ice skating pirourettes, choreographed all her routines, saved MGM from bankruptcy etc.

[ErchieMcGeakle]

@hajune Perhaps you should apply the same scrutiny to your own posts as you do with others. It's spelt 'intimidated' That's the thing with peddling that old haughty, insufferably superior literary stance - you need to ensure your own posts are without blemish, which you didn't, or else you end up looking like a moron, which you are. Quite frankly, as much as I admire Eleanor Powell, I find your near-obsessive comments about her worth rather disturbing... You're like a virtual disease.

[hajune]

@ErchieMcGeakle As Steve Martin woulsd say EXCUUUUUSE me. If you do not like my posts do not read them. To most they are interesting They are historically accurate. As a historian I attempt to give deserving people credit that do not get it. Ellie wrote back to my mother 9 times when my mom wrote her. Made a promise just before she died I'd do something to promote her if she was deserving. She is deserving. I have had 100+ people who have thanked me for the info and significant research.

[hajune]

Fred admittedly was intimidated by Ellie.. She did things he could not. She was a rhythm tapper and he was a ballroom tapper. In this movie she got far more dancing time. She was MGM"s star and Fred was coming off 2 box office flops with Ginger at another studio.When they danced together Ellie had to slow down. In the Begin the Beguine scene Ellie got the first 2:40 to herself doing those amazing moves she had that nobody else could do. In his book he states," She dances in a class by herself."

[jeryd2003]

@hajune if u want to continue that farce its your right but its all lies. u dance to the beat of the music, theres no such thing as "slowing down" theres no such thing as some professional dancer like fred astaire do steps he "cant do" when people are watching your ellie dance side by side with fred astaire who do you think there watchingL? there watching fred mostly while you have to watch it over again to watch her.

[hajune]

@jeryd2003 You might want to learn to write a paragraph correctly Use of capital letters etc.. You need only watch a few things and then concede you are wrong because it is EASY to see. Fred was a BALLROOM tapper and Ellie the first female rhythm tapper and was culled the title at at age16. He had to learn a move or 2 to keep up. Fred admitted to being "terrified" to dance with Ellie and said that Ellie danced in a class by herself in his autobiography. I guess that makes him a liar also.cont.

[sleedolfine15]

WOW!!!!

[odysseetheater]

this is dancing in perfection! ellie is nearly as good as fred.. thanks for posting this treasure ! eva