My new enormous 1920s Charleston compilation, with more vintage footage of the Charleston than you can shake a stick at (as we would say in Australia). See if you can spot these dancers: Joan Crawford, Leon James, Josephine Baker, Al Minns, Frankie Manning, Ginger Rogers, Pepsi Bethel, Betty Bolton, and plenty more…  Enjoy!

“The Charleston was the dance that captured the spirit of the 1920s. It was danced with wild abandon by a new generation of independent young Americans, to the new hot jazz that was flooding the country. The dance began in Charleston, South Carolina, the city from which it takes its name. In 1923, The Charleston was featured in the Broadway show Runnin Wild, one of the biggest hits of the decade. The song from the show – James P. Johnson’s tune The Charleston – spread the fad across the nation and onwards to the rest of the world. Josephine Baker became famous for performing the Charleston in Paris in the 1920s. The Charleston is both a solo and partnered dance, both wildly exuberant and exciting to watch. As the hot jazz of the 1920s gave way to the swingin jazz of the 1930s and 40s, the partnered version of Charleston evolved into Lindy Hop.“

A new compilation I just posted on YouTube, with that fantastic footage of the mad dance marathons of the 1930s that lasted for up to 6 months!

A few more images of Irene Castle, since she was such a fashion visionary. She wore cutting edge fashions, and – as a dancer’s convenience – wore shorter skirts and even bobbed her hair in 1915, long before it became de rigueur.

Below is the entire text of the book “Modern Dancing”, written in 1914 by the famous husband-and-wife ballroom dancing couple, Irene and Vernon Castle. They are credited with invigorating the popularity of modern dancing. They were inventors of a number of dances, including the Castle Walk that bears their name, and they also helped to popularize dances such as the Foxtrot, the Hesitation Waltz, the Maxixe and the early ballroom form of the Tango.  In the text below, you will find descriptions (from which you are expected to learn!) the Tango, the Maxixe, the Castle Walk, and other dances. There are also notes on grace and etiquette, Irene Castle’s take on proper dancing costumes for women (remember, Irene Castle was one of the most influential women in fashion leading up to the 1920s – she bobbed her hair more than a decade before it was fashionable for flappers!), the idea of modern dances as fashion reformers and beautifiers, notes on proper dance music, the dances of the past, and the effect of dancing on one’s health by “an Eminent New York Physician.”

The book does bash a lot of dances I personally adore (like the Turkey Trot, the Grizzly Bear and the Bunny Hug), and no, the Castles were not jazz dancers (at best, some of their dances were performed to ragtime). But I love to watch them, and they laid the groundwork for the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers style of Hollywood ballrooming that is still so influential today.

Although the Castles’ dances seem tame to modern eyes, reading the book reminds me of the Puritan, anti-dancing mentality they were fighting against at the time. It was the same mentality that Lindy Hoppers struggled against two decades later.

If you’re not familiar with the Castles, watch this clip first:

MODERN DANCING
By Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle
New York, March 1914

FOREWORD

WE feel that this book will serve a double purpose. In the first place, it aims to explain in a clear and simple manner the fundamentals of modern dancing. In the second place, it shows that dancing, properly executed, is neither vulgar nor immodest, but, on the contrary, the personification of refinement, grace, and modesty.

Our aim is to uplift dancing, purify it, and place it before the public in its proper light. When this has been done, we feel convinced that no objection can possibly be urged against it on the grounds of impropriety, but rather that social reformers will join with the medical profession in the view that dancing is not only a rejuvenator of good health and spirits, but a means of preserving youth, prolonging life, and acquiring grace, elegance, and beauty.

Read the rest of this entry

On 23rd August 1943, LIFE Magazine featured the Lindy Hop and declared that “a true national folk dance has been born in the USA”. It featured a short article and a 10 page photographic editorial (pages 95-103). The dancers were Leon James and Willa Mae Ricker (of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers fame), and Stanley Catron and Kaye Popp, teenagers who had been performing Lindy Hop in the Broadway musical, Something for the Boys.

Here are the famous photos from that editorial, that I see on t-shirts and posters in Lindy Hoppers’ homes all around the world (click to enlarge):

But here are some other photos from the shoot that I see far less often, and are just wonderful:

Download a PDF version of the article here: LIFE Magazine August 1943.

Or you can read the issue, in its entirety, on Google Books here.

You can also download all the Lindy Hop images from the magazine here.

I’m recovering now from the charming Provence Swing Festival, in France. Here’s two videos – first, of our brand new Lindy Classic routine, and second, of a short feather fan dance I did. The classic routine is to Scram, by Fats Waller. Enjoy!

I’m down in Buenos Aires, Argentina right now, Juan’s hometown. Tonight we went out to see a kickin’ gypsy jazz band (Django style) called Swing Tzigane. It was a concert more than a gig really, in a beautiful white marble hall at the university. The Lindy Hoppers were swinging out at the back of the hall, and by the end of the set, the back four rows had all swiveled around in their seats to watch the dancers instead of the band.

