Rall, at only around 13 years of age here, was already the greatest dancer ever to set foot in front of a camera and maybe the best who ever lived. You don't have to worry about spotting him here.
Such energy! Those kids really light up the stage. I know they had to have worked very hard to be able to have such fun with it. The affection for one another shines through.
Good to see Tommy Rall as a child. His greatest performances for me was MY SISTER EILEEN with Fosse and KISS ME KATE. Even though he dropped off after the mid fifties, you can spot him again in PENNIES FROM HEAVEN 1981 Steve Martin movie dancing.
This is a clip from the movie "Private Buckaroo" (1942) with the Andrew Sisters, etc. Donald O'Connor is the one in uniform that opens the set. At .44. Tommy Rall, also uncredited, was part of the Dance Team of "Jiven' Jacks"; Tommy Rall is the one who gives the apple @ :27. Bobby Scheerer @ 2:03--center stage. Corky Corcoran does the sax solo. It is Harry James and his Orchestra, (I took this info from comments people made....) The film, "Private Buckeroo", is available on Internet Archive and UA-cam.
00:25, 01:28 and 02:35 - Tommy Rall should really be added to the title of this vid. He and Peggy are the standouts here. Even then his pirouettes were impressive. As much as I enjoy his work in movies, most of his career was spent with the American Ballet Theater. I've never been able to find any vids of his stage work.
The dance with Fosse in "My Sister Eileen" is one of the most beautiful dances I´ve ever seen. But in "Kiss me , Kate!" he has a more important role and dances, tap dances and sings. He should have had more opportunities in cinema.
Which, "My Sister Eileen"? Until now, I thought there was only one -- with Rosalind Russell. But, I see there's three, and I can't see O'Connor in any of them.
Do you also have a copy of "Kiss Me, Kate" or "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"? Two of Tommy Rall's better dance films. Bet you knew about them already, though.
He was the absolute best, and that was the consensus of his colleagues. It wouldn't be a stretch at all to call him the greatest dancer who ever lived.
He was unbelievable. I think about what a wonderful honor and privilege it was for all his female dance partners to have danced with him. He was simply the greatest.
Interesting how Donald O'Connor is kinda pushed to the back here (tho Peggy Ryan gets a moment to shine), and really at that point (as he said himself many times) he was not the strongest dancer of the lot by a long shot. But he worked his butt off and changed that pretty quick in the next year or two... Thanks for the clip!
Donald O'Connor was badly guided by his agent. He dissipated his star power in junk such as the 'Francis' series. Like Ann Miller he wanted plenty of paydays. He was not an innovative choreographer of his own dances, but like Ann he had huge energy and considerable skill. Both were limited facially. Ann 's expression was frozen in a smirk, whereas Donald, conscious that he lacked matinee-idol looks, pulled faces. Conceivably he was a mite too eager to please. The greatest dancers- Astaire, Rogers, Powell, Charisse- withheld themselves somewhat. They did not strain to be liked.
@@esmeephillips5888 Wow, a comment on my comment 10 years later! Neat! You're probably right about bad agent guidance, but I don't think the Francis films were the problem (although he apparently thought they were). I think ultimately the big-budget MGM productions (Singin' excluded) were the problem. They were very expensive to produce and were already going out of fashion. I think he also suffered from child prodigy syndrome, which was exacerbated by bad management. Mugging is cute in a youthful teenager, but wears thin in an adult. I think if I were his manager, with the benefit of hindsight, I would have encouraged him to look at more straight dramatic roles, which I think he would have been good at (see Buster Keaton Story), and would have had better longevity.
