Obsession of the Moment: Eleanor Powell

[collisionwork]

Somehow, by some chain of thought about an hour ago, I was reminded of the dance number from Broadway Melody of 1940 done by Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine." Don't remember what got me there, but I got there. I realized I'd never seen it outside of the compilation-film That's Entertainment, where it is edited down and partially covered with narration. So I looked for it on YouTube -- there were five or so uploads of it, none of them all that good (either edited down, narrated, or badly copied - in one case, videotaped with a camera off of a TV screen!), but one of them is passable, and here it is:

And I realized again that I haven't seen enough Eleanor Powell, and knew pretty much nothing about her. I only knew the number above where she looks to be the best damned tap partner Astaire ever had (after making this film, he supposedly told Fayard Nicholas he'd never work with Powell again 'cause he made her work too hard) and two numbers from Broadway Melody of 1936 included on the Singin' in the Rain DVD, one of which is terrific (the "Broadway Rhythm" finale) and the other features Powell, a hoofer, in balletic choreography completely unsuited for her (as well as a hideously unflattering costume) which she still pretty much sells.

The Wikipedia entry on her notes that Broadway Melody of 1940 is available on DVD (okay, up it goes to the top of the Netflix queue!) but that almost nothing else of hers is, though a box set may be forthcoming "by the end of this year." In the meantime, here are a couple more short numbers from that film. First, Powell and Astaire again . . .

Now, Astaire, Powell, and George Murphy (a good dancer, but shouldn't be forced to be next to Powell and Astaire, dancing in unison, poor dope) . . .

And from Broadway Melody of 1938, a much longer number -- I love the way the person who uploaded this to YouTube (a non native-English speaker) describes this: "In This Clip You See Sophie Tucker Singing A Great Song, And After That You Can See Eleanor Powell." That about sums it up. If you're not interested in Sophie Tucker (shame!), Powell starts dancing at 3.22 in/5.11 to go:

We worship you, O Eleanor Powell.

Comments

Eleanor Powell

[(Anonymous)]

By golly, you don't see talent like that now days! Where has it all gone to. We used to know what good was. Have we become too stupid somehow? Now if it isn't raw sex we're not interested.

Big Olie