Dick Powell was remarkable, when you look back at his career. 1) Singing and dancing 'juvenile' leading man, 2) Noir actor in tough hardboiled roles, and lastly, 3) Respected TV producer...and along the way married June Allyson!!
This musical is my favorite. What they do to a melody is incredible. From key changes, to different scenes, an evolving kaleidoscope of sound. The women were beautiful. Every dancers, singer, chorus were vogue quality beauties.
It's a beauty that cannot be expressed with CG or animation. It seems that the 1933 Long Beach earthquake occurred during the filming of this scene. It was March 11, 1933.
Stunning. I've sat down and believe I've worked out how the violin configuration was accomplished, which otherwise would have been outrageously difficult to stage. The girls moved into position first, with Busby directing from the rafters, then moved away from the 'violin position'. Neon strips had been laid across the floor first, for the strings, then their power was cut at a certain point as the dancers moved away. Then the sequence was processed in reverse, at somewhere between normal and double time to make it look more impressively fluid. In other words, it was done backwards. The bow gliding across the strings is most likely an animation effect, that was added in post production: but it's also possible that a neon rod could have been held in the right position, from the rafters, at the start of filming for that shot: and edited out just so before the violin shape breaks away.
I don't know about all that, however "The Shadow Waltz” is sung by Powell and Keeler. It features a dance by Keeler, Rogers, and many female violinists with neon-tubed violins that glow in the dark. Berkeley got the idea for this number from a vaudeville act he once saw - the neon on the violins was an afterthought. The number features a Busby Berkeley-choreographed dance sequence by a large group of violin-playing chorus girls. The fake violin props and the bows were trimmed with neon. Though the violin “players” are usually partially visible in segments where the lighting is cut, the neon allowed Berkeley to briefly create the illusion, using distant overhead shots, that the violins are playing and dancing by themselves. I seriously doubt there was any "animation". Also, "The Long Beach earthquake of 1933 took place on March 10, 1933 at 17:55 PST (March 11, 01:55 UTC), with a magnitude of 6.4, causing widespread damage to buildings throughout Southern California. The earthquake also interrupted filming of “Shadow Waltz,” a musical scene in Gold Diggers of 1933, nearly throwing choreographer Busby Berkeley from a camera boom, and rattling dancers on a 30-foot (9.1 m)-high platform. [it] caused a blackout and short-circuited some of the dancing violins. Berkeley was almost thrown from the camera boom, dangling by one hand until he could pull himself back up. He yelled for the girls, many of whom were on a 30-foot (9.1 m)-high platform, to sit down until technicians could get the soundstage doors open and let in some light." "The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach on the Newport-Inglewood Fault. Forty million dollars property damage resulted, and 115 lives were lost. Many of these fatalities occurred as people ran out of buildings and were hit by falling debris."
@@clintonearlwalker wow what a conflict to deal with on set! The formations and costume plus the sound/voices really take you into another world. Bravo!
There was also an earthquake during the shoot that caused a power cut, and everyone was trapped in the dark in the studio. Some of the violin tubes were short circuited. It wasn't an easy shoot.
Los gorros de metal con los cables de las luces de Neón en los violines eran un pánico para estas chicas pues ellas creían y hacian con miedo la escena de que les diera una descarga eléctrica
Holy shit that's insane lighting stuff for the time and still today
Dick Powell was remarkable, when you look back at his career. 1) Singing and dancing 'juvenile' leading man, 2) Noir actor in tough hardboiled roles, and lastly, 3) Respected TV producer...and along the way married June Allyson!!
What a magnificent and precious art of the thirties !!!
I’m in awe
Wonderfully clever choreography.
This musical is my favorite. What they do to a melody is incredible. From key changes, to different scenes, an evolving kaleidoscope of sound. The women were beautiful. Every dancers, singer, chorus were vogue quality beauties.
Sublime, delicious and way ahead of its time
Berkeley was a literal genius for the time this was shot
fr this is stuff you see now not the 30’s
Unforgettable
It's a beauty that cannot be expressed with CG or animation.
It seems that the 1933 Long Beach earthquake occurred during the filming of this scene. It was March 11, 1933.
The neon part look so vaporwave.
Stunning. I've sat down and believe I've worked out how the violin configuration was accomplished, which otherwise would have been outrageously difficult to stage. The girls moved into position first, with Busby directing from the rafters, then moved away from the 'violin position'. Neon strips had been laid across the floor first, for the strings, then their power was cut at a certain point as the dancers moved away. Then the sequence was processed in reverse, at somewhere between normal and double time to make it look more impressively fluid. In other words, it was done backwards. The bow gliding across the strings is most likely an animation effect, that was added in post production: but it's also possible that a neon rod could have been held in the right position, from the rafters, at the start of filming for that shot: and edited out just so before the violin shape breaks away.
I don't know about all that, however "The Shadow Waltz” is sung by Powell and Keeler. It features a dance by Keeler, Rogers, and many female violinists with neon-tubed violins that glow in the dark. Berkeley got the idea for this number from a vaudeville act he once saw - the neon on the violins was an afterthought.
The number features a Busby Berkeley-choreographed dance sequence by a large group of violin-playing chorus girls. The fake violin props and the bows were trimmed with neon. Though the violin “players” are usually partially visible in segments where the lighting is cut, the neon allowed Berkeley to briefly create the illusion, using distant overhead shots, that the violins are playing and dancing by themselves.
I seriously doubt there was any "animation".
Also, "The Long Beach earthquake of 1933 took place on March 10, 1933 at 17:55 PST (March 11, 01:55 UTC), with a magnitude of 6.4, causing widespread damage to buildings throughout Southern California. The earthquake also interrupted filming of “Shadow Waltz,” a musical scene in Gold Diggers of 1933, nearly throwing choreographer Busby Berkeley from a camera boom, and rattling dancers on a 30-foot (9.1 m)-high platform.
[it] caused a blackout and short-circuited some of the dancing violins. Berkeley was almost thrown from the camera boom, dangling by one hand until he could pull himself back up. He yelled for the girls, many of whom were on a 30-foot (9.1 m)-high platform, to sit down until technicians could get the soundstage doors open and let in some light."
"The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach on the Newport-Inglewood Fault. Forty million dollars property damage resulted, and 115 lives were lost. Many of these fatalities occurred as people ran out of buildings and were hit by falling debris."
@@clintonearlwalker That's all true. I've read up on that before.Thanks for commenting.
@@clintonearlwalker wow what a conflict to deal with on set! The formations and costume plus the sound/voices really take you into another world. Bravo!
Notice all the girls are bowing at the same time?
Just like the half time show 2021...
Some of the girls got shocks from the wiring
There was also an earthquake during the shoot that caused a power cut, and everyone was trapped in the dark in the studio. Some of the violin tubes were short circuited. It wasn't an easy shoot.
Iain Robb omg i didn’t know that
Los gorros de metal con los cables de las luces de Neón en los violines eran un pánico para estas chicas pues ellas creían y hacian con miedo la escena de que les diera una descarga eléctrica
@twosetviolin what are your thoughts on the opening of this? =)
Ginger Rogers singing We’re In The Money, then singing it again in pig-Latin, with a close-up on her face, just WOW!