An Authentic Cake Walk

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  • Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
  • Ragtime pianist, collector, and historian Johnny Maddox described this scene to me as one of the "most authentic cake walks I've ever seen." The clip is from the classic 1936 movie San Francisco, starring Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald. It features Abe Holzmann's hit "Smoky Mokes" and Kerry Mills's famous "At a Georgia Camp Meeting" as background music, which almost perfectly fit the period of the film, 1906. I let the scene continue until the music stops.
    No copyright infringement intended.

КОМЕНТАРІ • 93

  • @sioneliuelifonua3582
    @sioneliuelifonua3582 Місяць тому +52

    Sent hereby Kendrick Lamar’s music video to “they not like us”

  • @OSRSDeep
    @OSRSDeep Рік тому +15

    If only we could see the marvelous colors displayed on their hats

  • @jrexx2841
    @jrexx2841 3 роки тому +44

    1936 portraying 1906 wow

  • @JohnRemmers
    @JohnRemmers 2 роки тому +11

    That's a wonderful clip. I've seen this movie several times. If memory serves, the earthquake begins later in this scene and profoundly changes the mood of the film. I was particularly taken with the poignant way in which music is used to reflect this.

  • @louisxiv631
    @louisxiv631 3 роки тому +36

    Oh, my goodness...this was only a few hours before that dreadful earthquake devastated the city of San Francisco. The earthquake struck in the early hours of the 18th and this "Chicken's Ball" is taking place on the evening of the 17th. Chilling!

    • @adamgswanson
      @adamgswanson  3 роки тому +16

      Undoubtedly, they made the movie that way on purpose. The classic film revolves around the great earthquake of 1906.

    • @louisxiv631
      @louisxiv631 3 роки тому +11

      @@adamgswanson Oh, my word. I didn't know that, I've never seen the film before! Pardon me, I feel rather embarrassed now; My comment seems quite ignorant now that I look at it! Thank you for your patience in replying to my comment, I'll be more mindful of movie plots in future. Thanks.

    • @adamgswanson
      @adamgswanson  3 роки тому +13

      @@louisxiv631 Also, they did not have sound film in 1906 haha.

    • @michaelangelojurado3384
      @michaelangelojurado3384 Рік тому +1

      Signore Louis, how ever did you stumble across this video. I would hardly expect a man of your class and stature to take pleasure in rag time. Caspita! If you ever find yourself travelling in the Sicilian countryside just south of il Parco dell'Etna please stop by my club so that you may delight me with an explanation. Io vi raccomando!

  • @0276boy
    @0276boy 13 років тому +12

    Fantastic. This got me into ragtime before I knew what ragtime is. Fabulous. The dancing is perfect.

    • @samaval9920
      @samaval9920 4 місяці тому

      Earliest published ragtime before the name is Danses cubaines (Bailes/ Danzas Cubanas, by U S 19 c. composer & pianist. superstar Louis Moreau Gottschalk-- ragtime ahead of time.

  • @nicholasschroeder3678
    @nicholasschroeder3678 4 роки тому +15

    Reading Johnson's Autobiogrphy of an Ex-Colored Man sent me to this. Great read

    • @cwjmkj
      @cwjmkj 4 роки тому +1

      Same here...

    • @Datz-Donna
      @Datz-Donna 3 роки тому +5

      More people need to read it. It breaks down how the white society still judge all of us Black folks by their hatred of the under achievers who look like us even today.

    • @CP-tq7id
      @CP-tq7id 2 роки тому +1

      Omg yes I’m reading it now. So great

    • @reginamerwin935
      @reginamerwin935 2 роки тому +1

      Me too! What a great book!

    • @puredust5797
      @puredust5797 Рік тому

      Ex colored? He identifies as white now?

  • @nadiaelisian7335
    @nadiaelisian7335 2 роки тому +2

    Watching "Meet me in St. Louis" sent me here because it's hard not to have 2 screens going at once.

    • @miask
      @miask Рік тому

      I did the same!

  • @nicolearciola3598
    @nicolearciola3598 4 роки тому +4

    First song is Smoky Mokes, followed A Georgia Camp Meeting.

