Eleanor Powell - George White's 1935 Scandals

She was soooo beautiful.

The best dancer ever! Love this lady! Wish she made more movies. She is absolutely timeless - one of the few who are! Would have loved to have seen her dance with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers. I simply must buy all these movies. Thanks for posting this one!

Eleanor Powell did dance "with" Bill Robinson - that is, they appeared together at the same private parties in New York in the early 30s. Have never heard any description of the routines, but not likely that a black male and white female danced as partners at that time. It certainly was not possible in films - except for the pairing of Robinson with Shirley Temple.

Hi ALL, GREAT comments on the GREATEST dancer ever-stage or screen (Ann Miller runs a close second). Eleanor was mistakenly made up like an arab from a makeup person that was on the WRONG SET!!! She got her stage debut with WHITE'S SCANDALS as well//White adored her, and she got featured billing on stage. Sparks was an idiot. Bet you didn't know the BILL BOJANGLES ROBINSON danced in and staged this movie (not Powell though he may have helped). Check out my G W Scandals video here and website

Wow did Bojangles really help her with this routine?

Hi--Not really sure that Bill helped Eleanor--he mainly staged the big numbers, and did a trio with Alice Faye & James Dunn that got cut (NOT because of his color-but the movie was way too long). Anyway, Eleanor, like Ann Miller, mostly created and worked their own routines. I asked Ann if George White helped her in the 1939 Scandals, and she laughed and said-ARE YOU KIDDING!! As good as Bojangles was, he was no Eleanor Powell//Regards, Professor Gary

I don't know about Ann, but Ellie has said, definitively, that she choreographed ALL of her routines in ALL of her film and stage appearances. People like Bobby Connolly worked their dancers around Ellie's choreography. Ellie was good friends with Bill Robinson and she was one of only two people he taught his famous stair dance to - the other being Shirley Temple.

I've been wondering why Ellie referred to her makeup in this film as nearly causing a disaster, but I finally found an explanation: LB Mayer was looking for a new leading lady at MGM, liked Ellie for it when he saw the clip but then due to the heavy makeup thought she was "colored" and decided to nix plans! Thank goodness someone set him straight and thank goodness times have changed!

Great clip - thanks! I love how the close-up of her feet in this clip looks almost exactly the same as the close-up in the "Unknown Appearance" clip from nearly 30 years later - still as fluid as ever! And I think this is the only routine I've ever seen her look at her feet! It's almost as if she's thinking,"Now what are they doing?" : )