Anybody who is interested in a 10 part interview with this remarkable woman and and dancer it is posted under Eleanor Powell at the Variety Theatre. I saw it for the first time and I need not retract one bit of what I have said about her in my extensive research. It is very interesting though the video is not the greatest.
Very recently I spent time with some former basketball scouts that I worked with. I showed them the Eleanor Powell movie that she danced with Fred Astaire. It knocked the sox out of all of them. 3 never heard of her and the other 2 barely knew her. What is amazing and unexpected is that ALL 5 think she is the greatest female athlete they ever saw. All agreed she out danced the great Fred Astaire as she was spinning faster though trying to hold back. And those acrobatic moves! She has new fans.
@hajune Yes she is a talented beautiful woman, have you ever heard that she was cast aside a little because she was black, not sure but i think i have read somthing about this years ago
@critchley3819 Ellie was as white as could be. She was Irish. Having said that she did more to promote and or appreciate black performers for what they contributed then possibly any other performer. Example was the great dancer Willie Coven . She insisted he be not only a dance instructor at MGM but the HEAD instructor. He held that spot for over 50 years and taught just about everybody from Judy Garland to the Mousequteers. The list go's on from Bill Robinson to the Nichloas Brothers etc.
@critchley3819 Ellie startred dancing because she was extremely she and her mother thought dancing lessons(not tap but acrobatic& ballot)) would help. It did. She was soon discovered while visiting Atlantic City.and startred doing the childrens review.Bill Robinson playing there discovered her and both did Manhatten parties together. She soon realized that needed to learn tap and got 10 lessons for $35. BR of course was an influence. Just before she was 16 she learned to tap by 17- contin above
@critchley3819 cont below- she was called the greatest female tapper in the world in LESS THEN 1 YEAR OF LEARNING TO TAP( east coast 20 west coast)). By 17 she appeared on Broadway and Carnegie Hall. When learning to tap she was taught rhythm tapping . Woman before her were not rhythm tappers. She also was a master of what is called uneven rhythm moves, perhaps the highest form of dancing. Fred Astaire was terrified to dance with her because he had to learn things that he was never challenged.
@hajune Hi again you have a real passion for this woman , I can understand why,she is a very classy girl, Im only new to this but Im a great believer in talent.Im Australian are you American ,
@critchley3819 My mom wrote to Ellie in the1930's 9 times. Ellie always wrote back encouraging my mom who loved to ice skate to go for it. I told my mom when she was dying I would do what I could to preserve Ellie's memory. Little did I know how good she was. I am an American guy and have been a basketball scout getting athletes scholarships. I scouted for girls and have seen many great athletes. My scouting friends ALL think Ellie is the greatest female athlete they have ever seen. So do I.
@critchley3819 You might want to go to Eleanor Powell at the Variety Art Theatre. It's in 9 parts. ellie talks about her career. It's very interesting.
I shure wish someone would put the number she did earlier in this movie as the French women. That is the first number i ever saw her do and that got me hooked. I just found out about Mrs. powell three years ago, and I have never seen anyone do what she had done with the flavor that she has. It's just oozing from her body. She is the best.
Ellie did things in this segment that are super human.She remains unchallenged. She could be sensual as in the Honululu FULL dance. It was voted the MOST sensuous in her era. She was so good males dancers just got in the way. As Sammy Davis said she was strong and powerful but remained feminine. She was MGM's dancing star and saved them from bankruptcy twice ( Ann Miller)
cont. below Fred had to learn uneven rhythm moves that Ellie was the master. She taught many of them to the Nicholas Brothers who oft times called the Ellie the greatest dancer ever as Fred did also.Ellie had about 100 of them. The level of skill to pull them off is one that is unfamiliar to many other of the so called great dancers.The Nicholas Brothers had about 50 of them ,the rest 10 or fewer.I will explain them soon and what too watch. You will see why other dancers put her on a petestal.
Ginger's strength was not her dancing but her amazing ability to act and great charisma. She never learned to tap but made it seem that every woman in the world should want to dance with Fred. She was a ballroom dancer and both Fred And Ginger would tell you her dancing skills were not her strength. Ellie was the firth female rhythm dancer. Fred was not a rhythm dancer but a ballroom dancer. He had to step up his game to dance with her .