  • @georgetheaspie
    @georgetheaspie 3 роки тому +32

    I know the cakewalk is considered contentious nowadays, but this just looks like a fun dance done by very talented performers.

    • @thomashogan16
      @thomashogan16 3 роки тому +9

      Contentious? How? Damn politically correct anything that applies to art. Period.

    • @LA-tz8zr
      @LA-tz8zr 2 роки тому +42

      @@thomashogan16 There's a LOT of art modern and historical that was made with politics, activism, rebellion, etc. in mind. However you may feel about current commentary on the cake walk dance, it was originally made as an act of rebellion against slaveowners and popularized by the very same people who were being made fun of. It wasn't JUST a "pretty dance".

    • @IchabodvanTassel98
      @IchabodvanTassel98 2 роки тому +2

      @@LA-tz8zr i guess art doesn't know boundary lol

  • @rooneyjosuehernandezvillan4213
    @rooneyjosuehernandezvillan4213 5 місяців тому +3

    Excuse me folks. What’s the name of the movie?

  • @simzou4373
    @simzou4373 Рік тому +2

    Good Very Easy dance~ Cakewalk

  • @arturolpc3593
    @arturolpc3593 3 роки тому +3

    'At a Georgia Camp Meeting Cakewalk.' Cakewalk De Kerry Mills publicada por F.A. Mills en New York, New York en 1897.

  • @guyveloz4382
    @guyveloz4382 3 роки тому +2

    Gawd, Jeanette McDonald was soooooo beautiful.

  • @Lootroq
    @Lootroq 2 роки тому +95

    As a black person, I can guarantee you there was a way more savage version for when white folks weren't around. I wonder what that looked like

  • @prairiedoggy1
    @prairiedoggy1 4 роки тому +2

    San Francisco, great movie!

  • @vicentegarcia6298
    @vicentegarcia6298 Рік тому +2

    El cakewalk es el antecesor directo del ragtime. Conoces otros cakewalks? Saludos cordiales desde la ciudad de México.

    • @samaval9920
      @samaval9920 4 місяці тому

      El ragtime fue una influencia grande en el Brasil,,espcialmente oara la gran compositora Francisca Chiquinha Gonzaga.!

    • @samaval9920
      @samaval9920 4 місяці тому

      El ragtime primer publicado e
      Danses cubaines (Bailes? Cubanas.)!1849!! Ragtime sin el nombre.

  • @HoTrEtArDeDcHiXx
    @HoTrEtArDeDcHiXx 4 роки тому +1

    Yes, that's exactly what happened

  • @shawnlongino1154
    @shawnlongino1154 Рік тому

    That would be Harold Nicholas jumping through the hoop to lead the dance.

  • @johnerwin9024
    @johnerwin9024 4 роки тому

    Yea, too long since watch movie, overall, really pretty good, thanks 4 this clip from it🙂

  • @HB-yq8gy
    @HB-yq8gy Місяць тому

    Wow we went from classy cake walk to twerking. Our ancestors are rolling over in their graves 😂

    • @Gabriellaella23
      @Gabriellaella23 Місяць тому +1

      Our ancestors moved their hips and bottoms while dancing long before we were stolen from Africa. This dance is actually mocking white enslavers.

    • @josephjames335
      @josephjames335 Місяць тому

      Ours? With those yt hairy hands? Lmaoo

  • @lorettabigg8513
    @lorettabigg8513 2 роки тому

    I spy one of the Nicholas Brothers.

  • @alainchristian
    @alainchristian Місяць тому

    They all in their 20s

  • @curtpiazza1688
    @curtpiazza1688 4 місяці тому

    Cool! 😂

  • @dwdeclare1965
    @dwdeclare1965 Рік тому

    city mouse in the kitchen, everyone hide the cheese!

  • @gavinbkr10
    @gavinbkr10 3 роки тому +1

    In white an I find this absolutely amusing

  • @jrr3613
    @jrr3613 2 роки тому +3

    Pretty disturbing to be honest considering a hanged man was said to perform a Texas cakewalk while hanging in there....

  • @8ALICAT
    @8ALICAT 4 роки тому +1

    Does anyone know the name of this movie?

