Fayard Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers Needs Our Help!

Forgive the bump up, but this is timely and perhaps may have gotten a little lost over the holiday.

Thanks!

Good to see you on this side, MasterLcZ.

It's awful when someone gets to such a state in their life and maybe it is more awful when they have given so much joy and happiness to millions of people over many decades and then they wind up scuffling for food to eat and having to pay the rent, while dealing with health issues, too.

I remember seeing both the Nicholas Brothers in person in LA at UCLA circa 1978. Their 'revival' had yet to begin, there was a pretty decent turnout.

When they appeared on stage together and both men were still dancing at that time....one of the brothers even did a full split which he knew the audience was waiting to see......my heart was actually racing to see these men in person and to see the film clips from there finest films at the same time.

Even to this day, when rewatching ORCHESTRA WIVES or SUN VALLEY SERENADE or STORMY WEATHER or DOWN ARGENTINE WAY, I can still feel my chest start to tighten up with excitement just as they begin to go into some sensational routine.

I hope that some folks reading this and with some money in their kick feels the same way and can help a great star out.

Fayard is one of the great men of the movies and show business. I have met him on many occasions and he truly deserves everything and anything anyone can do. He and Nicholas were two of the greatest dancers who ever lived. Thanks to the person who posted this.

Steve Schalchlin
Fayard Nicholas in North Hollywood a few years ago.

What a terrible situation for one of the greatest dancers in history! Thank you for posting this information, Goodtoon, and I certainly hope that Fayard and his wife will be receiving the full support of the dance and Hollywood communities in their time of need, and that he will have a full and rapid recovery.

Lois

It's wonderful to see that so many people are willing to help out this beloved entertainer. Just curious to know, has anyone contacted either SAG (Screen Actors Guild) or the Actors Fund concerning their need for financial assistance?

Sending best wishes to Mr. Nicholas for a complete and speedy recovery.

Another bump up for the good of Fayard Nicholas!

Thanks, lildogs!

Anyone who has ever been 'up against it' knows how brutal it can be. When people turn to other people for help, it basically means they *need* the help.

Those guys were the Kings of Tap. You see them in a film and you brighten up, no matter how low you may be feeling.

They continue to amaze new generations of film watchers who have never seen or heard of them until the very instant they see them in action.

Fayard has made it to 91 y/o. He's only got so much time left, so if we can make it a little easier for a gent who made life happier for millions of people for more than 70 years (!!!!), it's a 'good investment'!

Here is the direct link to the "FAYARD FUND" -

http://rustyfrank.com/fayardnicholas.htm

a bump!

More news and a NPR article!
http://blogs.wbur.org/arts/?p=208

Helping Fayard Nicholas
Posted by Debra Cash, Friday, January 6th, 2006


Only medical skill, the support of friends and family and perhaps the prayers of his fans can help Fayard Nicholas recover from the stroke the gentlemanly 91-year old African-American dancer suffered on November 22, 2005. But those of us who thrilled to the virtuoso tap dancing of the Nicholas Brothers in the “Stormy Weather,” “Down Argentine Way” and other Hollywood musicals can make a difference by pulling out our checkbooks.

When I interviewed Fayard as part of the Portsmouth (NH) Percussive Music Festival in 2003, he shared an anecdote about how he once was refused admittance to the segregated film studio commissary. David Selznick got on the phone and told the maitre d’ to let him in and serve him anything he pleased — his art, alongside that of his younger brother Harold and the directors who showcased his dancing — had paid for the studio.

At the Cotton Club and in Hollywood, the Nicholas Brothers were headliners. Yet unfortunately, stars in the cement on Hollywood Boulevard and 1992 Kennedy Center honors don’t pay the bills. It’s hard to imagine such a great artist as Fayard Nicholas being at risk of having his electricity and water shut off. But that is exactly what happened this winter.