Anyway, as regards Ginger, Warners treated her as a bimbo, but gave her the closest closeup on film to this day, probably, in Golddiggers of 1933 (We're in the Money). When she won the Academy Award, Kate Hepburn, who lost to Ginger, remarked, "Oh, I was offered that shop girl part, and turned it down." Sour grapes, Kate, who didn't mention that she also played Alice Adams, nay a society princess.
Ginger had a good deal of talent. Take a look at Waltz in Swing Time, Never Gonna Dance from Swing Time, and so many others. Fabulous work with Fred. She and Fred could sell their steps like no other couple. She was also smart enough to melt in the arms of Fred. One cannot imagine Elie doing that. El played strong, independent characters.
Ellie did 2 movies that saved MGM from bankruptcy including this one. She wooed audiences. All movies she starred in made money for MGM. Louis Meyer and Ellie were best of friends. He treated her with great diginity and she gave her all for the studio. She does so many amazing things in this routine it's difficult where to start. She danced in a class by herself. She did things that nobody else could do.Those pirourettes remain unequaled to this day. It was like she had ice skates on. Wow!
When Ellie and Fred were teamed in Broadway Melody of 1940. Fred was coming off 2 Ginger/ Fred box office flops. MGM picked him up. Fred was terrified to dance with Ellie because she was a rhythm tapper and Fred a ballroom tapper. Pre Ellie female dancers were made to make the man the superior dancer such as the Ginger/ Fred movies. Fred had to step up his game after Ginger. MGM featured Ellie in 2 extra dances in the movie. She was their star saving them from bankruptcy twice.
Maybe the most skilled routine ever done. She is doing things that are super human.The slide at 1:12 is amazing. Looks easy doesn't it? Try it . Practice it for 10 years. You probably will not be able to do it or at best look clumsy. The pirourettes are super human. Backward bends. No anybody else who did those? This movie saved MGM from bankruptcy according to Ann Miller. They wanted to see the great one perform. As Fred Astaire said she was in a class by herself.
Ellie was taught rhythm tap when she had her 10 lessons. That was taboo in previous generations for women.Her Hawaiian routine showed off her feminitity(full version) What go's under the radar screen is her creative ability. She designed her own routines and nailed them perfectly such as the Matador dance. She would practice a whole year and do but 1 movie a year. She had over 100 uneen rhythm moves . That was more then all others combined.
@23brookside- Do not be hard on Fred about him saying" She put em down like a man." Fred thought Ellie was very feminine. In the same statement he said she danced in a class by herself. Before Ellie females never were allowed to dance what is known as rhythm tap. They were treated as to be inferior to do such. She was the FIRST to do so. In context to that he gave her the ultimate compliment.
@hajune You know the story that Fayard told, of how Fred approached Elie on the set of Bway 40 and told her no more films together, "You wear me out." Another article has Fred interviewed and asked why he only did one film with Elie. "She' s too mannish," was his reply.
El points the way to the new woman. Bursting through hoops, or skipping over rope, or doing wonders with a cape she is sweet, strong, and incandescent...
@23brookside I would be surprised if Fred said that. They were lifelong friends. Watch the dedication to Fred as he receives the Lifetime Acheivement Award. He never would have called her mannish. He told her that she was so good that a man could not do her justice dancing with her. He would only get in the way. Ellie was a trained ballet dancer and there are 2 movies with her doing such. Early on she passed on tap dancing because she thought it was not elegant enough.
@hajune Colliers Mag in 1949, Mr. Astaire, "I love Eleanor Powell, but she dances like a man...She has a mannish style." The two would challenge each other on the set between takes, and Fred may have been annoyed that he couldn't come out on top. Elie was in a sense ahead of her time, independent and able. Men, I think, were afraid to dance with her, afraid they'd be shown up.
@hajune Elie was more elegant doing tap than she was doing ballet, I think. What was her height and weight, do you know? Anyway, Fred is one of my fave all around actor/dancers. The Waltz in Swing Time is a miracle. He and Ginger are great in that. Likewise the Never Gonna Dance routine in the same picture. Dance is drama as well as steps, and when Fred and Ginger danced together a flame was ignited.
@23brookside Ellie was 5' 61/2. Weight was 130? though that changed as she aged but not by much. Ellie was self conscious of her height as a child. She was shy and that is why her mother got her dance lessons. Ellie was born prematurely with no finger and toe nails and no eye brows. My mom letters to Ellie and she always returned them. Ellie said she could hit a baseballl farther then the boys. Since hitting is dependent upon lower body strength and abilily to turn I can see why.
@hajune It was a strange world where a woman had to be embarrassed because she was tall. She liked baseball? Great...Your mom must have been thrilled by the attention
@23brookside I fully agree with you. Fred and Ginger had a certain magic together that can not be defined only appreciated. She made it seem that every woman should want to dance with Fred. Ginger was an actress( won an Oscar) and danced from her head up better then anybody! She never learned to tap but it matters not. She never wanted to be seen as the girl who danced with Fred but in her latter years said I am glad that it happened.
@23brookside Reason Fred would not do another movie with Ellie because she could do everything faster then Fred, such as grand pirourettes and machine gun like taps, backward bends etc. In his Puttin On The Ritz routine he did only 1 grand pirourette per second. Ellie was doing 2+ in this one. Ellie's Hawaiian dance (onYou Tube whole routine) shows a very feminine lady as described by Sammy Davis. Off stage men gravitated toward her charm-Clark Gable, Robert Taylor etc.
@hajune The source for the Collier's mag article is the Fred Astaire bio. Putting on the Ritz. I think Elie was extremely attractive, not only because she had good features, but also because of her ability. Ability is an attractive quality.
I was once a basketball scout for several colleges. I saw the very best players in the USA. I can say with great clarity that none of them are the athlete Eleanor Powell was. I showed this to the lady players and challenged them to perform the spin moves, to put their hand backward to the floor, and to keep their upper body uniform and move their lower body. I told them to practice the latter in particuliar. They were McDonald's All American players. None could come close.They are now her fans.
Ellie had a very unusual heel and toe tap style. She was the undiputed master of creating certain steps that seemingly were not compatible with each other called an unbroken rhythm. She probably had 100 of them!! She would take a step that looked good and then another unseemingly unrelated one and then mix them up. Watch this routine carefully and you might be able to see it. She taught some of these to Fayard Nicholas who gladly used them (meant only for the best dancers) in their routines.
Ellie lived in Mass. but visited her aunt in Atlantic City. There she was discovered and soon performed in a Vaudeville Childrens Revue. Bill Robinson would occasionally perform there and that is when BR discovered the child prodigy. They performed together at parties etc.. She was always asked to do tap, but did not know how. She was doing acrobatic dancing and ballot. Ellie got 10 lessons($30) and BR's help. Within 1 year she was culled Queen of Tap. By 20 she was titled that all over the USA.
Watch how many pirouttes she does at the end of the routine in the given time frame. Now try to find dancer in any movie who could do more.You will not find any . Watch Fred do his Putting on the Ritz dance(at the end) . Ellie does 3 for his every 2. In her Hawaiian dance routine she does 16 in 10 seconds while changing leads and wearing heels. Why do you think other dancers in her era from Ann Miller to Fred Astaire to the Nicholas Brothers and her dear friend Bill Robinson were in awe of her.
Ellie would have done Broadway then movies. Too hardcore for her. She decided to ask for $5000 a week to blow them away. To her surprise they accepted it. Broadway Melody of 1936 and 1938 saved MGM from bankruptcy according to Ann Miller. Movies like The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind would never have been made had it not been for her success.
Hapy 97th Ellie. Nov 27th. She indeed; was the best. You'd been hard pressed to find someone from the Golden Age of dancing who would disagree With Sammy.