  • @mightylaser0000
    @mightylaser0000 Рік тому +2

    Once you find out the origins of this dance it’s hilarious lol 😂

    • @IchabodvanTassel98
      @IchabodvanTassel98 Рік тому

      What is it

    • @cosmic_cosmos1
      @cosmic_cosmos1 11 місяців тому

      Why is it hilarious

    • @chloefourte3413
      @chloefourte3413 10 місяців тому

      @@IchabodvanTassel98 enslaved folks invented the cakewalk as a game of mocking the slaveowners. Often the slaveowners had no idea they were being mocked, mistakenly thinking the enslaved were simple and trying their best to imitate whites. lol. It's possible some white people knew they were the but of the joke, but it was a subversive act on the part of the enslaved and a bit of fun

    • @flex8707
      @flex8707 10 місяців тому

      ​@@cosmic_cosmos1 Cakewalk traces back to events on Southern plantations wherein Black slaves would dress up in their finest clothes and parody the mannerisms of their white oppressors. The enslaved people would take turns performing a grand-promenade type of dance - one directly inspired by a specific couple dance called the Grand March performed at American balls. The couple with the best dancing skills would then "take the cake," an idiom that is still common today. But the cakewalk was more than a recreational dance; it also gave a chance for enslaved people to ridicule those who tyrannized them. The dancers would dress up in their finest clothes and parodied the mannerisms and dancing of the white Southern elite. Black slaves mocked the stiff, waltz-style dance moves of their white slave owners. The enslaved black dancers would highly individualize the dance by adding their own twists, shuffles, high kicks, and other incorporated movements from African dances. Their masters often mistook the playful derision for quaint approximations of their dances. While it might be assumed that slave owners would punish their slaves for this mocking behavior, in fact, many owners actually encouraged it. They did a take-off on the high manners of the white folks in the 'big-house,' but their masters, who gathered around to watch the fun, missed the point." Often the white slave owners even assumed the role of presenting the cake instead of the enslaved people choosing among themselves, once again trying to demonstrate their authority.

    • @user-ri8zs2kr1y
      @user-ri8zs2kr1y 6 місяців тому

      It's basically a parody of classy white ball dance.​@@IchabodvanTassel98

  • @annainspain5176
    @annainspain5176 Рік тому

    The best part is, they hardly show the dance at all.

  • @jessiewang4201
    @jessiewang4201 5 місяців тому

    who's here because of the LSAT passage

  • @anamariaciurea8263
    @anamariaciurea8263 Рік тому

    Ahahaha ❤️😭🙏

  • @norman102745
    @norman102745 4 роки тому

    T’ain’t muffin nomo fun dandy cakewoke.

  • @TosoFilippo
    @TosoFilippo 4 місяці тому

    k

  • @Mimaw1
    @Mimaw1 Місяць тому

    The saddest part in all this is society has manipulated black people into modern day entertainers without them even realizing. Whether it’s through theatre like hip hop or sports

  • @yaboykingr6415
    @yaboykingr6415 Місяць тому

    Kdot wins

  • @mikecarter5631
    @mikecarter5631 Рік тому +1

    I wonder if the white folks, then, knew the cake Walt was meant to make fun of them?

  • @user3141592635
    @user3141592635 4 роки тому +3

    At least, they were not overly fat.

    • @thomashogan16
      @thomashogan16 3 роки тому +1

      That would be an extreme difficulty in dancing the Cake Walk.

  • @Cookie-zv3ni
    @Cookie-zv3ni 3 роки тому +3

    How was he passing as white? I have yet to see one picture where I would think he was a white man. Every picture he looks like a black man.

    • @SmartStart24
      @SmartStart24 3 роки тому +3

      Who!?

    • @Cookie-zv3ni
      @Cookie-zv3ni 3 роки тому +3

      @@SmartStart24 this comment was posted on another video. Don’t even ask me how it got here. 🤔

    • @Gabriellaella23
      @Gabriellaella23 Місяць тому

      @@Cookie-zv3niI’m still a little curious. Do you remember? 🤔

  • @dickrichard626
    @dickrichard626 2 роки тому

    🐒