Tap Dance History from Vaudeville to Film

This program compiles archival films of tap dancers' performances dating from 1930 to 1948, with voiceover narration and a few still photos briefly introducing each act and describing its place in the history of the art form. Clips include Bill “Bojangles” Robinson's signature stair dance (1932) and stepping out in a 1942 “soundie” made for a video jukebox; an anonymous comic dancer in blackface (1930); and “Rubberneck” Holmes, shown in a 1940 performance in which he almost break-dances in a combination of tap, acrobatics, and his own style of soft shoe. Narrator Andrew J. Nemr of the Tap Legacy Foundation notes that Slick and Slack offer an example of how the first tap shoes sounded in “It Happened in Harlem” (1945); describes the influence of vaudeville players Stump and Stumpy (1948) on early television comics; and explains what made the jaw-dropping Berry Brothers' “Boarding House Blues” (1948) unique. Novelty acts are represented by two unnamed couples who perform on roller skates, and the program also includes three segments showing chorus lines. For the most part, the clips, curated by Mark Cantor from the Celluloid Improvisations Music Film Archive, are of good quality and provide a sense of the setting as well as a complete view of each performance; the one exception is footage from 1945 of Juanita Pitts, which lacks audio. Informative and very entertaining, this is highly recommended. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg)