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(If that’s too tiny to watch — which it probably is, unless you’re browsing with Google Chrome — then you may want to go here to watch it.)
Cab Calloway isn’t easy to upstage, but the Nicholas Brothers sure did it. The staircase sequence at the end of the dance was done in a single take (or so Fayard Nicholas claimed). Fred Astaire called this the greatest dance number ever filmed.
The clip comes from the 1943 film Stormy Weather, which had an all-black cast, including Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Ada Brown, Katherine Dunham, Lena Horn, and starred the astounding Bill Robinson. (This was Robinson’s final film.)
Robinson’s elegant, understated tapping was as opposite the Nicholas Brothers’ as it could be — but was equally astonishing. Here’s his classic step dance:
While clicking through Youtube watching classic tap dancers, I came across a video of Eleanor Powell — probably the best female tap dancer ever — doing a tribute to Robinson’s stairs routine while wearing blackface. Despite the top-notch dancing and filming (I love the shot from above, showing her shadow on the floor), the blackface ruins the performance.
I wonder what Robinson thought of Powell’s performance. By all accounts, Powell’s admiration for Robinson was genuine,1 and it’s often claimed (I’m not sure with how much truth) that Robinson personally taught her the routine — but the racist context of blackface brings up makes it impossible to enjoy the light-hearted artistry of the dance. Robinson had an extraordinary career, but he was never as big a movie star as Powell was at her peak, and it wasn’t because he lacked talent — the opportunities for black dancers simply weren’t as grand. (Powell, in turn, would probably have been a bigger star if she had been equally talented but male.)
- There’s a much-repeated story that MGM refused Powell’s request to be filmed dancing with Robinson.
