Singin' and Dancing Back in Time.: Ruby Keeler

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Ruby Keeler

Ruby Keeler, was an actress, singer, and dancer most famous for her performances with Dick Powell in a string of musicals, particularly 42nd Street (1933).

The film was a huge success because of Busby Berkeley's beautiful choreography. Following 42nd Street, Jack Warner gave Keeler a long-term contract and cast her in Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames, and Colleen. Keeler and Jolson performed together in, Go Into Your Dance. Frank Tashlin's 1937 cartoon, The Woods are Full of Cuckoos, featuring a porcine caricature called "Ruby Squealer". She retired from show business in the 1940s but made a widely publicized comeback on Broadway in 1971.

1 comment:

montyJuly 9, 2010 at 2:46 AM
Recently began to see more of Ruby's films and becoming a fan of hers. Great post Dawn.
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Bob Fosse

Was a musical theater choreographer and director, screenwriter and film director. He won an eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret. He was identified with his third wife, Gwen Verdon. She was both the dancer/collaborator who he choreographed much of his work and, together with dancer/choreographer Ann Reinking, a guardian of the Fosse legacy after his death. Fosse is considered to be one the most influential coreographers of the 20th Century.

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Jeanette MacDonald

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Cab Calloway

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86 .Click picture to view official website.