|
Swing
Inter.Net
Last
Updated 12th November 2001
Jewel
McGowan &
Dean
Collins in the "Spingtime
In The Rockies"
IN
THE MOVIES
|
|
The
1940s
Swing
Years |
Always
A Bridesmaid 1943
Dancers:
Patty Andrews, Dean Collins
Buck
Privates 1941
Abbott
& Costello, Andrews Sisters
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan, Gene "Shadow" Cole, Gil
Fernandez, Connie Wydel
The
Canterville Ghost 1944
Charles
Laughton, Margaret O'Brien, Robert Young
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan
The
Chool Song (Soundie)
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan
Dance
Hall 1941
Carole
Landis, Cesar Romero
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan, Connie Wydel
Four
Jills In A Jeep 1944
Kay
Francis, Martha Rae, Carol Landis,
Mitzi
Mayfair
Dancers:
Roy Damron, Freda Angela Wyckoff
George
White's Scandals of 1945
Jack
Haley, Gene Krupa and his Orchestra
Dancers:
Dean Collins
Ghost
Catchers 1944
Ole
Olsen & Chic Johnson
Dancers:
Johnny & Venna Archer, Bob Ashley, Dean Collins, Gil Fernandez,
Lenny
Smith, Betty Stoy, Irene Thomas, Mike Tremini
Hellzapoppin'
1941
Ole
Olsen, Chic Johnson, Martha Rae
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers with Frankie Manning and Norma Miller
Hollywood
Canteen 1944
Bette
Davis, John Garfield and many more!
Dancers:
Johnny Archer, Gil Fernandez, Jack Mattis
The
Horn Blows At Midnight 1945
Jack
Benny, Alexis Smith.
Dancers:
Johnny Archer, Dean Collins, Jeanne Phelps (Veloz)
Jive
Junction 1943
Coral
Ashley, Beverly Boyd
Dancers:
Johnny Archer, Bob Ashley, Jeanne Phelps (Veloz)
Junior
Prom 1946
Freddy
Stewart, June Preisser
Dancers:
Freda Angela Wyckoff, Johnny Archer, Dean Collins, Maxie Dorf,
Gil
Fernandez, Alice Scott, Lenny Smith, Lou Southern
Let's
Make Music 1940
Bob
Crosby and his Orchestra
Dancer:
Dean Collins (Partner Unknown)
Playmates
1941
Kay
Kyser, Lupe Velez
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan
The
Powers Girl 1942
George
Murphy, Anne Shirley, Benny Goodman and his Orchestra
Dancers:
Bob Ashley, Irene Thomas, Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan
Ride
'Em Cowboy 1942
Bud
Abbott & Lou Costello, Ella Fitzgerald
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan
Springtime
In The Rockies 1942
Betty
Grable, John Payne, Cesar Romero, Harry James and his Orchestra
Dancers:
Dean Collins & Jewel McGowan
Stage
Door Canteen 1943
Benny
Goodman, Kay Kyser,
Count
Basie, Peggy Lee, Ethel Waters
Dancers:
Irene Thomas, Arthur Walsh
Swing
Fever 1944
Kay
Kyser, Marilyn Maxwell, William Gargan, Lena Horne
Dancers:
Lenny Smith, Jeanne Phelps/Veloz
The
Talk Of The Town 1942
Jean
Arthur, Ronald Colman
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan, Gil Fernandez
They
All Kissed The Bride 1942
Joan
Crawford
Dancers:
Dean Collins, Connie Wydel
Till
The End Of Time 1946
Dorothy
McGuire, Guy Madison, Robert Mitchum
Choreographed
by Dean Collins
Dancers:
Guy Madison, Jean Porter, Lenny Smith
Young
Ideas 1943
Mary
Astor, Richard Carlson
Dancer:
Dean Collins
This
listing is by no means complete and I would welcome any additional
info on other films or indeed any corrections.
IN
THE MOVIES - 1950s
THE
ROCK 'N' ROLL YEARS
are
to be found on the
contact
pages |
|
|
Hollywood
Style?
|
Hollywood
Swing
Hollywood
Swing is a style of Lindy Hop from Los Angeles in the 1940s. The
dance has a variety of different names, Smooth Style Lindy, L.A.
