Even now, 40 years later, using the phrase “Let’s Dance” rings hollow for me. It reminds me of David Bowie’s 1983 song and his shift away from the cool and edgy rock riffs of Ziggy Stardust and Moonage Daydream and toward more of a pop sound.

This sad and irreversible drift started in the middle of the 1970s and was, in my all-wise high school opinion, a dangerously close line to the disco sounds which were the absolute bête noire of the teenage male of the late 70s and early 80s who could not dance—in whose ranks, for better or worse, I found myself.

Even if you are the biggest Bowie fan in the world you must admit that after he and Mick Ronson, his guitarist extraordinaire from the early years, parted ways that the innovative sounds of Bowie’s music started to slide downhill. (Yes, that is Bowie and Ronson in the title picture above)

But lest we start an argument over that, let’s watch a bit of YouTube. Its temptations are undeniable for how easily it allows us to peer back in time. Here we find a constantly growing treasure of all things relating to movies, concert clips, and outtakes. An added bonus are the comments below the videos where you find people who were at the concerts, worked in some capacity on a production, or have other types of connections to the film and music industry.

Yet a frequent and baleful refrain that one finds in these narratives is that the talent was just so much better “back in those days.” According to these commentators those thespians of old had superior acting chops, the musicians were better because they did not use auto-tune so wantonly, and public speakers were true orators and not just sound bite artists. Hogwash I say! Talent is always on the march forward and trying to compare modernity with the past is a fool’s errand. Just look at what the British acting schools alone put out. So great are their crops of talent that one can be forgiven for thinking that they are rolling off an assembly line.

Sure tons of annoying dross does pour out of the film and music scenes—it always has, but today’s acts can be very good—even great. The cream always rises to the top so we need not worry about there ever being a shortage of good things to hear, see, and read. , production values and directorial skills are often astounding—and why not? They have had over 100 years of lessons upon which to build. An aside: I am sure you will agree though that in the movie musicals of today the frenetic movement from one camera shot to another begins to fray even the sturdiest of nerves.

But… there is an undeniable “certain something” about the Hollywood of the 1930s to 1950s. Even when the historians who work on our behalf explain the context of the era and how these stars were created, we still admire just how many of the performers of yesteryear had “it.” Of course, the eternal difficulty in describing what exactly “it” is, that makes them all the more alluring.

I have been binge-listening to a podcast called You Must Remember This by Karina Longworth. Although I stumbled upon it by chance, it is now one of my favorites. She has a natural talent with the microphone and combines it with thorough, yet not pedantic, research to give life to the stories behind the stories of Hollywood’s best days. Warning—just one episode will hook you.
As so often happens in these great programs, an offhand reference, this one to Fred Astaire, led me down yet another enjoyable rabbit path of exploration—this one regarding the excellent dancing in the films of yesteryear.

Mikhail Baryshnikov often brushed away questions as to who he thought the best dancer was of all time. “It is art” he would tersely reply and he is right. Why do we constantly have to rank everything into a list? Sure we want to see who wins an Olympic race, the football championship, or an election, but aren’t things best enjoyed when simply taken in their context? Let the art, and not numbers, do the speaking.

A few of my faves?

Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire from Broadway Melody of 1940: Begin the Beguine This tap number, after the first fifty seconds of fluff, is rightfully lauded as one of the most perfectly executed dance routines ever and it stands as a cultural landmark of the 20th century. Watching two artistic geniuses at the apex of their talents still bedazzles us and their performance has rarely, if ever, been equaled. This is one of those times when the phrase “they were better back in the day” is probably true. Frank Sinatra said of this routine “Watch closely as you will never see this again.” Who can argue with him? Bonus: You can see another performance from Eleanor Powell in this: Ship Ahoy

The Nicholas Brothers team up with Cab Calloway to perform another tap that was supposedly shot in one long single take: The Nicholas Brothers 1943 Stormy Weather I leave the debate regarding how many takes there were to the experts, but the fact is that we are witnessing the brothers dance into film history: How can something this good actually be true? Well, it is and we fortunate that it has been preserved for us to see.

Mixing American dance styles with a good dose of athleticism leads to the famous “Barn Dance” from the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Barn Dance I like this for many reason but also because it raises the hackles of some pretentious purists who are always quick to note that one of the gents dancing had been a gymnast and another a baseball player and thus had not learned at the barre in a dance conservatory. Hah! While this is not Swan Lake it is mesmerizing nonetheless and a boatful of fun. Note: This type of cattiness reminds me of a snide remark made by a military aviator regarding baseball great Ted Williams who had served as a Marine Corps combat pilot in the WW2 and the Korean War. The snarky remark was that Ted had “potential as a fighter pilot had he been in uniform longer.” Seriously? Williams is baseball’s greatest hitter. We can always get someone to fly the airplane!

One last tap number if I may—this one with Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire: Shorty George While the lead-in is corny, I am awed by how, for the all work and preparation they must have put into this scene, Hayworth is so loose and fluid that she appears to be just idling—such is her air of effortless superiority. She was beautiful of course, but she was first and foremost a stunning dancer. In this other clip of her we can laugh at the dated and even silly scenes, but ignore that and look at how good her steps were: Hayworth dance montage One of my three wishes in life, were a genie from the bottle the bottle to grant them, would be to be bring her back to life and ask her to show me a few steps to get across the dance floor!

Go ahead—take a trip to the past to admire this talent. Skip the ratings and rankings and simply immerse yourself in the gifts that these performers had in such abundance.

In the meantime I stil,l think the loss of Mick Ronson’s guitar work fatally diminished David Bowie’s music. He should have left Let’s Dance to those from the past who knew how to do it best—from Astaire to Hayworth to the Nicholas Brothers and many others!