Clark Gable bought her a Packard Roadster. Robert Taylor proposed to her. She married Glenn Ford who was not a nice guy to her by all accounts. She named Bill Robinson as her son's Godfather. She became an ordained minister with Unity Church, won an emmy for a Sunday School children's program and proclaimed she was married to God in the best and gentlest of ways. Many, many have said glowing things about Elly both as a person and as a dancer. She danced in a class by herself. Just ask Fred !
Ann Miller claimed that Ellie saved MGM from bankruptcy not once but twice. She did Broadway Melody of !936 then 1938.Both made MGM enough money to keep going. Without her Gone With The Wind and The Wizard Of Oz would have never been done. As Sammy Davis Jr said Quite frankly she was the best..
She had such a great style and I think out of all the female dancers that MGM had she was the only one that could give the best male dancers like Astaire and Kelly a run for their money!
she was so good and talented that I wish she would have been given more and better routines, not dissing this routine because I think this is one of her best, but I don't feel she had the same opportunities that Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly had to show their talents in better settings and routines. If she had a chance to get lead parts during the early 50's golden age of musicals, imagine how unstoppable she would have been? I like this and Fascinating Rhythm the best.
Best Tap Dancer Ever!!!!!
SamLuvsJamesDean 9 months ago 3
Too much!!!!
luckdog909 1 year ago
Happy 98th Ellie. You were the VERY BEST. We miss you here on Earth. Hope you are entertaining everybody in the next world .
hajune 1 year ago
Anybody who is interested in a 10 part interview with this remarkable woman and and dancer it is posted under Eleanor Powell at the Variety Theatre. I saw it for the first time and I need not retract one bit of what I have said about her in my extensive research. It is very interesting though the video is not the greatest.
hajune 1 year ago
Very recently I spent time with some former basketball scouts that I worked with. I showed them the Eleanor Powell movie that she danced with Fred Astaire. It knocked the sox out of all of them. 3 never heard of her and the other 2 barely knew her. What is amazing and unexpected is that ALL 5 think she is the greatest female athlete they ever saw. All agreed she out danced the great Fred Astaire as she was spinning faster though trying to hold back. And those acrobatic moves! She has new fans.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune Yes she is a talented beautiful woman, have you ever heard that she was cast aside a little because she was black, not sure but i think i have read somthing about this years ago
critchley3819 1 year ago
@critchley3819 Ellie was as white as could be. She was Irish. Having said that she did more to promote and or appreciate black performers for what they contributed then possibly any other performer. Example was the great dancer Willie Coven . She insisted he be not only a dance instructor at MGM but the HEAD instructor. He held that spot for over 50 years and taught just about everybody from Judy Garland to the Mousequteers. The list go's on from Bill Robinson to the Nichloas Brothers etc.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune OK thanks for that info.Im also a fan now she is greatest.Do yo know how or when she started dancing .
critchley3819 1 year ago
@critchley3819 Ellie startred dancing because she was extremely she and her mother thought dancing lessons(not tap but acrobatic& ballot)) would help. It did. She was soon discovered while visiting Atlantic City.and startred doing the childrens review.Bill Robinson playing there discovered her and both did Manhatten parties together. She soon realized that needed to learn tap and got 10 lessons for $35. BR of course was an influence. Just before she was 16 she learned to tap by 17- contin above
hajune 1 year ago
@critchley3819 cont below- she was called the greatest female tapper in the world in LESS THEN 1 YEAR OF LEARNING TO TAP( east coast 20 west coast)). By 17 she appeared on Broadway and Carnegie Hall. When learning to tap she was taught rhythm tapping . Woman before her were not rhythm tappers. She also was a master of what is called uneven rhythm moves, perhaps the highest form of dancing. Fred Astaire was terrified to dance with her because he had to learn things that he was never challenged.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune Hi again you have a real passion for this woman , I can understand why,she is a very classy girl, Im only new to this but Im a great believer in talent.Im Australian are you American ,
critchley3819 1 year ago
@critchley3819 My mom wrote to Ellie in the1930's 9 times. Ellie always wrote back encouraging my mom who loved to ice skate to go for it. I told my mom when she was dying I would do what I could to preserve Ellie's memory. Little did I know how good she was. I am an American guy and have been a basketball scout getting athletes scholarships. I scouted for girls and have seen many great athletes. My scouting friends ALL think Ellie is the greatest female athlete they have ever seen. So do I.
