(no subject)

[mamculuna]

There were a lot of better Glenn Miller songs that year, but this one was #1 in October. I suspect nobody is going to listen--I didn't! But ZOMG the incredible dancing by the Nicholas Brothers in the second half, and in the clip in a2zmom's comment. Thanks too to mummm for getting me to see that. Still, how often do you get to see guys wearing dinner jackets (tuxes?) with satin lapels?

Comments

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Well, I watched it! I love Glenn Miller... even though they were a bit before my time. And the dancing at the end! If you didn't watch, please do! I can't remember the name of those dancers but I have seen them before and they were so GOOD!

I think I can spell Kalamazoo easily now... *grin*

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

The dancers are the Nicolas Brothers. They were so amazing that even the fact that they were black didn't stop them from having a major career in film.

Here they are in Stormy Weather, performing what Fred Astaire called the greatest dance number ever filmed. The crazy bit with the stairs was their signature move. I'm not sure any other dancer alive is able to perform the splits they did and then stand back up with no hands. That takes incredible strength.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the information! They were so INCREDIBLE!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks! I'd have missed them completely if you and Sue hadn't pointed that out. Not just strength but grace, skill, style, verve--I was already thinking they were amazing in the Kalamazoo number, but this one!!

[himmapaan.livejournal.com]

I've just seen this clip too. That is absolutely a-mazing!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I would have missed that!

[himmapaan.livejournal.com]

I did listen and did enjoy it too. :D

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Glad you did! I'm so glad people told me about the dancing--it's incredible.

[himmapaan.livejournal.com]

Yes! :D

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I watched as far as the start of the vocal. Tex Beneke, I presume. Is that Cesar Romero sitting at the piano?

Like most of them, not likely top 40 material out of its own era. ;o)

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Take a look at the dancing at the end, though!!

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

ok, i'll be the one to say the weird thing.
i was just thinking as i watched this piece, about that time in american history, when there were freckled faces & boys carrying books for girls. there's a whole timbre to this era that is completely outside my experience. sometimes i'd like to hop into a time machine and pay a visit to that brief instant of our history when things were so different. when people felt so hopeful.

also, the second half of this video is just amazing. i mean the dancers. omg, they actually walked on the walls!!!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I know--you'd think they'd need wires to do that, but it's clearly just them.

I grew up in the late 40's and early 50's. Actually, my experience was that it was very scary--the Korean war, the threat of nuclear war, polio, getting pregnant--all those things seem on the verge of happening all the time, and our parents were just a few years out of their own youth during the Depression, and worried constantly that prosperity would vanish. My son sees it as a hopeful time, too, but at least for me and my friends, it was a little different.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I love the Nicolas brothers plus I'm a big fan of swing music so this was delightful.

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

My parents were huge Glenn Miller fans, so I remember this song vaguely. I listened!

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I like some of his others better, but now that I've seen the dancing, I'm blown away with this clip.

[himmapaan.livejournal.com]

I agree there are some other Glenn Miller songs I like better, but I think this is still a hundred times better than most of the drivel we get now!