Style, Dean Collins Style (see below) but L.A. teachers and
performers Erik and Sylvia Robison coined the term “Hollywood
Style” which reflects both the geographic origins of the dance
and also it’s appearance in so many movies. Hollywood Swing is
not only the absolutely authentic jitterbug style it is also the
original rock ‘n’ roll jive as danced in the classic R
’n’ R films of the ‘50s. THIS
IS THE REAL DEAL!
|
1992
- Robert Austin
I’d
been dancing for about five years starting first with Lindy Hop and
then Modern Jive which I then went on to teach.
"Have
you seen "Hellzapoppin’?" asked a friend. No
I hadn’t and a few days later he came round with a tape. He fast
forwarded straight to "that" scene with Whitey’s Lindy
Hopper’s and Frankie Manning at his peak, high speed dancing and
incredible aerials. I was blown away, who hasn’t been?
He
then showed me another clip, Martha Ray singing "Watch the
Birdie", great scene, great song. As she strolls through the set
a couple are dancing, the thin white guy leaves his partner, takes
Martha Ray’s hand and they begin to dance. Its perhaps only 8
bars of music, nothing flash, no death defying aerials but smooth,
casual, laid back. The scene doesn’t even look choreographed,
there’s even a mistake at the end.
"Who’s
that guy?" I ask "I love the Frankie Manning
stuff but that’s how I want to dance."
"Oh
that’s no-one, just some boogie woogie dancer."
That
"no-one" I found out years later was Dean Collins. |
Martha
Rae and Dean Collins
"Hellzapoppin'
1941 |
Who
was Dean Collins?
Dean
Collins is undoubtedly the most filmed Lindy Hopper in the history
with over 50 movie and short credits to his name.
Dean
Collins was born in Ohio in 1917and grew up in New Jersey. As a
teenager he hung out in the Harlem clubs where he learnt Lindy Hop
and at the age of 18 (1935) was "New Yorker Magazine’s"
dancer of the year. He reputedly entered the Harvest Moon Ball twice
in the mid-thirties, and although not winning was placed highly on
both occassions
In
the late 1930’s he moved to Los Angeles. This period was the
height of the Jitterbug craze in America and many of the studios
wished to cash in either directly through swing based musicals or
indirectly by including swing dance scenes within other genres. Dean
Collins was in the right place at the right time and a simple extras
job for RKO in 1939 turned him into a choreographer for the film
"Let’s Make Music" with the Bob Crosby Orchestra. From
then on Dean Collins became a regular in many of the movies
throughout the 1940’s.
Jewel
McGowan &
Dean
Collins in the Soundie Jazzy Joe
Sometimes
he is literally a blur dancing in the background adding dancehall
authenticity as in "Talk of the Town" (Cary Grant 1942) or
is given a higher profile like when he dances to the Andrews Sisters
in "Buck Privates" (Abbot and Costello, 1941). Alongside
the film credits he also appeared in a number of "soundies",
the forerunners of the modern pop video, including the classic
"Chool Song" and "Tabby the Cat".
To
mention Dean Collins without reference to his dance partner of 11
years Jewel McGowan would be travesty. Jewel’s dancing is a
sheer pleasure to watch and I have seen no other dancer who has been
able to "work that skirt" in the way she did. Dean and
Jewel were undoubtedly the Fred and Ginger of Lindy Hop
In
the late 1930’s Lindy Hop was not popular dance in Southern
California, dancers preferred Balboa or Shag (Collegiate). Dean
Collins is credited with bringing the Lindy from the Savoy Ballroom
in Harlem, New York to the The Palladium on Santa Monica Boulevard,
Los Angeles. Many of the LA based dancers adopted what has become
known as the Dean Collin’s style.
Dancers
in the Pete Smith Speciality "Groovy Moovie" (1941) show
this infuence executing smooth slotted whips as opposed to the more
circular swing outs which had characterised "Savoy Style."
Dean
Collins also taught a large number of people the dance including
many celebrities including Shirley Temple, Joan Crawford and Caesar
Romero and even Arthur Murray. He continued to teach throughout his
life and Jonathan Bixby and Sylvia Sykes more recent swing dance
champions from Santa Barbara learnt directly from him.
It
is because of Dean Collins and his contemporaries in Los Angeles
that a whole generation of dancers, via the medium of film,
jitterbugged across the world.
|
Dean
Collins and Jewel McGowan
"Buck
Privates" 1941 |
Dean
Collins and Jewel McGowan
"Ride
'Em Cowboy" 1942 |
|