Hullabaloo Dancers 01 Introduction
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Meet the dancers of Hullabaloo! If anyone can identify any of the dancers I missed, please let me know.
Popular song and dance used to be so much fun. It seems like most of what we see now is about how seriously great someone can sing, or how seriously sexy they look when they dance, or how seriously little they are wearing. I kinda miss just having fun.
I've been researching the life of Broadway legend Michael Bennett for an upcoming project, and wanted to know more about the time in 1965/1966 when he danced on the variety show, Hullabaloo. I wasn't happy with the limited footage of the show on youtube, since it mostly focuses on the big name musical acts (The Supremes, The Rolling Stones, etc) that appeared on the show.
So, I bought the available 44 episodes on DVD from a guy on eBay, and spent the past month editing them all down to six short videos (with a combined running time of about one hour.) The primary focus of these videos is the dancers of the show. The quality of the footage is not ideal - although the series was shot in color, most of what is left was saved on black and white and is not great. Even so, it's still entirely engaging to watch!
Although Michael Bennett was the priority, I ended up broadening my scope to all the dancers of the show - they were such a diverse and talented group and it seemed like they deserved it! Plus, as you will see, it's hard to not fall in love with Donna McKechnie all over again when you watch her dance her way through these videos!
The more time I spent on this project, the more I began to appreciate how cool - and dare I say, sophisticated - this show actually was. From the bold and inventive choreography of David Winters, the always impressive arrangements and conducting by Peter Matz, the wonderful minimalist/pop art set design of Gene McAvoy, the inventive direction by Bill Davis, and the ahead-of-its-time inclusivity of producer Gary Smith., Hullabaloo is a great and groovy chapter in entertainment history.
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Hullabaloo was a tv variety show that ran for two seasons from January 1965 to April of 1966, and was considered a sophisticated rival to “Shindig." The show was taped mostly in New York (NBC Brooklyn and 8H at Rockefeller Center) as well as NBC Burbank. Hullabaloo aired in color, but was archived mostly in black and white.
Hullabaloo Dancers include:
APRIL NEVINS
BARBARA ALSTON
BARBARA MONTE
CHARLENE MELL
DONNA MCKECHNIE
GENE CASTLE
LADA EDMUND JR
MICHAEL BENNETT
MIGUEL GODREAU
PATRICK ADIARTE
SHEILA FORBES
SUZANNE CHARNEY
THOMAS CAHILL
Produced by GARY SMITH
Music arranged and conducted by PETER MATZ
Directed by BILL DAVIS
Choreographed by DAVID WINTERS
Assistant Choreographer JAIMIE ROGERS
Sets Designed by GENE MCAVOY
Costumes Designed by JOHN BOXER
Patrick Adiarte was an incredible dancer and actor! He was born too early. Sure wish he was still dancing and acting!
He has quite a few acting credits too. I've seen him on MASH multiple times, and he was the Bradys' tour guide in Hawaii. I've also seen him prominently featured on IRONSIDE.
Is he still alive?
It would be wonderful to follow the careers of these dancers post Hullabaloo. I'm familiar with Michael Bennet and Donna McKechnie's work, but hope the others also had long careers on the stage or in studio.
Suzanne Charney was in Sweet Charity (the one with the long white gloves and ponytail in the Rich Man's Frug). Patrick Adiarte was in Flower Drum Song and I know he appeared in The Brady Bunch Hawaii episodes (he was overseeing the surfing contest). Lada Edmund, Jr became a highly paid stuntwoman.
Hello John, Thank you for making this channel available especially the Hullabaloo videos! I am a huge Hullabaloo fan. I watched it as a kid age 7 yrs old. ( when my mom let me watch it) l believe the show was on Thursday nights? I'm not sure. I liked Hullabaloo better then Shindig, Where the action is and Hollywood Au go-go. I never cared for The Beat.. it was a blues show for the older crowd. I like your intro to the dancers when it came to Lada Edmund jr.. my favorite dancer the last photo with the girl in the black pants and white top is not lada .. this girl has frosted blonde hair with dark roots. Lada had that pretty Auburn long hair with a roped bow.. The two unknown female dancers... the med length redhead girl with bangs her name is Jill and the one with the dark long hair( kind of plump) l think her name was Carol. Everyone else was correct. Donna and Michael married for different reasons. I think Toni Basel was a dancer in the very beginning of the show. Sammy was The Best host out of them all... so talented 👏 ! The worst was Michael landon.(my own opinion.) I love the color shots !!!! I bought the 3 DVD back in the early 2000s. I ❤ the show!!!! Why these amazing scenes were cut out.. l don't know. Thank you so much for the extra entertainment l love❤ the number by Sammy and Joey that was 👍 great!!!!
Part of the reason I put this together is because I couldn't find much info online about who was who amongst the dancers, and it seemed like someone should document all of this. It took a fair amount of digging to get as far as I did. I saw about 4 or 5 dancers that appeared in just a few shows - there wasn't enough info or footage of the to be included here.I think Toni Basil was in Shindig (and she also choreographed the Hullabaloo section of the recent film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.") Thanks for the input - it really was a special show, wasn't it?! And I agree about Sammy Davis Jr!
Thank you for the identification. Always like to associate a name with a face. Difficult task as I see at least three of these wonderful dancers are still unknown
Thanks. It was a fair amount of work just getting as far as I did with this.
Patrick Adiarte is amazing...i met him yrs ago when i worked for a company that franchises Hullabaloo dance clubs for teens.....
Great dancers BUT they did Barbara Alston an injustice 0.50. She is by far the most animated, flexible dancer and it shows her so stiff. Still a nice tape. I would have just like my bit to be more wild and fun.
Who is the gal at 2:30?
Boomers really watched some garbage.