hajune 1 year ago
@critchley3819 You might want to go to Eleanor Powell at the Variety Art Theatre. It's in 9 parts. ellie talks about her career. It's very interesting.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune OK, will do, thanks.
critchley3819 1 year ago
The GREATEST 104 SECONDS OF DANCING I HAVE EVER SEEN.
hajune 1 year ago
I shure wish someone would put the number she did earlier in this movie as the French women. That is the first number i ever saw her do and that got me hooked. I just found out about Mrs. powell three years ago, and I have never seen anyone do what she had done with the flavor that she has. It's just oozing from her body. She is the best.
BretteJoyce75 1 year ago
Ellie did things in this segment that are super human.She remains unchallenged. She could be sensual as in the Honululu FULL dance. It was voted the MOST sensuous in her era. She was so good males dancers just got in the way. As Sammy Davis said she was strong and powerful but remained feminine. She was MGM's dancing star and saved them from bankruptcy twice ( Ann Miller)
hajune 1 year ago
cont. below Fred had to learn uneven rhythm moves that Ellie was the master. She taught many of them to the Nicholas Brothers who oft times called the Ellie the greatest dancer ever as Fred did also.Ellie had about 100 of them. The level of skill to pull them off is one that is unfamiliar to many other of the so called great dancers.The Nicholas Brothers had about 50 of them ,the rest 10 or fewer.I will explain them soon and what too watch. You will see why other dancers put her on a petestal.
hajune 1 year ago
Ginger's strength was not her dancing but her amazing ability to act and great charisma. She never learned to tap but made it seem that every woman in the world should want to dance with Fred. She was a ballroom dancer and both Fred And Ginger would tell you her dancing skills were not her strength. Ellie was the firth female rhythm dancer. Fred was not a rhythm dancer but a ballroom dancer. He had to step up his game to dance with her .
hajune 1 year ago
Anyway, as regards Ginger, Warners treated her as a bimbo, but gave her the closest closeup on film to this day, probably, in Golddiggers of 1933 (We're in the Money). When she won the Academy Award, Kate Hepburn, who lost to Ginger, remarked, "Oh, I was offered that shop girl part, and turned it down." Sour grapes, Kate, who didn't mention that she also played Alice Adams, nay a society princess.
23brookside 1 year ago
Ginger had a good deal of talent. Take a look at Waltz in Swing Time, Never Gonna Dance from Swing Time, and so many others. Fabulous work with Fred. She and Fred could sell their steps like no other couple. She was also smart enough to melt in the arms of Fred. One cannot imagine Elie doing that. El played strong, independent characters.
23brookside 1 year ago
Ellie did 2 movies that saved MGM from bankruptcy including this one. She wooed audiences. All movies she starred in made money for MGM. Louis Meyer and Ellie were best of friends. He treated her with great diginity and she gave her all for the studio. She does so many amazing things in this routine it's difficult where to start. She danced in a class by herself. She did things that nobody else could do.Those pirourettes remain unequaled to this day. It was like she had ice skates on. Wow!
hajune 1 year ago
When Ellie and Fred were teamed in Broadway Melody of 1940. Fred was coming off 2 Ginger/ Fred box office flops. MGM picked him up. Fred was terrified to dance with Ellie because she was a rhythm tapper and Fred a ballroom tapper. Pre Ellie female dancers were made to make the man the superior dancer such as the Ginger/ Fred movies. Fred had to step up his game after Ginger. MGM featured Ellie in 2 extra dances in the movie. She was their star saving them from bankruptcy twice.
hajune 1 year ago
Maybe the most skilled routine ever done. She is doing things that are super human.The slide at 1:12 is amazing. Looks easy doesn't it? Try it . Practice it for 10 years. You probably will not be able to do it or at best look clumsy. The pirourettes are super human. Backward bends. No anybody else who did those? This movie saved MGM from bankruptcy according to Ann Miller. They wanted to see the great one perform. As Fred Astaire said she was in a class by herself.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune I sure misspelled and mispunctuated in the bottom post. Hope you can figure it out. Was in a hurry. Sorry.
hajune 1 year ago
Ellie was taught rhythm tap when she had her 10 lessons. That was taboo in previous generations for women.Her Hawaiian routine showed off her feminitity(full version) What go's under the radar screen is her creative ability. She designed her own routines and nailed them perfectly such as the Matador dance. She would practice a whole year and do but 1 movie a year. She had over 100 uneen rhythm moves . That was more then all others combined.
hajune 1 year ago
Fred said that Elie put em down like a man, and that always irked me a little. Love when Sammy stresses her femininity. But she was best by herself.
