Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2024 March 1

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March 1

Feet glued to floor

In this film clip, Shirley Temple doesn't move her feet, and we know she could dance. Neither did the people in blackface behind her. (Not here to talk about the blackface.) Why no foot movement? HiLo48 (talk) 07:59, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Huh? Just because someone can dance doesn't mean they dance all the time, especially if she's supposed to be singing, which is not easy to do at the same time. She's just doing what she's told to do by the director. Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:30, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

To me it seems a very unnatural lack of movement. Why would the director ask for that? HiLo48 (talk) 22:03, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

Of course she did what the director told her, but it is a bit puzzling that he chose to make the scene so static. In many other films Temple dances or skips around while doing a song, so it is reasonable to wonder if there is some plausible rationale for this directorial decision.  --Lambiam 00:36, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

She does rock on her feet a little bit. The context of this clip appears to be rehearsal of a play, or possibly an audition. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:56, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

A quick flick through YouTube finds plenty of examples of ST singing but not dancing, or dancing but not singing and a few where she does both but only for a short duration - one has her standing to sing most of the song with a quick tap routine during the final chorus. As pointed out above, singing and dancing at the same time causes breath control issues. Alansplodge (talk) 12:18, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

The staged play shown in the scene may have been inspired by George L. Aiken's very popular stage adaption of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a Tom show that included musical numbers. In its first run, in 1852, the star role of Little Eva was performed by child actress Cordelia Howard. Apparently, here the role is assumed by Sylvia Dolores "Dimples" Appleby.  --Lambiam 13:15, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Apparently, while in the film Dimples does play Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin, the scene with the song "Get on Board" occurs much earlier in the film,^[1] so the film scene may have depicted a rehearsal for the play.  --Lambiam 13:36, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

So it seems that the notion that she always sang and danced at the same time is a myth based on stereotypical movie clips. As Little Eva, would Shirley's character have donned blackface for the actual production? (Meanwhile, if she started doing The Loco-Motion, that would be quite a story). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:24, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

As described by Stowe, Evangeline St. Clare had golden-brown hair and violet blue eyes and was fair and pale, so I guess she was meant to be white.  --Lambiam 22:36, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

She does some mean tapdancing up and down the stairs.  --Lambiam 22:40, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

And does various movements with her upper body. Sort of dancing in place. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 16:21, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

What an odd question. It's not a dance number. That's why she's not dancing. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 16:07, 5 March 2024 (UTC)