Dakota Beacon

The quarantining of Americans throughout much of the nation and its related economic fallout has reminded us of another time in our history when hard times threatened our morale.  Americans fought back with entertainment - actually joyous entertainment - to raise their spirits and give them the courage to fight on. In today’s crisis we are denied many of the enjoyable pastimes of our grandparents and great-grandparents who punched back against despair with social get-togethers and the movies.  But today we have something they didn’t - instant communication and a treasure-trove of great performances to inspire us while we wait this out.

Today’s Beacon takes us back to the “dirty Thirties”, the era of the Great Depression, which through the lens of time seems almost quaint and romantic.  It wasn’t all that romantic in real life, but that’s what the movies were for! Let’s take a look at what kept the people going when the going was really, really tough - the American movie musical!

The great Busby Berkeley became famous for his overhead shots of dancers performing his intricate kaleidoscopic choreography.  Born into a family of entertainers in Los Angeles in 1895, some believed he probably got the idea for his unique form of art from watching soldiers drill in World War I.  He began designing dance numbers in Eddie Cantor movies. Soon his fantastic formations of beautiful girls in synchronized motion became his trademark. He used huge numbers of dancers.  Tap was the usual genre, although he employed other dance forms, but he developed his portrayal of dance - his kaleidoscope - as an art form all its own. His dancers used ostrich-feather fans to depict the opening and closing of a flower.  He would use black tights and white gloves to display startling patterns from overhead. Like Fred Astaire, Berkeley was a master of finding ways of incorporating almost any kind of prop into his spectacles - hundreds of white grand pianos, dressing tables, Multiple levels were often a feature, as were vast art deco staircases.  His dancers, too, were props - they became whatever he imagined - a waterfall, perhaps, His chorus dancers didn’t need great tap technique. They needed to be about the same size, they needed great gams and they needed a strong sense of rhythm.  It helped if they were pretty and blonde. Later in his career, Berkeley designed some of the grand finales for the great Esther Williams movies, reprising his work in Footlight Parade.  The visions of Busby Berkeley were elegant, art deco expressions - luxury that people lapped up in times of scarcity. It was a dream world much needed by those fighting for a comeback.

Here are a few of his masterpieces:

“I Only Have Eyes for You” (Dames, 1934)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P76cUtCGRQs

“Lullaby of Broadway” (Gold Diggers of 1935)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx6s-YReOJY

“By a Waterfall” (Footlight Parade, 1933)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRqcZcrgPaU

“Dames” (Dames, 1934)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bVJol3-XLo

“Finale” (Varsity Show, 1937)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKIq_AaJBWs

“Dancing Pianos” (Gold Diggers of 1935)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHMbSTWJvZM

Berkeley was a genius when it came to breathtaking spectacles and creating imaginative and beautiful visions.  But there were others who helped us beguile the time - the top box office star of the Depression Era was a little girl.  Young and old, alike were charmed by her perky personality and incredible talent - a “triple threat”, she could sing, act and dance!  Her first screen role was in “Baby Burlesques”, 10-minute featurettes. Her outstanding talent, however, soon took her to starring roles in Stand Up and Cheer, Baby, Take a Bow, Curly Top, Little Miss Marker, Bright Eyes, Dimples, Captain January, The Little Colonel and many others - she made well over 40 movies, 29 of them between age 3 and 10.  Franklin Roosevelt said of her, “"It is a splendid thing that for just fifteen cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."  She retired from making films at the age of 22. She devoted much of the rest of her life to charitable, humanitarian and political work. She was such a fantastic dancer that people often didn’t notice her exquisite syncopated rhythm expressed in her jazz singing.  Here’s the great Shirley Temple:

A tribute to Shirley Temple with Tommy Tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tAuQ9FZl08

“Baby Take a Bow” (Stand Up and Cheer, 1933)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVJv4K-niTo

“The Codfish Ball” (Captain January, 1936)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amIHoBXPqJg

With George Murphy, “We Should Be Together” (Little Miss Broadway, 1938)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW7fkQyxHV4

The 30s were rough, all right, but they were elegant, too!  The artistry of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers is legendary!

Romance on the dance floor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MANfbqtZN0

“Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” (Shall We Dance, 1937)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOILZ_D3aRg

“Cheek to Cheek” (Top Hat, 1935)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILxo-TUkzOQ

“Let’s Face the Music and Dance” (Follow the Fleet, 1936)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c08wiEyVuak

"The Continental" (The Gay Divorcee, 1936) (This won the first Oscar for Dance Direction ever - for Hermes Pan.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x438BleiQsc

Here are a couple more that are just too good to pass up!  

"I've Got a Feeling You're Fooling" (Broadway Melody of 1936) (This won the Oscar for Dave Gould for thes econd time for a best dance production number.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U--TknoLdZE

"Stiff Upper Lip" (Damsel in Distress, 1937)  (Hermes Pan won the last Oscar awarded for Dance Direction for this, featuring Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNUyDIbztHw

"I;m Feeling Like a Million" (Broadway Melody of 1938) with George Murphy and Eleanor Powell!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzJapwG__Eg

You can google some more.  They knew how to banish the blues in the 30s - they had to!  I don’t know about you, but I feel a little better after that!

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