Her PB was 21 pirouettes in a row. She said she was prouder of her spins than her fast taps. It went back to her years of ballet training. Nobody did 'spotting' with more assurance.
I am just floored by this routine!!! Rope work isn’t the easiest thing as it is but to incorporate the dance with it and Eleanor having her hands on as well; just amazing!!!
What a stunning performance! Eleanor Powell is an amazing tap dancer! She was so strong and had unbelievable coordination. In addition to this, she had inner light and a quiet confidence in what she was doing.
Fred Astaire gave her credit for being a great solo dancer, but also said that as a partner "She danced like a man." I've seen her do some bends and twists that would cripple the average person.
How incredibly difficult and exhausting that must have been! You were the Queen of the Dance during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Hail Queen, er, Cow Girl Eleanor!!👑👠
Lasso dancing, as well as all the other talents she had? What next? She's the best dancer I've ever seen. Simply incredible grace and agility and artistry.
Sam Garrett, the oldest cowboy in this clip, taught Ellie the rope tricks over a period of 16 weeks. She was so good at it that he tried to convince her to leave Hollywood and join the rodeo circuit.
This is genuine talent. Nothing computer simulated about this! I'm 35 and am so grateful to have parents who were born during those years and passed on their love for that wonderful era to me.
+Nathan Jennings Agreed! This era movies are the BEST! Pretty much all I ever watch. Back when people where people and talent actually existed. I am 27 and can not get enough of the Greatest Generation Era! Those folks really had something.
And I thought people like us were few! I'm 29 and pretty much only watch movies from this era. Movies these days just aren't made of the same quality, and there aren't talents in the likes of Ellie, Fred, etc!
It was the only big number for which Powell personally coached the chorus from scratch. Several of the studio trainers and dance directors who usually handled the background artistes had said that the co-ordination required of the cowgirls in the climactic lassooing of the saddle was impossible. She also trained the cowboys, who were not pro dancers but rodeo performers. I suspect none of the support ever had to do anything as demanding again.
@@esmeephillips5888 Speaking of choreography, I know Eleanor Powell choreographed all of her solo numbers and co-created her duets with Fred Astaire in Broadway Melody of 1940. Do you know what input George Murphy had, if any, in the choreography of I’m Feeling Like a Million (BM38) and Between You and Me (BM40)? Or was there a dance director at MGM that she worked with to create those partnered dances, like Hermes Pan worked with Mr. Astaire? Thanks.
@@partycentralsales George Murphy like Robert Taylor was a good company guy, easy-going and without creative ambitions. He did not contribute to choreography but functioned as a Hollywood equivalent of the 'danseur noble' in ballet whose job is to display and support the prima ballerina, as the picture does the frame. He was stronger than Astaire, who could not even cart Ginger around in the air, despite her weighing less than Powell. Kelly could have handled Ellie but was scared of her. I think George Murphy could and should have done more in musicals, but he did not push for it. 'Broadway Rhythm', which was carved out of the wreckage of the Kelly-Powell project, gave him his best chance to stop being the perpetual hero's pal, and very endearing he is in it. But he was stuck with a non-hoofer leading lady, Mayer's girlfriend, and by midwar all the heavy competition was in Technicolor. Poor George, no wonder he turned to politics.
The JD Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell performances are the ones that are best known, but Bob always took the slow and schmaltzy first chorus. An upbeat number like this really shows what a all around truly great singer Mr. Eberly was!
I can't say anything more except - this is amazing! I'm going to build a time machine and go back to the 1930s ready for films like this, anyone want to come along? Thank you Eleanor.
It always seemed that Eleanor Powell pushed herself to perform more and more difficult routines( my choice, the tapping while skipping rope routine in "Honolulu"). No matter how difficult, she made it look easy.
When she passes from girl to girl in the chorus, picking up a lariat and tossing it over the post, she throws in a full twirl between each without missing a beat. 'Difficult' was never tough enough for Miss Powell.
Just awesome! This is one of the best dance routines I've ever seen! Does anyone know what movie this is from? I saw Red Skelton standing and watching, so there must have been more than this dance scene filmed.--Found it! The film this dance came from was "I Dood It" released in 1943.
Great video. Tip for the uploader: when google asks to stabilise the image, do not press yes. It's designed for handheld mobile phone videos and not for film clips.
She was the best.... a natural. I remember with just a bit of watching she was a good friend of Bill Bojangles Robinson from her early days. She did a tribute to him which, sadly, these days would be decried as racist. She was strong in her dancing. I love many from that era. but she is the best female. she could stand up to Astaire, even being just as relaxed as he was in style.
From 3:35 she collects six twirling ropes at speed, tapping between the chorines in a semi-circle while twirling and lassoing the saddle every time. How many takes did it need? But most performers outside the rodeo circuit could not do it at all, let alone while staying in time with the band and never missing a beat. This tops the skipping title number of 'Honolulu' and is perhaps the most spectacular demonstration of EP's co-ordination between mind, hands and feet. Her ability to riff on a rhythm is like Fred Astaire's. It infused all they did, including singing.
Powell said in an interview that they worked for six weeks on the number. She also said that there were cigar boxes full of money on set as the crew members took bets as to whether she would make it all the way through a take without making a mistake.