@@esmeephillips5888 He was contractually obligated to do the Francis sequels, so that's really not his fault. I also think it was more he hit the height of his career right as his kind of musicals peaked and were on the way out. The ones he was in, there's absolutely nothing to be said against his performances imo even if the films themselves were often uneven or underwhelming. The dramatic parts of There's No Business Like Show Business, he's understated and astonishingly good. A much higher calibre of straight acting than seen in the vast majority of musicals. If the rest of the film had been better, people probably would have noticed and maybe more variety in roles would have opened up. Although there were certainly plenty without pulling faces. He did his own choreography for Make 'Em Laugh, one of those most inventive and iconic numbers in the history of film, so I wouldn't say he lacked creativity in that department. He was born slightly too late to make an indelible mark as an adult leading man (rather than a teen star, which he was) before dance musicals went out of fashion, major vehicles for triple threats were not in demand and studios were less willing to take risks with big budgets. It's not like those parts went to someone else, nothing as good as SitR was made afterwards. If he'd been a more controlling, ambitious person and started directing like Gene Kelly to push the envelope, maybe that would have made a difference. I doubt it, though. Kelly's career flagged after the mid-fifties. Those weren't the blockbusters any more and they were too expensive to make to make without a huge appetite for them. I don't think your comparisons are apt or fair or that he was straining to be liked; he approached roles with a primarily comic sensibility. Being aloof doesn't go with being funny or with being an everyman, and he was almost always cast as either a hapless everyman or a smart alec. He had a light touch, a certain vulnerability, and brilliant comic timing, it's not surprising he was given parts that capitalised on those things. Not taking yourself too seriously is kind of a precursor to being able to do physical comedy and physical comedy was always part of his routines. That's a difference in style and persona, not a flaw. Relatability and accessibility suited him, in physicality and as a performer. I don't think aloofness would have.
@@trinityj1 A very stimulating defense. Thank you. It has made me want to see There's No Business again. Did find him sappy in Call Me Madam, however. I always found O'Connor more endearing than Kelly in SITR. My favorite line in it is when Cosmo says the studio has to get with Jolson and talkies, suggesting that Don's next should be 'The Dueling Mammy'. What an image that conjures up.
In lieu of the great performances Donald O'connor had in SINGING IN THE RAIN, you would have thought he would have a dance number in this movie. It's weird how he became a bigger name as a dancer than everyone that did dance in this film.
I wished I was born during that decade of the 20s to be part of their generation that invented so many things we now take for granted, cars, planes, and even the band music which was super great! Of course, there is the Great Depression of the 30s and WWII. However, still there was something to be said about the greatest generation of our times.
Don't think I've ever seen this film (I was 5 in 1942). I'd give 10 years of my life to have been that good a dancer and working at their age (or at any age). I became a professional dancer as an adult, but the love was never as strong as it was in my teens. This is the fantasy incarnate.
My dad is one of the dancers here. Bobby Scheerer. He is the youngest in the group and you see him throughout, but particularly at about 2:03 doing pirouettes.
Must be great to have a film of your Dad that young. My dad was part of a Vaudeville precision tap act (6 guys and a girl) but I have no film of it. This is the kind of tap I studied at Jack Stanley's Studio in NY in the 50's; it brings back such memories. I love the front walkover at 1:32. I know it's not considered a hard trick, but it's always been my favorite and I could never do a decent one despite years of acro. .. perhaps in my next life. How old was your dad here, if you don't mind my asking.
I've fallen in love with your 15-year-old dad (I'm 80 . . . next week). He was no doubt straight, but that's part of the charm. Hope springs eternal....
Choreography was not credited but very likely by Louis DaPron who was born into a family of professional dancers. Here, in his prime: ua-cam.com/video/fofzhcsS5KQ/v-deo.html He worked at Universal throughout the 1940s and went on to TV variety shows during the 1950s and 60s. He was also O'Connor's favorite throughout his career.
Thanks a lot for this superb clip ! Unfortunately, I didn't recognize Donnal O'Connor nor Tommy Rall ! Does anyone can tell me at which running time I can spot them, please ? Just by looking to this clip makes me willing to dance too, though I'm not a dance at all !!
