Cabs’s musical performance in the “Blues Brothers” is a MUST.

@corawheeler9355

3 ай бұрын

Minie The Moocher

@matthewdooley7855

3 ай бұрын

That whole movie is a good watch/reaction.

@Alex-di7mb

3 ай бұрын

@@matthewdooley7855 yes, totally worth watching. I’ll take it a step further, I think “Blues Brothers 2000” is worth watching simply due to the cameos and musical performances especially the battle of the bands at the end of the movie.

@holden4764

3 ай бұрын

Agreed!

@memonk11

3 ай бұрын

By FAR the best part of the movie!

Fred Astaire said this was the best dance scene in film history!

@gordonduke8812

Ай бұрын

He was right

Hi Britt, LOVED your reaction! Cab was born in 1907 and died in 1994. His daughter Chris was born in 1945, and followed in his footsteps as a jazz singer and performer. I was born in 1959, and was Chris Calloway's personal piano tech for all her concerts and recordings for years. We were very good friends, and we talked for years about her father and his career and jazz and the Jim Crow era she lived through on tour with him. I remember her saying the Jonas Brothers gave her her first dancing lessons!! And I danced with HER once. :-) She was married to South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela before I met her. She died in 2008. I miss her so much.

@johnsilva9139

3 ай бұрын

I don't think you meant to say the Jonas brothers.

@user-fq6bj4cd5m

2 ай бұрын

thanks for sharing the wonderful post. I am pleasantly surprised that Chris Calloway married Hugh Masekela I recall his rendition of "Grazin' in The grass" it was interesting.

You'll DEFINITELY enjoy Cab Callaway singing Minnie The Moocher in the movie The Blues Brothers!!!!

@danieldickson8591

3 ай бұрын

Cab's original recording of Minnie the Moocher was the first million-selling single by a black singer in America.

@MrGaryGG48

3 ай бұрын

Thank you... you saved me from looking it up, I couldn't remember whether it was "BB-1" or "BB-2." I had to laugh when Britt commented that she hadn't seen any other similar acts like this... I suspect they all just had heart attacks on stage and no one else could keep up! His was a unique performance and I loved it!

Harold Nicholas, the younger brother, played Earnest "Sarge" Johnson, the choreographer, in the movie "The Five Heartbeats" . . . . . GOOD EYES, Britt!

@johnpaullogan1365

3 ай бұрын

except she said it was one of the calloway brothers.

@beamspickett

3 ай бұрын

She meant Nicholas@@johnpaullogan1365

@mikesmicroshop4385

3 ай бұрын

@@johnpaullogan1365 Yes! He is one of the Nicholas brothers! What she said is correct!

@johnpaullogan1365

3 ай бұрын

@@mikesmicroshop4385 no if you listen in the video she says he is one of the calloway brothers. not that he was one of the nicholas brothers.

@mikesmicroshop4385

3 ай бұрын

@@johnpaullogan1365 He is one of the brothers, you said "except she said it was one of the Calloway brothers." and she is correct! He is one of them and he was one of them since they are both now deceased! So it doesn't matter at all if she said was or is as both are correct! Now you are saying that she said "She says he is one of the Calloway brothers. not that he was one of the Nicholas brothers." which is not what you said she said the first time!

Cabell Caloway III, known professionally as Cab Calloway, was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the swing era. Fayard Antonio Nicholas was born October 20, 1914, in Mobile, Alabama, and Harold Lloyd Nicholas was born March 17, 1921, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Harold Nicholas played the role of Ernest "Sarge" Johnson in the movie the Five Heartbeats. Harold was also the first husband of the actress Dorothy Dandridge. This is a form of Jazz called "Swing". The people in the video are members of The Silent Generation, those born 1928-1945 with the end of WW II. The women are not "Flappers", that was during the Roaring 20s. This movie was during the "Jazz Age", the in-crowd were called "Hep cats" for the men and "Kittens" for the women. In 1939, the jazz singer Cab Calloway published Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary: Language of Jive. A hep cat was "a guy who knows all the answers, understands jive." The hep cats and hepsters Calloway described would in the following years become known as hipsters. Those who were hip eventually became Hippies by the mid 1960s.

The younger of the two brothers just has the something Extra. He's always been my favorite!

Everyone talks about Cab Calloway performing "Minnie the Moocher" in the Blues Brothers film, but it's decades older than that. If you put "max fleischer minnie the moocher" into the KZread search engine, the first video up is a 1932 Betty Boop cartoon that starts out with live footage of a 25-year-old Cab Calloway and his band performing the song, with Cab dancing. Max Fleischer was one of the founding fathers of animation, most known for Betty Boop and the early Popeye cartoons. One thing that made him different than Disney or Warner Brothers was his inventiveness and pushing boundaries, such as breaking the fourth wall and incorporating the reality of the artform into the visuals and storyline. Fleischer was the Salvador Dali of early animation. In one episode of Popeye, he's being chased by cannibals and runs out of any way to escape a terrible end, so Fleischer has the film 'break', spilling the cannibals out of the cartoon, with Popeye hanging on for dear life. Then, realistic human hands reach in, reconnect the torn film with a large safety pin, and the film is then started up again, just in time to end with Popeye singing his song. In Fleischer's "Minnie the Moocher", he used rotoscope to create the central singing walrus-like ghost. Rotoscope is the process of creating animated sequences by tracing over live-action footage frame by frame. In this instance, Fleischer traced over live footage of Cab Calloway dancing and singing the title song. Five years later, Disney copied the technique to get realistic motion in the human characters in "Snow White", but Max Fleischer did it first.

Dad say this is a scene from the movie "Stormy Weather". View it if you can. Also, Fayard, the older brother was a self taught dancer, then Harold, the younger brother wanted to learn. Thus you see the Nicholas Brothers. Michael Flatley may be known as the Lord of the Dance but these gentlemen were Gods Of the Dance.

@matthewdooley7855

3 ай бұрын

Few people do anything as well as they dance.

This clip is from the classic film "Stormy Weather" (1943) starring Lena Horne. The Nicholas Brothers began as child stars, performing at The Cotton Club (in New York) when they were in their early teens and beyond, eventually graduating to movies. Cab Calloway was another classic Cotton Club performer as was a young Dorothy Dandridge who married the younger Nicholas brother, Harold. The Nicholas Brothers and a teenage Dorothy have a video on KZread as well, a clip of their performance of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" from an earlier film, Sun valley Serenade' (1941). That one's well worth checking out as well.

@Jeff_Lichtman

3 ай бұрын

The movie also featured Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Fats Waller.

The easy power of the Nicholas brothers is amazing. Their strength and skill is legendary.

This never gets old...The best dance/tap routine of all time.

@danieldickson8591

3 ай бұрын

The great Fred Astaire called this the greatest dance sequence ever filmed. Gregory Hines, himself an exceptional dancer along with his brother Maurice, asserted that if this number was filmed as part of a Nicholas Brothers biopic, they'd need CGI because there's no one alive who could perform it.

@harpergras

3 ай бұрын

Yes indeed...All true...Astaire and the brothers became close friends...Gene Kelly also loved them.@@danieldickson8591

They were truly impressive, Cab and his brothers. People back in the day genuinely appreciated the hard work that went into their performances too because going to dance halls and dancing all night was a common form of entertainment at this time period, so the movie goers were accustomed to dancing and knew just how hard what these men were doing really is to do well. So many beautiful dance movies from the golden era of movies. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Cab Calloway, and Shirley Temple all had huge careers due to their dancing abilities. :)

One of the first inventers of Rock and Roll

The Jersey Side is the west side of the Hudson River. Back in the heyday of jazz, musicians would finish up late-night sets in Manhattan, then head over to Newark, New Jersey to play some more, party, and then have breakfast as the sun came up, thus having their eggs “on the Jersey side” of the river.

ENERGY? They had so much of it, you can feel it now LONG after their passing! I would swear you walk y their graves and you can well feel that energy still today!

