WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Something Wonderful: The wonderfully obscure “Gene Kelly-GOTTA DANCE!!!”
byVanderleunonFebruary 8, 2022
The management respectfully suggests Full Screen and Speakers Up!
What a boost! And such a strange brew of perfectly cut clips rocking to a cut from The New Radicals all carried in fading film images which make it all seem as if it were happening just next door to now, in a mirrorverse of watercolors.
Gene Kelly’s choreography and dancing are absolutely American. That is the reason I always preferred him to Fred Astaire, who was too suave, too slick, too much “top hat and tails.” But Astaire had an eye for genius in others as well. He called this Nicholas Brothers dance number “the greatest movie musical sequence he had ever seen.” The Brothers did it unrehearsed and in only one take. They had also danced with Kelly in the film “The Pirate”. Gregory Hines, no slouch himself, said this of their dance routine:
“…if their biography were ever filmed, their dance numbers would have to be computer-generated because no one now could emulate them.”
Ballet master Mikhail Baryshnikov called the Nicholas Brothers “the most amazing dancers he had ever seen in his life.”
Read up on Kelly, he said he’s blue collar and Astaire is white collared.
Said they each have different styles and are not compareable.
I agree.
Same with guitar players, guns, cars, etc.
The time wasting argument list is long…..
I don’t dance but appreciate those that do as long as they do it well, and that mostly doesn’t include anything in the last 30 years.
gwbnycFebruary 9, 2022, 7:20 AM
Nicholas Brothers-
Donald O’Connor wouldn’t leave home without ’em.
LeslieFebruary 8, 2022, 7:37 PM
Love it.
NoriFebruary 8, 2022, 8:59 PM
The life-affirming exuberance of dance. God bless us,amen.
Watch “Casablanca” with her. I would wager that she would have the same question.
RichardFebruary 9, 2022, 7:59 AM
Gene Kelly exuded an “Everyman” quality with which most people could identify. The dance sequences he and Leslie Caron did in “An American in Paris” were – and continue to be – stunning.
“Singing in the Rain” is one of my “go-to” movies when the world is a little too much with me. And, of course, Kelly’s dance in the rain will always be iconic.
What an extraordinarily beautiful woman. Here’s another clip of them from the same movie.
Cyd’s legs are absolute perfection and she is a visual delight in that “bridal” costume. https://tinyurl.com/2p89yvt5
Sorry guys, the clips and cuts, didn’t work for me.
Dance numbers, like Singing that Mike linked above, or Kelly & Shirley McLaine, What A way to Go: https://youtu.be/5y76ctjpOn0
oh yea!
& nope, Shirley ain’t no Cyd but strut her with Kelly….
I saw MacLaine in “The Turning Point” and with Robert Mitchum in “Two for the Seesaw”. Enjoyed them both. Her dancing is pedestrian. Kelly had to really tone it down so that she could keep up. She is no Cyd Charisse. And besides, MacLaine is one of the weirdest people on earth.
Another GREAT short guy!!
When comparing Kelly and Astaire–the easy way is to just attribute difference in “styles”. However, I believe that Astaire never had the technical skill that Kelly had and he never had the strength that Kelly had AS WELL AS Kelly’s pure love of the music!!
WITH REGARD TO WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY: It is fair to ask if we were led down the slippery slope by Hollywood?
I believe that Hollywood is a symptom, not a cause. For decades it produced extremely patriotic films. Men were shown as men and women were shown as women. When the culture changed, Hollywood changed. It now reflects the madness, despondency, infantilism and depravity that has overtaken our nation.
DeNihilistFebruary 9, 2022, 9:28 PM
In those times, whether a comic, or dramatic, almost every actor/ess could also sing and DANCE.
See Danny Kaye in the clip.
Of course I almost fell out of my shoes the first time I watched Yankee Doodle Dandy and saw my favourite tough guy, Cagney, dancing like he did it every day!
Wonderful clip Gerard, thanx for sharing!
Many of the greats could act, dance and sing—Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra for example. Many others could only do one thing—John Wayne and Clark Gable for example—but they did it well.
After scanning its face again and again,
I began to scale it, picking my holds
With intense caution. About half-way
To the top, I was suddenly brought to
A dead stop, with arms outspread
Clinging close to the face of the rock
Unable to move hand or foot
Either up or down. My doom
Appeared fixed. I MUST fall.
There would be a moment of
Bewilderment, and then,
A lifeless rumble down the cliff
To the glacier below.
My mind seemed to fill with a
Stifling smoke. This terrible eclipse
Lasted only a moment, when life blazed
Forth again with preternatural clearness.