Sarita MENDEZ - Donald is easy to spot because he’s wearing the army uniform. That’s Donald and Peggy Ryan at the beginning of the clip. Here he’s 16 years old and by his own admission, the worse dancer of the lot. However, by the end of the year he would be a bonafide teen idol and the hottest star on the Universal lot. Ah, the irony. I think Tommy Rall is the kid who gives the apple to one of the McNabb twins.
they have a reunion of some of the surviving dancers.its all fell apart after the war when all the boys came back.but the demand for them where "no more"expect for don o'connor"
![Peggy Ryan & Donald O'Connor [Dance with Me Tonight]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g5jsb03RA10/mqdefault.jpg)
Rall, at only around 13 years of age here, was already the greatest dancer ever to set foot in front of a camera and maybe the best who ever lived. You don't have to worry about spotting him here.
Such energy! Those kids really light up the stage. I know they had to have worked very hard to be able to have such fun with it. The affection for one another shines through.
Donald O connor, such an exceptional dancer
Good to see Tommy Rall as a child. His greatest performances for me was MY SISTER EILEEN with Fosse and KISS ME KATE. Even though he dropped off after the mid fifties, you can spot him again in PENNIES FROM HEAVEN 1981 Steve Martin movie dancing.
You, Sir or Madam, just won some major points in my book by being one of the few who knew Tommy was in this.
Oh my goodness that was just pure joy to watch! Thank you so very much for posting it!
Í´m an MGM musical fan. And Tommy Rall was one of the stars of Kiss ME Kate and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. He was a highly skilled perfomer.
This is a clip from the movie "Private Buckaroo" (1942) with the Andrew Sisters, etc. Donald O'Connor is the one in uniform that opens the set. At .44. Tommy Rall, also uncredited, was part of the Dance Team of "Jiven' Jacks"; Tommy Rall is the one who gives the apple @ :27. Bobby Scheerer @ 2:03--center stage. Corky Corcoran does the sax solo. It is Harry James and his Orchestra, (I took this info from comments people made....) The film, "Private Buckeroo", is available on Internet Archive and UA-cam.
00:25, 01:28 and 02:35 - Tommy Rall should really be added to the title of this vid. He and Peggy are the standouts here. Even then his pirouettes were impressive.
As much as I enjoy his work in movies, most of his career was spent with the American Ballet Theater. I've never been able to find any vids of his stage work.
+YouzTube99 Another Tommy Rall fan here. Made my day to discover him on youtube tonight!
The dance with Fosse in "My Sister Eileen" is one of the most beautiful dances I´ve ever seen. But in "Kiss me , Kate!" he has a more important role and dances, tap dances and sings. He should have had more opportunities in cinema.
Which, "My Sister Eileen"? Until now, I thought there was only one -- with Rosalind Russell. But, I see there's three, and I can't see O'Connor in any of them.
He is talking about Tommy Rall ...
Foi um espetáculo tão grande que fiquei desnorteada vendo isso. Meu Deus, que joia maravilhosa. Não subestime as crianças dessa época.
Oh, as a dancer, I know and love Tommy Rall. I just never knew he was in this clip. Although my favorite dances of his is with fosse in Sister Eileen.
Do you also have a copy of "Kiss Me, Kate" or "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"? Two of Tommy Rall's better dance films. Bet you knew about them already, though.
Those young dancers were really working it. And the young ladies were dancing in high heels.
Tommy Rall was the boy doing all the summersalts. He was one of the best dancers in Hollywood.
He was the absolute best, and that was the consensus of his colleagues. It wouldn't be a stretch at all to call him the greatest dancer who ever lived.
That's real dancing talent.....such good tap and acrobatic steps with perfect coordination. One of the Jills looks a lot like Mitzi Mayfair.
Fantastic tenor sax solo by teenage phenom Corky Corcoran.
Great old fashioned fun!
😍 *Tommy Rall* 🥰
So cute as a boy. 🥺
So handsome as an adult. 🥵
So talented at any age. 👍
He was unbelievable. I think about what a wonderful honor and privilege it was for all his female dance partners to have danced with him. He was simply the greatest.
Interesting how Donald O'Connor is kinda pushed to the back here (tho Peggy Ryan gets a moment to shine), and really at that point (as he said himself many times) he was not the strongest dancer of the lot by a long shot. But he worked his butt off and changed that pretty quick in the next year or two...
Thanks for the clip!
Donald O'Connor was badly guided by his agent. He dissipated his star power in junk such as the 'Francis' series. Like Ann Miller he wanted plenty of paydays. He was not an innovative choreographer of his own dances, but like Ann he had huge energy and considerable skill.
Both were limited facially. Ann 's expression was frozen in a smirk, whereas Donald, conscious that he lacked matinee-idol looks, pulled faces.
Conceivably he was a mite too eager to please. The greatest dancers- Astaire, Rogers, Powell, Charisse- withheld themselves somewhat. They did not strain to be liked.
@@esmeephillips5888 Wow, a comment on my comment 10 years later! Neat!
You're probably right about bad agent guidance, but I don't think the Francis films were the problem (although he apparently thought they were). I think ultimately the big-budget MGM productions (Singin' excluded) were the problem. They were very expensive to produce and were already going out of fashion.
I think he also suffered from child prodigy syndrome, which was exacerbated by bad management. Mugging is cute in a youthful teenager, but wears thin in an adult.
I think if I were his manager, with the benefit of hindsight, I would have encouraged him to look at more straight dramatic roles, which I think he would have been good at (see Buster Keaton Story), and would have had better longevity.
@@esmeephillips5888 He was contractually obligated to do the Francis sequels, so that's really not his fault. I also think it was more he hit the height of his career right as his kind of musicals peaked and were on the way out. The ones he was in, there's absolutely nothing to be said against his performances imo even if the films themselves were often uneven or underwhelming. The dramatic parts of There's No Business Like Show Business, he's understated and astonishingly good. A much higher calibre of straight acting than seen in the vast majority of musicals. If the rest of the film had been better, people probably would have noticed and maybe more variety in roles would have opened up. Although there were certainly plenty without pulling faces.
He did his own choreography for Make 'Em Laugh, one of those most inventive and iconic numbers in the history of film, so I wouldn't say he lacked creativity in that department.
He was born slightly too late to make an indelible mark as an adult leading man (rather than a teen star, which he was) before dance musicals went out of fashion, major vehicles for triple threats were not in demand and studios were less willing to take risks with big budgets. It's not like those parts went to someone else, nothing as good as SitR was made afterwards. If he'd been a more controlling, ambitious person and started directing like Gene Kelly to push the envelope, maybe that would have made a difference. I doubt it, though. Kelly's career flagged after the mid-fifties. Those weren't the blockbusters any more and they were too expensive to make to make without a huge appetite for them.
I don't think your comparisons are apt or fair or that he was straining to be liked; he approached roles with a primarily comic sensibility. Being aloof doesn't go with being funny or with being an everyman, and he was almost always cast as either a hapless everyman or a smart alec. He had a light touch, a certain vulnerability, and brilliant comic timing, it's not surprising he was given parts that capitalised on those things. Not taking yourself too seriously is kind of a precursor to being able to do physical comedy and physical comedy was always part of his routines. That's a difference in style and persona, not a flaw. Relatability and accessibility suited him, in physicality and as a performer. I don't think aloofness would have.
@@trinityj1 A very stimulating defense. Thank you. It has made me want to see There's No Business again. Did find him sappy in Call Me Madam, however.
I always found O'Connor more endearing than Kelly in SITR. My favorite line in it is when Cosmo says the studio has to get with Jolson and talkies, suggesting that Don's next should be 'The Dueling Mammy'. What an image that conjures up.
In lieu of the great performances Donald O'connor had in SINGING IN THE RAIN, you would have thought he would have a dance number in this movie. It's weird how he became a bigger name as a dancer than everyone that did dance in this film.
I wished I was born during that decade of the 20s to be part of their generation that invented so many things we now take for granted, cars, planes, and even the band music which was super great! Of course, there is the Great Depression of the 30s and WWII. However, still there was something to be said about the greatest generation of our times.
I met Bob Scheerer yesterday!! He was soo nice and had a huge smile!!
Bob Scheerer is my dad! He IS sooooo nice!
This clip is from "Private Buckaroo" (1942) with Dick Foran, the Andrews Sisters, Joe E Lewis, Shemp Howard and the Harry James Orchestra.
