Michael Jackson's Origins of the Moonwalk

ORIGINS OF THE MOONWALK
Dancers (in alphabetical order):
Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., Daniel L. Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson and Jackson, Eleanor Powell, Bill Robinson, Three Chefs (only the feet), Tip Tap and Toe (feat. Ray Winfield), Earl Snakehips Tucker
Video edited by CFJ

Originally uploaded on my former channel on June 2, 2008 and had got about 1,220,000 views until the channel got deleted on December 8, 2010. The 2nd in my MJ trilogy. The following is the original description I wrote for the video.

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My second Michael Jackson related video. Since the first one "Fred Astaire in Smooth Criminal" seems quite well-received, I decided to make another one. This time the theme is "who devised the moonwalk?".

As some people already know, a dance move called the moonwalk (a.k.a. backslide) had been existed before it became the "moonwalk". The video features the ancient moonwalkers and other greats who possibly influenced MJ's style of dancing.

The most well-known dancer as the "orignal moonwalker" should be Bill Bailey who performed it in the film Showtime At The Apollo (1955), which was also featured in the movie Tap (1989). But actually Bill Bailey, pupil of Bill Robinson, performed the very same step as early as 1943 in the movie Cabin In The Sky, which you can see here as well as the 1955 film.

The various scenes used in the video are from 1929 to 1955 (except Sammy Davis Jr. from '65 and '67). The oldest one is from Hallelujah, featuring Daniel L. Haynes as a minister pantomiming a train at a prayer meeting. I was totally amazed by his movement when I first saw that movie.

The most influential dancer on MJ's dancing is no doubt James Brown, but you can also trace the roots and origins of his style to those greats in the first half of the 20th century.

So, the question - "who devised the moonwalk?".
My answer is "nobody". Or all the great imaginative dancers, including MJ, who made great efforts to move foward (should I say "backward" in this case?). I think the moonwalk is not a thing someone suddenly came up with one day. There must have been so many great unknown dancers other than the ones who were lucky to be recorded... In other words, Rome was not built in a day.

Amazed by the dancers in the video?
But there were many other greats. You must see The Nicholas Brothers, The Berry Brothers, The Four Step Brothers, Pops & Louis...etc, etc. YOU HAVEN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET.
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Don't ask the same questions like "Who is the chef on the table!?" - It's Ray Winfield from Tip, Tap & Toe. If you want to know who's who and all the film sources, check out my blog article about this video:
http://strongerthanparadise.blog122.f...

Check out the other two in the MJ trilogy on my channel:
FRED ASTAIRE in SMOOTH CRIMINAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl9wsr...
WEST SIDE STORY ('Somebody Call Michael' mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsuwCX...

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  Entertainment

[nico33852]

MIME MARCEAU!

[N0TYourAverageJoe]

The chef on the the table deserves a pay raise!

[XPLOSIVE2025]

stfu you idiot you mad because blck men r fuckin ur white bitches or wa ever color you, you need to go suck a dick

[94Junglist]

Thank you!

[justkissanamakeup]

stop using that word

[J C Rasmussen]

Michael never took credit for the dance as he said to Oprah he just enhancde the dance

[grampy12]

It is remarkable to me that you have been able to gather all of these dances from various videos and put them together exhibiting the history of the moonwalk. Great work! Congratulations, I enjoyed the video.

[RomeoEchoGolf]

To think ALL of these people are long dead, yet - they live on...

[shimyns]

The people in this video didn't invent it either. Humans have been all around for quite a while...

[AssocaitedPress]

wtf, this should be called NIGGERS GONE WILD.

[mesaeddie]

Should have put in the CURLY SHUFFLE. It was also one of my favorites.