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Post by wmcclain on Mar 8, 2022 13:31:37 GMT
Polio survivor!
Dancing montage:
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Post by timshelboy on Mar 8, 2022 17:10:28 GMT
I'd place her in top 3 dancers of her era (Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen the others on the podium) - she was by far the most visually striking, for sure....aside from SINGIN IN THE RAIN I like The Girl Hunt from THE BANDWAGON and the Baby You Knock Me Out number at the boxing gym from ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER.
In addition to the musicals she was very effective in Nicholas Ray's ultra stylish gangster movie PARTY GIRL, and as Kirk Douglas' castrating wife in Minnelli's florid TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN
 With Robert Taylor in PARTY GIRL
I'm imagining this racy sequence was as choreographed as any of her dance numbers. with Kirk Douglas at the wheel in TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN
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Post by teleadm on Mar 8, 2022 18:51:41 GMT
  The Band Wagon 1953 is probably my favorite among her movies.  The Wild North 1952, is one of the latest I have seen, playing "Indian Girl".  and The Silencers 1966, I had forgotten she dances during the title sequence.
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Post by politicidal on Mar 8, 2022 18:53:08 GMT
Cyd Charisse with Peter Gilmore in Warlords of Atlantis (1978).  |
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Post by mikef6 on Mar 8, 2022 19:20:26 GMT
In another non-dancing noir, Cyd plays the Good Girl to Audrey Totter’s femme in “Tension” (1949).  |
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Post by Isapop on Mar 8, 2022 22:37:42 GMT
Her legs are the one thing, and the only thing on this earth, that could divert my attention from Fred Astaire.
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Post by Penn Guinn on Mar 8, 2022 22:50:41 GMT
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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 8, 2022 23:31:21 GMT
The only thing for which I could wish where Charisse is concerned is tap, but that's compensated for in the sensuously elegant fluidity of her style. The Band Wagon's sublime Dancing In the Dark competes with only two or three others for top spot among Astaire's non-tap duets. She brought out qualities in him no other partner ever did.  |
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Post by marshamae on Mar 9, 2022 5:08:21 GMT
Cyd Charisse matched his fluid style in adagio dancing and made him look balletic in a graceful way. This is partly due to Michael Kidd ‘ choreography in Band Wagon.
His other ballet trained partner , Leslie Caron, was less able to meet his style half way, he was older and perhaps less able to adapt. Finally , their big dances were choreographed by Roland Petit. They were lovely ballets but had some footwork which Fred handled awkwardly. Btw, I think Caron did beautifully in Slewfoot and her other ballroom dances with Fred.
At least though , Fred tried to stretch himself. Gene Kelly danced with many stars whose training was different from his. He danced with Cyd, Leslie and Tamara Toumanova, and he was the only white dancer to risk dancing with the Nicholas Brother. But you may notice that he protected himself by pulling them into his sphere , rather than joining them in theirs. His dance with Fayard and Harold was an acrobatic tour de force choreographed by Gene, tuned to his skills. Likewise the American in Paris Ballet makes very little use of Leslie Caron’s ballet skills. You see what she can do in Daddy Long Legs.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 9, 2022 13:08:58 GMT
Cyd Charisse matched his fluid style in adagio dancing and made him look balletic in a graceful way. This is partly due to Michael Kidd ‘ choreography in Band Wagon. His other ballet trained partner , Leslie Caron, was less able to meet his style half way, he was older and perhaps less able to adapt. Finally , their big dances were choreographed by Roland Petit. They were lovely ballets but had some footwork which Fred handled awkwardly. Btw, I think Caron did beautifully in Slewfoot and her other ballroom dances with Fred. At least though , Fred tried to stretch himself. Gene Kelly danced with many stars whose training was different from his. He danced with Cyd, Leslie and Tamara Toumanova, and he was the only white dancer to risk dancing with the Nicholas Brother. But you may not8ce that he protected himself by pulling them into his sphere , rather than join8ng them in theirs. His dance with Fayard and Harold was an acrobatic tour de force choreographed by Gene, tuned to his skills. Likewise the American in Paris Ballet makes very little use of Leslie Caron’s ballet skills. You see what she can do in Daddy Long Legs. I very much appreciated your observances and remarks, Marsha. Perhaps you've put your finger on what made the Astaire/Charisse collaboration so special. If I had to put a word to it, it might be integration. As it happened, I recently rewatched Daddy Long Legs for the first time in some years, and had seen a latter-day interview with Caron in which she talked about how alien the style of a number like Slewfoot was to her, but I agree about her accomplishment: she threw herself into it and carried it off admirably. I'm sure among the things that made Rogers such a simpatico partner for Astaire was his and Pan's freedom to mold her to Fred's needs and artistic sensibilities (and no one ever worked harder to deliver). That, or the sense of integration, was what was missing from his duets with Eleanor Powell, all their dazzling technical proficiency and excitement notwithstanding. Watching their Begin the Beguine mini-marathon, one can practically piece through the number step by step and say, "Oh, that one's Fred's; that's Ellie's." It's even more noticeable in The Babbit and the Bromide with Kelly, who had maybe a dozen favored elements he'd repeat in a number of films. Be a Clown is full of them. When I first saw That's Entertainment 48 years ago (aack!), I knew from nothing about the Nicholas Brothers, but films like Stormy Weather and Orchestra Wives soon opened my eyes. I guess I'm just rambling in all directions now, so I'll knock it off and say thanks again.
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Post by marshamae on Mar 9, 2022 18:05:11 GMT
Eleanor Powell was a real mixed bag. She started as a classically trained ballerina and she was very good, but Hollywood had no real use for her ballet. In Hollywood dance ballet meant doing tricks on point. You only saw Real ballet when a ballet choreographer was brought in , Agnes De Mille , George Balanchine, Roland Petit. This is why Baryshnikov’s Hollywood films are such treasures. You get great ballet with first rank stars and Hollywood film technique.
But Miss powel . She was ambitious, she wanted a show biz career and her best skill was one no one wanted. So she learned acrobatic moves , becoming very adept at all kinds of flips. Her back was as supple as Ginger Rogers and Eleanor could back bend in half. Next she took up tap , and that’s what got her next to Fred. His famous remark about her, “ Ellie really hit the floor hard like a man. I had to work to keep up with her”. I think that shows a little in Begin The Beguine. But I have to say I never see any stumbling in it. Fred’s marvelous timing is present in the arm work , the way the throw their arms on the off beat, and they both seem very relaxed. Those two dances with Fred in Bway Melody of 1940 are the only dances of Powell’s I like. It shows something about Fred too, his willingness to put himself next to a dancer who challenged him.
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Post by mattgarth on Mar 9, 2022 19:25:07 GMT
Dancing? Extraordinary!
Singing? Were all her songs dubbed?
A favorite number -- "It's a Great Big World" from THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946) with Judy and Virginia O'Brien.
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(only an audio available -- no visual)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k9Ob1jC11I
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Post by divtal on Mar 11, 2022 6:16:28 GMT
Confessions of a costume trivia freak.
The Bandwagon ... in the "Dancing in the Dark," number, pay close attention to the area just above her ankles. You can see that she's wearing some sort of netting protection on her feet. This makes sense, as no one would be able to make those dancing maneuvers, in the simple flat "pumps," that she was wearing, without them falling off. They were, likely, simple ballet slippers, but they require a band across the top of the foot, which would be more obvious to the camera.
Silk Stockings ... in the "All of You," number, she begins, clad in a skirt with a front/back pleat. As the number builds in activity, the "skirt," becomes culottes, toward the end of the number. A nod to modesty, I suppose.
What an amazing dancer.
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