I was wearing my boots, not expecting to dance (some of you have seen them, completely impractical sexy knee-high shiny black pointy-toe things that truly have no place on a dancefloor). But I ended up swinging out to almost every tune. The boots fared ok, fairly impressed. Hmmm, swing boots…

Anyway, one of the tunes the band played was Shine (no vocals, mind you). Love that tune! I was singing it as we walked out, sliding around and pretending to be John Bubbles – the local dancers had no idea what I was doing!!  Come on folks, Cabin in the Sky!? John Bubbles, the tap dancer’s tap dancer!?  *sigh*

I know a lot of old films with good dance scenes in them, are often pretty shabby movies themselves. But I actually really love the film Cabin in the Sky. You can get the DVD on Amazon for next to nothing: Cabin in the Sky on Amazon

And here’s the clip:

John Bubbles, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, angels and devils battling for a soul, what’s not to love?

My dance partner Juan just gave me the Three Peppers Chronological Classics CD, hoorah! These things are hard to find these days, although a lot of them are available for mp3 download on Amazon now, which is brilliant! Not this one though, unfortunately. Anyway,  I’ve had this one in the back of my mind for a while, because fellow Killer Dillers, Kevin St Laurent & Jo Hoffberg have used two of these tunes for their choreographies (Swingin’ at the Cotton Club, and Fuzzy Wuzzy). But somehow I never got round to laying my hands on the CD. Here are the tracks:

1. Get the Gold
2. The Sheik of Araby
3. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
4. Swingin’ at the Cotton Club
5. Yours, all Yours
6. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
7. It Must Be Love
8. Smile Up At The Sun
9. Swing Out, Uncle Wilson
10. If I Had My Way
11. Serenade in the Night
12. The Duck’s Yas Yas Yas
13. Down By The Old Mill Stream
14. Fuzzy Wuzzy
15. Swing Out Uncle Wilson
16. Smile Up At The Sun
17. Love Grows on the White Oak Tree
18. It’s a Puzzle To Me (So What!)
19. Three Foot Skipper Jones
20. Pepperism
21. Tom Tom Serenade
22. Hot Dogs
23. Mary Had A Little Lamb
24. Was That All I Meant To You?

And here’s a copy of the liner notes about the band:

‘Novelty groups’ such as the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers – or, even more important for the evolution of Rhythm and Blues, the Cats and the Fiddle and the Spirits of Rhythm – rank among the better-known of many almost forgotten little bands that, compared to the big swing orchestras of the day, never received due recognition. Their contributions to the American musical heritage are nevertheless much more substantial than their fame and reputation.

Little is known about The Three Peppers, and checking reference books on jazz for details about this trio always results in considerable frustration. Fortunately, however, a few aware collectors, realising the importance of groups such as this, have succeeded in gathering some vital snippets of information from the period. The Peppers were formed in St. Louis by pianist Oliver “Toy” Wilson. The trio of Wilson, guitarist Bob Bell and bassist Walter Williams was later active in New York, where it was perhaps ‘discovered’ by impresario/producer Irving Mills, then also Duke Ellington’s manager. Mills recorded the Peppers for his own Variety label, an active company that took several little-known bands under its wing. The trio continued recording until 1940, but then vanished from the studios for seven years, although it never ceased to exist. A 1939 article describes its success with audiences at the Earle Theatre in Philadelphia: “The dusky Peppers come hot with ‘Shadrach’ (sic) and positively sizzle with ‘Swing Out Uncle Wilson’. At show caught, they had to come back for two encores, winding up with a bit of old-fashioned ham. Plenty good.”

In the early forties, founder-member Toy Wilson left the Peppers and only recorded twice again (in 1944 and 1958) before disappearing into total oblivion. He was replaced by Roy Branker, who can be heard on the Three Peppers’ last recordings, made in 1947 and 1949.  The trio is known to have worked mainly in the New York area in the early and mid-forties, but it did also play residencies on the West Coast. An excellent publicity photo from 1944 shows the Three Peppers (with Roy Branker) when they were working at the Zanzibar nightclub in Manhattan. It is probable the Peppers broke up soon after their last recording session for a Philadelphia-based label in 1949, since there is no further information about them after this date.

This CD by the Three Peppers presents the complete recordings of their early period. With the exception of some isolated tracks on two long-deleted LPs, this music has not been available for more than half a century. Furthermore, ‘The Sheik of Araby’ from the Peppers’ first session, was not even released at the time. These first four tracks are typical of the group’s energetic rhythm-numbers, whereas the session with singer Sally Gooding is more conventional, the additional musicians diminishing the impact of the trio. Ms Gooding, too, seems to have been associated with Irving Mills, for she recorded again on a session he organised (see Chronological Classic 548 Teddy Wilson). The final session for Variety again concentrates on the Peppers’ own impressive skills. A further indication of the trio’s popularity is that is re-recorded some of its earlier material for the rival Decca label the following year. We hope we shall be able to re-issue the remaining recordings by The Three Peppers at a later date.” – Written by Anatol Schenker, April 1996

Juan and I are constantly harassing our poor students for not having seen The Spirit Moves. This documentary is absolute essential viewing for any swing dancer! I watch and re-watch it constantly, and every time I see something new. There’s not only Lindy Hop, but also Charleston, Blues, Cakewalk, Big Apple, and all manner of vintage jazz dances, as well as footage of people jamming and social dancing, shot in the Savoy Ballroom in the early 1950s. You can buy it at swingdanceshop.com and here’s a sampler: