KILLER JOE PIRO ~ Pachanga dance instruction 8mm film (1961)
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- The Metro Mambo Collection happily shares this short 8mm silent Pachanga dance-instruction film featuring famed dance instructor "KILLER JOE" PIRO - the legendary emcee and mambo instructor at NYC's fabled Palladium Ballroom during the 50's and early-60's. The background music, "Ya Se Formo" from Hector Rivera's 1961 Epic LP "Charanga and Pachanga" has been added purely for entertainment purposes.
Shown with dancing partner Nadine Weiler, the film was presumably produced by the enterprising Piro who maintained a thriving dance instruction studio at 54 West 55th Street in Manhattan, teaching dancing to everyone from the Duke of Windsor to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Frank "Killer Joe" Piro (March 2, 1921 - February 5, 1989) was born in East Harlem, the son of an Italian tailor. Piro got hooked on dancing as a way to meet girls, and began frequenting the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in his late teens. The “Killer Joe” nickname comes from a supposed ability to wear out one partner after the other on the dance floor.
While serving with the US Navy in World War II, he won a National Jitterbug contest held at the 1942 Harvest Moon Ball, the prize being a transfer to Broadway's equivalent of the Hollywood Canteen, where his assignment was to dance with the likes of Kathryn Cornell and other stage stars.
After the war, Piro became the emcee and teacher at the Palladium Ballroom at 53rd Street and Broadway, opened in 1947 in response to the expanding popularity of Latin rhythms. Along with co-instructor Carmen Marie Padilla (nee: poet Carmen M. Pursifull), Piro found himself the 'ringmaster' at ground-zero of an international phenomenon in the early 1950's. Photographed in national magazines such as Life and Ebony, Piro is featured prominently in the 1954 musical short-subject 'Mambo Madness' (featuring Tito Rodriguez and his orchestra, dancers Cuban Pete Aguilar, Millie Donay, Marilyn Winters and other legendary Palladium dancers, that film was actually shot down the block at the Palm Ballroom, as owner Max Hyman did not allow filming at the Palladium).
Using his acclaim at the Palladium as a launching pad, Piro became an international celebrity during the early-1960's 'discotheque' phenomenon. As dance instructor to the jet-set,his students included the Duke of Windsor, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Ray Bolger, and Luci Baines Johnson. In 1965, he was profiled in the Emmy award winning TV show 'I Like Things The Way They Are.' Photographed by Richard Avedon, Piro was commissioned by Smirnoff to create a dance named for 'The Mule' cocktail, appearing in dozens of ads with the likes of Woody Allen and Julie Newmar. The guitar band, the Rocky Fellers even recorded a Top 40 tribute tune, "Killer Joe," for Scepter Records in 1963. Piro remained an active and popular presence on the New York dance scene until his death from kidney disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in 1989.
With a couple of rare exceptions, like the other posts on the 'Metro Mambo Channel' this is this film's first appearance on UA-cam. To hear more from the "Metro Mambo" collection, tune-in for The Latin Flavor Classic Edition, on Washington DC's WPFW 89.3 FM, Live-streaming Sundays from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. EST on www.WPFWFM.ORG
Before Salsa baby! Classy!
Before Salsa Cuba,. This is where Salsa comes from
Antes de Salsa Cuba,. De aquí viene la salsa
This is priceless, thank you for uploading this historical footage. I knew it was a partner dance and this footage is a confirmation. Watching this footage is like watching a Tai Chi practitioner who has done solo for so long that they forgot the fight application of movement. In this case partner application is missing from the modern "Pachanga" social dancer.
Amazing!
Thank you for uploading this
You're welcome! A relation of his, By any chance...???👀👀
wow wow wow I am going to study this!!! so cool!
Nice!!! Pachanga
Valla esto es de cuando Cuca bailaba, que bueno lo encontre, gracias al canal
tremenda percusión!!!
Genial
I think he is a dance instructor on Cunard ships.
Loved your video! This is my Aunt Nadine dancing, how did you get the video?
Avery Cohen Good Morning and Happy Holidays to you! I was SO excited to see your comment, as a relative of one of the participants! I would love for you to post a little paragraph about your Aunt Nadine and any context you might be willing to share! As to how I found this: like any serious collector I'm always searching for interesting items pertaining to significant figures in the genre I collect. So... when this original 8mm reel by famed Palladium Ballroom emcee/instructor Killer Joe Piro came up at auction, I jumped on it! Again, SO happy to hear from you, and PLEASE share a little more info on your Aunt Nadine!!
lol
There is so little information on Killer Joe
❤️❤️👍👍👍😊😊😊☮️
Former sailor
Is this the "Killer Joe" referred to in the Ricardo Rico's LP "Dance the Merengue with Killer Joe"? (Tico LP-1017, 1956)
Stereo4102 Yes! The legendary emcee and instructor at NYC’s Palladium Ballroom!
I saw Killer Joe Piro walking down 7th Ave in Manhatten in the 1960s. The information that was told in write ups about him, were that he had a heart condition and he died in the 1960s, somewhat young. All the biographies i am reading on the internet say he died in 1989. Something is strange here. I remember feeling bad back in the 60s reading about his kove of dancing and his heart condition and his publicized death in 60s. WHY SUCH DIFFERENT INFORMATION FROM BACK THEN TO WHATS ON THE NET?
Hi, thanks for watching. I can't speak to the discrepancy, however... here is a link to his 1989 obituary in The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/1989/02/09/obituaries/killer-joe-piro-who-popularized-discotheque-dancing-dies-at-68.html
Is the Ethel Smith Shuffle (3:12) based on the bachata basic, or visa versa?
Esa pareja no baila acorde a la música que suena . Yo creo que es un montaje
Correcto. Esta película de 8 mm raro estaba en silencio . Simplemente seleccionado una canción favorita para acompañarlo en UA-cam .
Paula Y Lulu Si es montaje, Pero si es pachanga. Pero como dijo el maestro Eddie Torres en esos tiempos unos tenía el tiempo on 2 y en 1 y algunos en 4. Pero ahora la pachanga se en seña on 2. Y para ver más resultados muchos enseñan en 1. Ustedes en que tiempo prefieren bailar?
evidente
What's the name of this cancion?
Drew Hayes The tune is entitled “Ya Se Formo”, performed by Hector Rivera and his orchestra on the album ‘Viva Rivera” (Epic, BN-608). Note: The original instructional film is silent, so I selected this tune as ‘background music’ for this post. Thanks for watching!
Metro Mambo Mucho gracias Pana! I'm learning mambo from scratch, your information is much appreciated and I believe it'll help me later on in life about my Latin Roots. 🙏
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Genial