The Eleanor Powell / Ann Miller Tap Goddess Love Thread

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:38am

We need one, right this very minute!

I don't mean for this to be a "who's better than who" thread. The both knock my socks off! And fortunately, the really hit their primes in different decades.

Eleanor was the queen of the 1930s and early '40s.

Ann was the queen of the late '40s and early 1950s.

Both were at MGM (or at least ended up there).

They really never competed against each other for films or screen time.

Thank GOD. Because they're both so good, I'm thinking of them as brilliant "book ends" celebrating the best that ever was for tap dancing screen stars.

I'm not taking anything away from Ginger Rogers, who was a killer tapper, but not in the league of Eleanor and Ann. Ginger could act circles around these two ladies, but they could dance circles around every other talent on the lot!

Okay, enough with the competetive comparisons!

On with the show!

I give you, Eleanor Powell, ladies and gentlemen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94XNnIXe2zE&feature=related

I give you Ann Miller, as well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmyZRg7r4MY

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:41am

I love them both, but I love somebody else, more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1zk3OsIPus

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:43am

Definitely wonderful, but just a notch below Ann and Eleanor, who had more power as dancers (probably because they weren't 20 pounds underweight).

Vera-Ellen rocks, though. No doubt about it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:47am

Vera-Ellen scares me.

I always imagine her undigested dinner, flushing down the bowl.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:48am

I know you dont want a favorite, but I cant help it...Eleanor gives me goosebumps, and I love her expression and final "tooth chomp" as she smiles in a close up.

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:57am

not to thread jack, but I've worked with a coupla unknowns who were such world class tappers I was always astounded to watch them rehearse.

Jeanna Schweppe

Barb Schoenhofer

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:59am

All right, we live in the era of competetiveness, and American Idol-type horseraces. So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Well, heres' the way I look at it...

Ann was a better actress and definitely a better singer. Her dancing was just a notch under Eleanor's. Eleanor was more graceful than Ann. More fluid. Both were powerhouse dancers, but Eleanor just took over the screen from everyone, even the guys.

That's what is so great about the Begin the Beguine duet Eleanor did with Fred Astaire. They're equally matched. He doesn't have to dance around her, and she doesn't have to pose and look pretty for the camera (although she certainly could)! As Fred himself once said, "She danced like a man." Thankfully, she didn't look like one!

Eleanor Wins:

Best Smile
Most graceful
Most flexibility
(tie) Best All-Around

Ann Wins:

Best Singer
Best Actress
Best Screen Personality
(tie) Best All-Around

There, the judges have decided.

To me, these two are like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. They're both "the best." Fred and Eleanor were White Collar. Gene and Ann were Blue Collar.

And they ruled the land.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 11:04am

But when paired with Fred or Gene, Judy held her own.

Judy and Gene doing the "Portland Fancy" from Summer Stock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EuMImHN210

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 11:12am

PJ, I'm posting that wonderful documentary on Begin the Beguine here... because it's a wonderful tribute, paid by Ann Miller to Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire.

Great stuff in here too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1ogErECn3s

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 12:11pm

A lot of tapping ladies, particularly at MGM held their own with Gene and Fred:

Judy
Vera-Ellen
Jane Powell
June Allyson
Debbie Reynolds
Rita Hayworth (over at Columbia)
Ginger (at RKO)

But none of them were really tap soloists who could take over the screen without a dance partner. That would be Ann and Eleanor. Tops in taps.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 1:55pm

Treasures all, guys! Thanks for posting. I do love me some Vera-Ellen though. But she got terrifyingly skinny so early.

Here's a favorite Annie number of mine (and I know I've posted it here before) - It's (mostly) unsually slinky and proto-Fosse jazzy, choreographed by Jack Cole from her last Columbia "B", The Thrill of Brazil (1946) right before she taps over to M-G-M.

It perfectly illustrates Cole's dictum of "If you can't get half-naked muscle boys, put the hot male dancers in skin-tight white pants."
A Man Is A Brother To a Mule

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 1:59pm

1945, pre-nosejob Vera-Ellen from WONDER MAN.

God, do I miss real Technicolor.
"We'll bet our nylon hose on it!"

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 3:35pm

is that Vera-Ellen singing or dubbed? I'm guessing all the multi color girls are dubbed.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 3:45pm

Those are great numbers, TP!

Chevstriss---Vera-Ellen, Leslie Caron and Cyd Charisse were always dubbed. They couldn't sing (or at least not well enough for MGM).

Sang for themselves... most of the time (if not all):

June Allyson
Jane Powell
Ann Miller
Debbie Reynolds
Esther Williams
Betty Garrett

and of course the singers who were known as singers:
Judy Garland
Lena Horne
Kathryn Grayson
Jeanette MacDonald

Surprisingly I don't think Angela Lansbury ever sang for herself at MGM. She was always dubbed (unless you can point to a time when she wasn't).

Updated On: 9/10/08 at 03:45 PM

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 3:52pm

And may I submit the most incredible routine I've ever seen? The Nicholas Brothers, from "Stormy Weather":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9hTyLjfM&feature=related

Yes, I know we are focusing on the ladies in this thread, but this is worth checking out.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 3:56pm

Oh, sure, there were lots of strong male dancers, and many soloists. (well, more men than women)

The Nicholas Brothers were at the very top of the heap. Bill Robinson too.

But yeah, this thread is for the star lady tap dancers: Eleanor and Ann.

Even if I do love that clip!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 4:43pm

For Ann Miller fans from a 1957 television show: Annie tapping while the very hot Jack Costanzo plays the bongos to "I'm Gonna Live "Til I Die":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmyZRg7r4MY

Updated On: 9/10/08 at 04:43 PM

[Mamie]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 9:14pm

I was thinking about this while watching that same tribute Besty. I am in complete agreement with you on every line. The final result being that I couldn't resist watching every one of their films - whenever they're shown. I have the teensiest bit of a Annie preference simply because she was kind enough to send me a note and an autographed photo when I wrote to her a few years ago. Eleanor was just a little bit before my time.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:00pm

I'm not a big autograph hound, but when I was a teenager, I did get Eleanor Powell's autograph (on her very own photo she gave me)...

It says:

"To Besty (okay, my real name),
A fine young man,
I wish a world of happiness always.
Eleanor Powell"

*sigh*

What a classy, lovely lady!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/10/08 at 10:18pm

Born to Dance is one of my favorite movies ever. "Rap Tap on Wood" can make me smile unlike any other, more famous song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAQOchObJLY

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/11/08 at 4:53am

Thanks for both those clips, PJ. For some inexplicable reason, BORN TO DANCE is forgotten whenever someone compiles one of those "50 Greatest Film Musicals of All Time" lists.

The thing about Powell and Vera-Ellen (IMHO): Unlike most other female dancing stars, they look that they are bursting with joy when they dance. Miller, for some reason, doesn't have that quality.

What Miller did have (in addition to her astounding tap artistry) was an ENORMOUS, vivacious personality no other dancer came close to. And as PJ's bongo clip from 1957 proves, she actually got better as she got older.