The speed, the intricacy of the steps, the beautiful placement of the body, the body, the face, she is supergirl.
Rhythmnic intelligence! She's got it.
23brookside 1 year ago 2
@23brookside- Do not be hard on Fred about him saying" She put em down like a man." Fred thought Ellie was very feminine. In the same statement he said she danced in a class by herself. Before Ellie females never were allowed to dance what is known as rhythm tap. They were treated as to be inferior to do such. She was the FIRST to do so. In context to that he gave her the ultimate compliment.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune You know the story that Fayard told, of how Fred approached Elie on the set of Bway 40 and told her no more films together, "You wear me out." Another article has Fred interviewed and asked why he only did one film with Elie. "She' s too mannish," was his reply.
El points the way to the new woman. Bursting through hoops, or skipping over rope, or doing wonders with a cape she is sweet, strong, and incandescent...
23brookside 1 year ago
@23brookside I would be surprised if Fred said that. They were lifelong friends. Watch the dedication to Fred as he receives the Lifetime Acheivement Award. He never would have called her mannish. He told her that she was so good that a man could not do her justice dancing with her. He would only get in the way. Ellie was a trained ballet dancer and there are 2 movies with her doing such. Early on she passed on tap dancing because she thought it was not elegant enough.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune Colliers Mag in 1949, Mr. Astaire, "I love Eleanor Powell, but she dances like a man...She has a mannish style." The two would challenge each other on the set between takes, and Fred may have been annoyed that he couldn't come out on top. Elie was in a sense ahead of her time, independent and able. Men, I think, were afraid to dance with her, afraid they'd be shown up.
23brookside 1 year ago
@hajune Elie was more elegant doing tap than she was doing ballet, I think. What was her height and weight, do you know? Anyway, Fred is one of my fave all around actor/dancers. The Waltz in Swing Time is a miracle. He and Ginger are great in that. Likewise the Never Gonna Dance routine in the same picture. Dance is drama as well as steps, and when Fred and Ginger danced together a flame was ignited.
.
23brookside 1 year ago
@23brookside Ellie was 5' 61/2. Weight was 130? though that changed as she aged but not by much. Ellie was self conscious of her height as a child. She was shy and that is why her mother got her dance lessons. Ellie was born prematurely with no finger and toe nails and no eye brows. My mom letters to Ellie and she always returned them. Ellie said she could hit a baseballl farther then the boys. Since hitting is dependent upon lower body strength and abilily to turn I can see why.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune It was a strange world where a woman had to be embarrassed because she was tall. She liked baseball? Great...Your mom must have been thrilled by the attention
23brookside 1 year ago
@23brookside I fully agree with you. Fred and Ginger had a certain magic together that can not be defined only appreciated. She made it seem that every woman should want to dance with Fred. Ginger was an actress( won an Oscar) and danced from her head up better then anybody! She never learned to tap but it matters not. She never wanted to be seen as the girl who danced with Fred but in her latter years said I am glad that it happened.
hajune 1 year ago
@23brookside Reason Fred would not do another movie with Ellie because she could do everything faster then Fred, such as grand pirourettes and machine gun like taps, backward bends etc. In his Puttin On The Ritz routine he did only 1 grand pirourette per second. Ellie was doing 2+ in this one. Ellie's Hawaiian dance (onYou Tube whole routine) shows a very feminine lady as described by Sammy Davis. Off stage men gravitated toward her charm-Clark Gable, Robert Taylor etc.
hajune 1 year ago
@hajune The source for the Collier's mag article is the Fred Astaire bio. Putting on the Ritz. I think Elie was extremely attractive, not only because she had good features, but also because of her ability. Ability is an attractive quality.