I seemed suddenly to become possessed
Of a new sense. My trembling muscles
Became firm again, every rift and flaw in
The rock was seen as through a microscope,
My limbs moved with a positiveness and precision
With which I seemed to have
Nothing at all to do.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
![That Was the Whopper Weekend That Was [Illustrated]](https://americandigest.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/welcometohell-150x150.jpg "That Was the Whopper Weekend That Was [Illustrated]")
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thats great!
I wasn’t going to take the 5 minutes to watch that. I’m glad I did.
Get What You Give is a great track by them.
Freedom is undefeated and will win again.
Great!
…um, the “soundtrack”.
Gene Kelly’s choreography and dancing are absolutely American. That is the reason I always preferred him to Fred Astaire, who was too suave, too slick, too much “top hat and tails.” But Astaire had an eye for genius in others as well. He called this Nicholas Brothers dance number “the greatest movie musical sequence he had ever seen.” The Brothers did it unrehearsed and in only one take. They had also danced with Kelly in the film “The Pirate”. Gregory Hines, no slouch himself, said this of their dance routine:
“…if their biography were ever filmed, their dance numbers would have to be computer-generated because no one now could emulate them.”
Ballet master Mikhail Baryshnikov called the Nicholas Brothers “the most amazing dancers he had ever seen in his life.”
And away we go…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoMbeDhG9fU
Read up on Kelly, he said he’s blue collar and Astaire is white collared.
Said they each have different styles and are not compareable.
I agree.
Same with guitar players, guns, cars, etc.
The time wasting argument list is long…..
I don’t dance but appreciate those that do as long as they do it well, and that mostly doesn’t include anything in the last 30 years.
Nicholas Brothers-
Donald O’Connor wouldn’t leave home without ’em.
Love it.
The life-affirming exuberance of dance. God bless us,amen.
I just realized I haven’t seen nearly enough of Gene Kelly’s movies.
My daughter is now wondering why they don’t make movies like that anymore.
Watch “Casablanca” with her. I would wager that she would have the same question.
Gene Kelly exuded an “Everyman” quality with which most people could identify. The dance sequences he and Leslie Caron did in “An American in Paris” were – and continue to be – stunning.
“Singing in the Rain” is one of my “go-to” movies when the world is a little too much with me. And, of course, Kelly’s dance in the rain will always be iconic.
Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse in “Singing in the Rain”. Begins at 1:36.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gry8mj8Zql8
What an extraordinarily beautiful woman. Here’s another clip of them from the same movie.
Cyd’s legs are absolute perfection and she is a visual delight in that “bridal” costume.
https://tinyurl.com/2p89yvt5
She is truly unbelievable.
Richard, you have good taste in women. Cyd’s legs could lead me into Mortal Sin.
Sorry guys, the clips and cuts, didn’t work for me.
Dance numbers, like Singing that Mike linked above, or Kelly & Shirley McLaine, What A way to Go: https://youtu.be/5y76ctjpOn0
oh yea!
& nope, Shirley ain’t no Cyd but strut her with Kelly….
I saw MacLaine in “The Turning Point” and with Robert Mitchum in “Two for the Seesaw”. Enjoyed them both. Her dancing is pedestrian. Kelly had to really tone it down so that she could keep up. She is no Cyd Charisse. And besides, MacLaine is one of the weirdest people on earth.
Cyd, she may not be, but she’ll do.
So, any port in the storm?
Another GREAT short guy!!
When comparing Kelly and Astaire–the easy way is to just attribute difference in “styles”. However, I believe that Astaire never had the technical skill that Kelly had and he never had the strength that Kelly had AS WELL AS Kelly’s pure love of the music!!
WITH REGARD TO WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY: It is fair to ask if we were led down the slippery slope by Hollywood?
I believe that Hollywood is a symptom, not a cause. For decades it produced extremely patriotic films. Men were shown as men and women were shown as women. When the culture changed, Hollywood changed. It now reflects the madness, despondency, infantilism and depravity that has overtaken our nation.
In those times, whether a comic, or dramatic, almost every actor/ess could also sing and DANCE.
See Danny Kaye in the clip.
Of course I almost fell out of my shoes the first time I watched Yankee Doodle Dandy and saw my favourite tough guy, Cagney, dancing like he did it every day!
Wonderful clip Gerard, thanx for sharing!
Many of the greats could act, dance and sing—Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra for example. Many others could only do one thing—John Wayne and Clark Gable for example—but they did it well.
When I was a kid I thought dancing was for girls, but Gene Kelly’s energy and quirk persuaded me otherwise.