Tap Dancing on Rhythm and Weep
ool...@hotmail.com
ALOHA Stoogies! I would like to discuss the tap dancing demonstrated
in the Stooges short RHYTHM AND WEEP by the three Columbia starlets
who played Hilda, Wilda, and Tilda. First off, one has to ask whether
their dancing was any good? Well, being an ice skater who has to skate
to a few choreographed skating routines, I feel that I have some
knowledge of dance ability. So with that said, I would have to say
that the three starlets seemed possessed of an average ability in tap
dancing, musical rhythm and balance on their feet.
With that said, I should also stress that these three starlets were
not top league tap dancers like Ann Miller (who was also at Columbia
round this time according to her book-but then few women are!) With
that said, I must say that there did appear to me that there were
pauses in the three ladies dance routines in which they were unsure
what they should do next. But then, this could be the fault of the
choreographer and not the ladies. During these pauses, there were
to and fro swaying as they waited for their turn to perform their
dance sequence in this first musical routine. However, it seemed
somewhat as an after thought and maybe could have been helped with
some hand movements in addition to the basic swaying.
These pauses in ones routine, is something skaters also have to
deal with. What skaters have to do is try to not look like they are
standing mechanical while waiting for the second to make their next
routine. Unlike those three starlets, skaters have movement on the
ice to help them deal with dance routine pauses.
Granted that these dance sequences were designed to fill out the
Stooge routines, but there should be some attempt made to make the
number pleasing and at least competently performed, right?
So aside from the actual dance routine being performed, is there
anything else which could be done to affect the enjoyment of the
musical sequence? You guessed it, costuming. Hilda, Wilda, and Tilda
wore flattering dresses that had varying success in augmenting each
ladies legs when they danced around. (After all, showing leg is the
intended effect when a dancer spins, right? Well that and not falling
on ones butt! Ha, ha, ha, ha!)
A thought strikes me about how many times these spinning routines
were filmed and whether any STOCK footage ended up in someone's private
film reel. Hey, these guys were only human after all and the starlets
were pleasing to look at.
All kidding around guys and gals, the three starlets were able to
perform their dance numbers competently and without any noticeable
errors. But then, as I said before, this is a Stooges short and not a
musical and the emphasis is on the Stooges. I should note that the
young lady with Larry (Wilda?) had the chance to perform slapstick when
she eye poked Larry. Most times, starlets were just decoration on the
scene so anytime a starlet extra has a chance to do comedy with the
Stooges is a plus in my book.
Now in terms of the second musical sequence in the short (yes, I
am going to discuss this one as well!) An intrusting change happened
here, which may not be of notice unless you think about this. This
second number was a ballet sequence that had a more coherent
choreographed routine which had the three ladies move in a unison
formation as they danced. The costumes and hairstyles were similar
for all three ladies so that they looked reasonably similar.
The importance of this number is something I found quite interesting.
The ladies had their individuality made similar in this number whereas
in the first number, the women had different hairstyles, dresses and
dancing. This is almost as if the director is trying to show that the
ballet number (an upper class pleasure) suppresses a women's
individuality whereas swing (a more working person's pleasure (common
at the time of the short anyway)) allows a women to be an individual.
As you can see, I have just expressed an interesting observation in an
otherwise overlooked Stooges short.
--
OOLEGS - ICE SKATING BABE OF THE WEB
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ool...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>
> I would like to discuss the tap dancing demonstrated
> in the Stooges short RHYTHM AND WEEP by the three Columbia starlets
> who played Hilda, Wilda, and Tilda.
Very interesting observations. Of course most Columbia shorts were made
"on the cheap" so the lack of choreography (sp) and costumes can easily
be attributed to that. Add that to the fact that most Stooge shorts
were filmed in 1 to 4 days, and there wasn't a lot of time to work on
dance coordination.
Most Stooge fans put Rhythm and Weep toward the bottom of their
favorites list. Curly was obviously ill, the slapstick was minimal
(especailly for a Curly short) and music/dance numbers were ususally not
the reason people watched the Stooges. However no Stooge short is 100%
bad (although Sweet and Hot comes very close), and you have brought up
several good moments from the short.
Randall
Borison, Ken [YRK:3423:EXCH]
> ALOHA Stoogies! I would like to discuss the tap dancing demonstrated
> in the Stooges short RHYTHM AND WEEP by the three Columbia starlets
> who played Hilda, Wilda, and Tilda. First off, one has to ask whether
> their dancing was any good? Well, being an ice skater who has to skate
> to a few choreographed skating routines, I feel that I have some
> knowledge of dance ability. So with that said, I would have to say
> that the three starlets seemed possessed of an average ability in tap
> dancing, musical rhythm and balance on their feet.
<snip>
Carmen,
One of those "da"'s was Ruth Godfrey who later appeared in Shemp and Joe
Stooges shorts directed by Jules White. In the late 1950's, after Columbia
stopped making Stooges shorts, she appeared as Ruth White in some of the
following films:
The Nun's Story (starring Audrey Hepburn)
To Kill a Mockingbird (starring Gregory Peck)
Cast a Giant Shadow (starring Kirk Douglas)
Charly (starring Cliff Robertson)
Baby the Rain Must Fall and The Reivers (starring Steve McQueen)
Midnight Cowboy (as Jon Voight's character's mother)
I believe she was Jules White's sister and her first film appearance was in
"Rhythm and Weep". Later she established herself as a prestigious
supporting character actress.
It goes to show that a good pair of legs can go a long way.
-KB-