23brookside 1 year ago
I was once a basketball scout for several colleges. I saw the very best players in the USA. I can say with great clarity that none of them are the athlete Eleanor Powell was. I showed this to the lady players and challenged them to perform the spin moves, to put their hand backward to the floor, and to keep their upper body uniform and move their lower body. I told them to practice the latter in particuliar. They were McDonald's All American players. None could come close.They are now her fans.
hajune 2 years ago
Ellie had a very unusual heel and toe tap style. She was the undiputed master of creating certain steps that seemingly were not compatible with each other called an unbroken rhythm. She probably had 100 of them!! She would take a step that looked good and then another unseemingly unrelated one and then mix them up. Watch this routine carefully and you might be able to see it. She taught some of these to Fayard Nicholas who gladly used them (meant only for the best dancers) in their routines.
hajune 2 years ago
Ellie lived in Mass. but visited her aunt in Atlantic City. There she was discovered and soon performed in a Vaudeville Childrens Revue. Bill Robinson would occasionally perform there and that is when BR discovered the child prodigy. They performed together at parties etc.. She was always asked to do tap, but did not know how. She was doing acrobatic dancing and ballot. Ellie got 10 lessons($30) and BR's help. Within 1 year she was culled Queen of Tap. By 20 she was titled that all over the USA.
hajune 2 years ago
Watch how many pirouttes she does at the end of the routine in the given time frame. Now try to find dancer in any movie who could do more.You will not find any . Watch Fred do his Putting on the Ritz dance(at the end) . Ellie does 3 for his every 2. In her Hawaiian dance routine she does 16 in 10 seconds while changing leads and wearing heels. Why do you think other dancers in her era from Ann Miller to Fred Astaire to the Nicholas Brothers and her dear friend Bill Robinson were in awe of her.
hajune 2 years ago
Ellie would have done Broadway then movies. Too hardcore for her. She decided to ask for $5000 a week to blow them away. To her surprise they accepted it. Broadway Melody of 1936 and 1938 saved MGM from bankruptcy according to Ann Miller. Movies like The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind would never have been made had it not been for her success.
hajune 2 years ago
Hapy 97th Ellie. Nov 27th. She indeed; was the best. You'd been hard pressed to find someone from the Golden Age of dancing who would disagree With Sammy.
hajune 2 years ago
Clark Gable bought her a Packard Roadster. Robert Taylor proposed to her. She married Glenn Ford who was not a nice guy to her by all accounts. She named Bill Robinson as her son's Godfather. She became an ordained minister with Unity Church, won an emmy for a Sunday School children's program and proclaimed she was married to God in the best and gentlest of ways. Many, many have said glowing things about Elly both as a person and as a dancer. She danced in a class by herself. Just ask Fred !
hajune 2 years ago 2
Ann Miller claimed that Ellie saved MGM from bankruptcy not once but twice. She did Broadway Melody of !936 then 1938.Both made MGM enough money to keep going. Without her Gone With The Wind and The Wizard Of Oz would have never been done. As Sammy Davis Jr said Quite frankly she was the best..
hajune 2 years ago
She had such a great style and I think out of all the female dancers that MGM had she was the only one that could give the best male dancers like Astaire and Kelly a run for their money!
Jbellaire 3 years ago
OMG Those spins and she's not even breathing hard!
acmdu89 3 years ago
I do so heartily agree with all of you!!!
Great and amazing: she combined tap with ballet. Look at her amazing "spins"
miffy1950 3 years ago
she was so good and talented that I wish she would have been given more and better routines, not dissing this routine because I think this is one of her best, but I don't feel she had the same opportunities that Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly had to show their talents in better settings and routines. If she had a chance to get lead parts during the early 50's golden age of musicals, imagine how unstoppable she would have been? I like this and Fascinating Rhythm the best.
Tigerlily21 3 years ago 10
Awesome...EP was no doubt the best female tapper ever!
jameszerukjr 4 years ago 5