Thanks!
Thanks. I myself wondered where it came from.
Tommy Rall as a child!
Don't think I've ever seen this film (I was 5 in 1942). I'd give 10 years of my life to have been that good a dancer and working at their age (or at any age). I became a professional dancer as an adult, but the love was never as strong as it was in my teens. This is the fantasy incarnate.
My dad is one of the dancers here. Bobby Scheerer. He is the youngest in the group and you see him throughout, but particularly at about 2:03 doing pirouettes.
Must be great to have a film of your Dad that young. My dad was part of a Vaudeville precision tap act (6 guys and a girl) but I have no film of it. This is the kind of tap I studied at Jack Stanley's Studio in NY in the 50's; it brings back such memories. I love the front walkover at 1:32. I know it's not considered a hard trick, but it's always been my favorite and I could never do a decent one despite years of acro. .. perhaps in my next life. How old was your dad here, if you don't mind my asking.
I see he must have been 15 or just turned 16. Again, perhaps in my next life.
I've fallen in love with your 15-year-old dad (I'm 80 . . . next week). He was no doubt straight, but that's part of the charm. Hope springs eternal....
By the way, my fantasy is have known him when I was also 15 or 16, not at the age I am now.
Choreography was not credited but very likely by Louis DaPron who was born into a family of professional dancers. Here, in his prime:
ua-cam.com/video/fofzhcsS5KQ/v-deo.html
He worked at Universal throughout the 1940s and went on to TV variety shows during the 1950s and 60s. He was also O'Connor's favorite throughout his career.
He even danced along with him in the 1948 movie “are you with it” where he plays the bartender
@@someonesomeone7423
Thanks for the reference!
ua-cam.com/video/0lj6b0NLCsY/v-deo.html
Never saw that film before -- it's wacky!
@PhedraP even better than MTV!!!!! don't you agree?!
Que bien bailaba Peggy ryan .
Love the dancing
You bet!
Who was the pretty brunette who spun at the finale?
Thanks a lot for this superb clip ! Unfortunately, I didn't recognize Donnal O'Connor nor Tommy Rall ! Does anyone can tell me at which running time I can spot them, please ? Just by looking to this clip makes me willing to dance too, though I'm not a dance at all !!
Sarita MENDEZ - Donald is easy to spot because he’s wearing the army uniform. That’s Donald and Peggy Ryan at the beginning of the clip. Here he’s 16 years old and by his own admission, the worse dancer of the lot. However, by the end of the year he would be a bonafide teen idol and the hottest star on the Universal lot. Ah, the irony.
I think Tommy Rall is the kid who gives the apple to one of the McNabb twins.
@@Cookies_crumbs Thank you VERY MUCH!
@@Cookies_crumbs But O'Connor was an ex-vaudevillian -- a comic, singer, dancer, actor. The other kids, though great, were primarily dancers.
they have a reunion of some of the surviving dancers.its all fell apart after the war when all the boys came back.but the demand for them where "no more"expect for don o'connor"
But O'Connor was an ex-vaudevillian -- a comic, singer, dancer, actor. The others were primarily dancers.
Is that Donald O Conner....younger? Dang
Right--the skinnier guy in the white plaid jacket. He didn't get much solo dancing here.
Gary Lowell T - No, Donald is wearing the army uniform.
Does anyone know the name of the pretty dark-haired girl in the white dress? Most of the others are familiar from 'the old days'.
Pretty sure that’s Gene Krupa on the skins
It is Harry James Orchestra, so unlikely to be Gene Krupa.
When real stars existed.
Wasn't that Tommy Rall among the dancers? He should be high up on the list.
Yes, it was. He is hard to miss.
Who edited this? Robert Wise? Jesus.
WHAT YEAR??? 1941?
Is that judy garland?
This talent is now extinct sadly. We are over run with Crappy reality shows..Which have nothing to do with reality.
Dancing is nice but also weird
I bet blacks would dance very differently... Too bad the U.S. was segregated at the time. :-(
Maybe, and maybe not? I just enjoyed it as it is.
Does it really matter?