30 seconds into their routine, BrittReacts gushes about Nicholas brothers routine, their precision, their synchronization Me: Wait up, they're just getting started, Britt, you ain't seen nuthin' yet! Best tappers on the planet, hands down. You're looking at the GOATs of tap.

There will never be a better dance duo.

The Nicholas Brothers are acrobatic tap dancers. Check out the movie Tap. 1989 Sammy Davis Jr And Gregory Hines as well as many tap dancers of the 1930s 40s. Tap was dying out during the 50s and 60s.

I think this is the same video you reacted to 10 days ago. It's just that one was in color.

@antknee6

3 ай бұрын

😏

@markinman8156

3 ай бұрын

anything with Britt is worth a re-peat!

@WolfsDE

3 ай бұрын

I kept thinking she reacted to this one in color. 😂 Glad to see someone else noticed it.

@Sp33gan

3 ай бұрын

I knew I had a strong feeling of deja vu!

@NoctemAeternusMusic

3 ай бұрын

She actually does this a lot. It’s weird. It’s like she thinks we won’t remember 😂 And her acting like she hasn’t seen it yet is hilariously embarrassing.

Watch them when they were just kids, they did radio shows..

1940s during WWII. This is Swing, a form of Jazz. Modern scat has its roots in Louis Armstrong but is said to have originated in West Africa.

Aside from everything you already mentioned, I just had to comment on the leg strength of the Nicholas brothers. Every time they did a split, even after jumping, climbing or leaping down stairs; those pristine white gloves NEVER touched the ground to push themselves back up. That was ALL leg strength! Impressive!😮

Cab literally was planting the seeds of R&B and later Rock n Roll with his style of music.

Another entertaining song by Cab Calloway "Minnie the Moocher", it was also the sound track for the 1932 Betty Boop cartoon. Betty Boop was an icon of the time.

Growing up in the "60"s We would watch all the movie's, musical's and everything else from the "30"s, "40"s and "50"s !! IT WAS AWESOME !! THIS IS A CLASSIC PERFORMANCE FOR SURE!! 😍🕺🕺

girl the Nicholas Brothers were outstanding dancers

A lot of people think of swing as music for old people in the nursing home. Their experience is with Lawrence Welk. But, this music was for young people of the time. Full of energy and geared for dancing, Lindy Hop, Jitterbug. You can still find swing but it is usually from smaller bands. Those big groups are expensive to operate.

This is from the film Stormy Weather. I’ve read in more than one article that this dance sequence was filmed in one continuous shot in the first take.

Cab Calloway was AMAZING

As for the Nicholas brothers. Just remember, this was all done on film 🎥. No video to play with. No digital imaging to adjust. This was just raw talent.

Tap shoes are slippery by design. Jumping from table to table is amazing.

Calloway was the house band leader at the Cotton Club in Harlem from 1930 until 1940. After the authorities shut the club down, Calloway and his band went on tour. They were asked to recreate the Cotton Club experience for the movie "Stormy Weather" in 1943, which is why we have this masterpiece.

No sure if everyone notices this but Britt has perfect pitch (or imitation). When she sings a phrase - here or even John Lennon - she mimics them perfectly. In tune and tone.

Even more amazing, they filmed that in one take. Fred Astaire say this is the best dance sequence ever filmed

Rumor has it that the Nicholas Brothers did that scene in one take..RESPECT !!

@paulpeterson4216

3 ай бұрын

They did not. This was a movie, there are different shots. That said, I believe they did the staircase scene in one take, because they were afraid of one of them getting injured, so once they had it, the didn't do more takes.

@Glittersword

3 ай бұрын

There are different angles that does not mean there was more than one take. Just multiple cameras.

@paulpeterson4216

3 ай бұрын

@@Glittersword Again, this is a movie. They only have so many cameras. This is a movie, they set up shots. There would be no reasonable way to shoot that entire dance sequence in one shot, and no reason to even try to do it. The "one take" was the staircase sequence, because once they had it, the did not want to risk they guys getting injured; and, they got it on the first take. It was a godly performance; the lily doesn't need gilding.

@Nico3039

3 ай бұрын

legende...on voit les coupes...

