Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Backup dancers? Holy cats!

So, there's this backup dancer that I've noticed in a lot of musicals. At first I noticed him because he was cute. Then I noticed him because I recognized him. Now, I look for him when I watch a musical because he's in so many! Seriously, here's a list of the ones I can remember at the top of my head:

- The Merry Andrew
- Hit the Deck
- Hello Dolly
- Guys and Dolls
- It's Always Fair Weather
- Mary Poppins
- The Thin Man Goes Home
- Summer Stock
- The Band Wagon
- The Music Man

He's probably in more but I've just forgotten or I haven't noticed him yet. Seriously, he's in everything! Because he's in so many musicals, he must have been a really fantastic dancer. I mean, I can tell he was fantastic; I've watched him. But, it's crazy to think of how much talent was in the musicals back then. No one even knows his name (I do, because I've researched: Bert May). Because I've noticed this random backup dancer, I've felt this sort of loyalty to cheer for him. I get pretty excited when I find him. It's like Where's Waldo. I'm linking to a movie clip with each of the titles above. Check them out and see if you can find him too!

Ok. Now, I know you may not feel like going through all of those links and trying to find him, so I'll help you out a bit (for some reason I went backwards. Don't ask me why):
- in The Music Man, he's the first guy in line with the glasses in the greenish shirt.
- in The Band Wagon, he's in the yellow turtleneck
- in Summer Stock, he's the guy who does the totally wacky leg thingy around the 2 minute mark
- in The Thin Man Goes Home, he's the sailor who dances with Nora
- in Mary Poppins, he's in that first group of 3 sweeps and he's the one on the far right
- in It's Always Fair Weather, he's Jasper (hehe)
- in Guys and Dolls, he's the guy in red who keeps losing. he gets his own solo bit.
- in Hello Dolly, he's Danny
- in Hit the Deck, he's wearing a lighter blue shirt and he has lighter hair. he's also really thin
- in the Merry Andrew, he's the guy in yellow

So, there you have it. I'm kind of obsessed with him. I don't know why. Do any of you have a random backup dancer you like? Have you seen this guy in anything else? I'm pretty sure I'm his one-girl fan club, so I'd like to see as much of his work as possible!

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