The person who kept the wolf from Fayard Nicholas’ door is a California lindy hop and tap dancer named Rusty Frank. When she was an eleven-year-old tomboy, Frank was a tap student of Fayard’s wife, Katherine. Recognizing the Nicholas’ plight, she started an emergency relief fund — complete with Pay Pal options for one-time or ongoing gifts of support. (Those in a position to make substantial contributions should get in touch with her directly through the website.) The website includes a link to a wonderful little video tribute that shows Fayard as a swell-looking teen dancing and singing with his mischievous little brother.

Clearly Fayard and Katherine have an angel of an advocate in Frank, but when I reached her by phone right after New Year’s she was eager to explain that what has happened to her friends is symptomatic of a larger problem: the fact that most performers, especially dancers, live marginal lives and that in this country, getting old and frail is very, very expensive.

“What’s happened to him only came to light because of the desperation of the situation,” she explained. Many of the tap dancers she knows, she says have “way too much pride to say anything about [financial difficulties], it’s a code of honor. Tap dancers [during the 1930s and 40s] were working from job to job, but they weren’t working every single day.” In researching her book, “TAP! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories 1900–1955,” Frank discovered that the difference between a secure old age and one lived on the edge of poverty boiled down to one thing: whether the entertainer had bought a house. For people who came up in vaudeville, or who got used to apartment living, the decision not to buy during their peak earning years meant that they had to find a continuing stream of income to support housing costs in their old age.

Tap dancers have had it particularly hard. The market for tap dried up in the 1950s. Most of the masters went to work with other, unrelated jobs. Even those who didn’t, like Harold and Fayard, found that television created new difficulties: where an act honed in the theatre could support a lifetime of nightclub gigs, national television exposure demanded new acts every season.

The Nicholas Brothers continued working in Europe during tap’s dry spell and then were honored participants in the tap revival festivals of the 1970s and 80s. Harold died in 2000. Fayard continued to appear at festivals, taught master classes, and sold inexpensive autographed photos of himself. (On the wall of my study is one such signed photo of the Nicholas Brothers jumping in a wide side split, in front of the Chatanooga Choo Choo.) But the Nicholas Brothers did not earn residuals from their films. According to Frank, those rights were only guaranteed by union contracts signed after 1963.

Fayard’s son Tony, who works for the city of Los Angeles as a manager of a community youth program, told me this week “I’m 50 years old and I’ve never heard my dad say anything negative about anyone. He is truly one of the good guys in show business, always willing to do a benefit, always available to give autographs, take pictures, and people love him for that.” Rusty Frank concurred. “In my personal experience with him the yes comes out of his mouth before he hears the end of the question.”

When we spoke by phone, Tony Nicholas was arranging to have his father moved from an interim rehabilitation hospital to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, which provides nursing care and housing to members of the industry. In some ways, Nicholas is very lucky. Because he was not “merely” a dancer, but also sang and acted in films, he is eligible for a number of union-funded services and a small pension that supplements his social security. The Actors Fund donating $500 month towards his living expenses with that sum matched by the Frank Nelson Sick & Benefit Fund of AFTRA. But piecing together all these resources has not been easy.

As Frank described, the Nicholas’ ongoing expenses come to around $3,300 a month. (This is not the Hollywood high life.) The family is expecting to have to pay for specialists not covered by Fayard’s health insurance. Katherine Hopkins Nicholas, who is many decades younger than her husband, has not been able to work during his recent illness.

The good news is that the response to Frank’s call for help for Fayard has been outstanding. As of New Year’s, the emergency fund had raised around $35,000: enough to retire his outstanding debt. Choreographer and dancer Debbie Allen hosted a tap jam benefit at her studio in Los Angeles. The Nicholas family has received stacks of letters from all over the world. Donations have been sent by colleagues and friends but also by bedridden kids enthralled by old movies and from survivors of hurricane Katrina saying they wished they could do more.

How is the patient doing? When his college-age granddaughters Nicole and Cathy made a Christmas visit to his hospital room and tapped the old Nicholas Brother routine called “Lucky Numbers” their dad Tony said that “you could tell he could hear the taps, he was moving his head” although his eyes stayed closed. And recently he opened his eyes and told Katherine “I love you too.”

Consider your check a long overdue thank-you note.

Somehow I missed this the first time.

As they say, the check is in the mail.