@nollaeel5697

3 ай бұрын

@@paulpeterson4216 I don't know why people are so hung up on the reality of movie making - this needed to be shot in multiple takes. It doesn't take away from the Nicholas Brothers' artistry.

high-level dance is like boxing - you don't realize how physically demanding it is until you try it for 90 seconds and need to catch your breath and take a nap

I don't know much about dancing, but those brothers are superior athletes! Not many dancers would be able to match that performance.

The best music. The best performers. The best era.

There's no other video that iam going to love ❤ of your selections such as this . I believe you're going to enjoy also .

Big Band had so much energy and it was clearly a lot of fun.

cab, the brothers...they were amazing. I grew up in the 60s so it was all reruns and summer movies..but wow, top of the game.

OMG! If Cab were still alive today and could see your face while you're listening! There's no doubt about it, he'd thoroughly love it. And the same goes for the Nicholas Brothers.

Cab was one of America's greatest talents

You should look up his performance of “Minnie the Moocher“ from The Blues Brothers soundtrack. Sadly, in the movie, it cuts away from his performance, so you don’t hear the whole thing. But it’s in its entirety on the soundtrack.

That's some TOP-NOTCH entertainment and talent there!

I never will get tired of watching this!

Another Great Reaction 👏🏾 👏🏾 BRAVO 👏🏾 👏🏾

@brittreacts

3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much 🤗

I have watched this tons of times and never get tired of it 😊

My mother was an acrobatic dancer in the 1930’s and early Forties. She met our father at an agent’s office in Baltimore, Maryland. We kids watched big band movies, and listened to all kinds of music growing up. R.I.P mom and dad.

I have seen this many times, and their performance always awes me. Pure excellence and joy. Perfection.

One of my favorite videos ever from a movie. So many movie musical numbers that you can react to. From early movies to more current times. I love Barbra Streisand Don’t Rain On My Parade, Beautiful Reflection from Funny Girl or Hello Dolly, With One More Look at You/Just Watch Me Niw from A Star is Born, Gene Kelly Singing it the Rain, Fred Astaire Say it With Firecrackers to start.

Britt, you're not wrong..., anyone must be crazy not to love these guys. Today we are missing so much. Definitely top-tier.

My dad saw Cab Calloway and his band perform when he was in the military 1944. He described the energy was like you could feel it. No one could keep up with Cab's scatting.

To answer your question, Flappers were in the Roaring '20s when the Charleston was the popular dance craze, dancing to early jazz and ragtime. This is 20 years later when they were doing the Jitterbug to big-band Swing music.

Real instruments real good music and by the way you can understand what they're saying wow 😊😊

I feel like you do Britt, my father who was born in 1928 would talk about their dancing all the time it is breathtaking…

Cab Calloway was amazing. One of the greatest voices in modern music. He inspired tons of later musicians. As for the Nicholas Brothers, they were two of the greatest dancers ever. many authorities call this the greatest dance routine ever committed to film.

And think of the amazing orchestras of the time. Classically trained, knowing folk, blues and literally creating jazz in real time!

The Nicolas Brothers, tap dancing legends who are unmatched! From dancing on tables to the floor to the sensational, athletic splits down the huge stairs, sliding down the staircase with sensational and breathtaking style! They showed their agility, creativity and dancing ability in that song from the classic Movie "Stormy Weather" from 1943! Cab Calloway, so lively with his conducting baton, singing with scat and dazzling, rapid-fire lines, Lena Horne's golden voice and other actors made that movie shine 😃👏🏾🕺🏾🕺🏾♬🎺🎼🎹🥁🎥

First (and second and third) time seeing them I cried, like friggin wailing it's so beautiful and I love dance. Hugs from Sweden.

fabulous Americana... History 🔥💕

You're right Britt is was a full experience dancing singing a great band a big stage. I was the whole sheh bang

This is from the 1943 movie "Stormy Weather" It had Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, Fats Waller, Dizzy Gillespie and Ada Brown. It's based loosely on the life of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. In the movie he is called Bill Williamson and is played by Bill Robinson, himself. Very inspirational. you should watch the whole movie.

"Eggs on the Jersey side is a slang term. After entertainers were done with their shows in New York City they would cross the river to Newark, New Jersey. There they would jam and/or party the rest of the night. The nights would end and they would have breakfast in Newark - "eggs on the Jersey side."

I love your reaction! I’m from the 50’s. We had mostly black and white television shows. Cab and The Brothers were so talented!

Britt you would love all the movie musicals from the 40s and 50s all B&W but these types of songs played in my house growing up I was born in 1953 and we listened to every style of music possible. My Dad was in WWII and quite the dancer, so Swing was his go to music along with Benny Goodman Jimmy Dorsey and the rest of the Swing Big Bands. Cab Calloway was highly respected as a band leader. Always love your reactions!

If your mind isn’t already blown, they did this in one take!

These men are legends, timeless. I was born in the early 1960' s I can remember the music and dancing. I grew up watching these musical shows/ movies. I still today love the old black and white movies. Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and so many more. You might want to watch Tap ( 1989 ) with Gregory Hines.

It is you are absolutely correct. The shorter on played Sarge, the choreographer for the Five Heartbeats

I love that you are going back to the 20s-30s-40s era of American music.

Good reaction from a charming, attractive, and intelligent young lady.

Cab invented COOL, everyone has been playing catch up ever since, he did not have to be COOl, he WAS COOL. The Nichalos Brothers routine was done in one take, no cuts! Gregory Hines said that the routine could never be replicated because the skill, talent and artistry is otherworldly. Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly both said that they were the best ever🥰

Yeah that's him, lol. The 5 Heartbeats. He was also in the movie TAP

I like to think of myself as a rational and logical person, not easily given to belief in non-secular concepts but I could swear the Nicholas brothers were some kind of superhumans. I can't think of any other way to account for the extraordinary moves they made. Thanks for the upload and your thoughts on this. Everyone who watches it gets their minds blown by it even after all these years, including me. Every time I watch it, it makes me think that anything is possible. Best wishes.

This is part of the Movie Stormy Weather and save it for yourself and your family.. The artists in it will bring your to tears

This from the movie, Stormy Weather 1943. Yes there were clubs like the Cotton club where people of all melanin content got dressed up and went out on the town. This is an all black movie as I recall, and this is one of, if not, the best dance scene in movie history!

If you want to see a performance from long ago that will blow you away, find the video of Sarah Vaughn in 1964 doing Misty. Talent that will still amaze people a hundred years from now.

Hi Britt, You're right. One of the brothers was in the 5 heartbeats as a dance instructor, teaching the guys dance move. And the same brother was in a few other movies back then too. Also, both of them including Cab was in one of Janet Jackson's music videos back in the 80's. My grandfather took my mom (her dad) to see the Nicholas Brothers live at the Apollo theater when she was a little kid. My mom had told me that to see them perform live was unbelievable. I know what you mean about how much work it takes to be good at your craft because I myself am a songwriter, vocalist and musician who plays 3 different musical instruments, and I started playing at 11 years old. You had a great reaction to the video. The way was moving around, I thought you were about to get up yourself and start dancing. lol nice job!

They were Olympic Gold performers! Brilliantly perfect! Wish we could ask Prince and MJ about their thoughts on these gents! Essentially their own Cirque cu Soleil so many moons ago. Cab was great. I know you smiled large about Quincy over We Are the World, well Cab and also Duke Ellington right there! Other greats of Sarah V, Dinah W, and so many he learned from and supported. Britt, after the great classical Maestros, this amalgamated era of music was the best! Cab, Duke, Goodman, Miller, Brubeck, Dizzy, and more... Of course there comes Sachamo, Prima, then Frank, King Cole, Ella, before Elvis, Berry, Etc, etc. I enjoyed almost all music until about the 90's when it all started to slip away... Wow, how much fun it may be to watch your reactions to all the E Meritas members of the PDC!

Yes, Harold Nicholas was in the 5 Heartbeats.

They filmed this in one take! Amazing!

I was lucky to see Cab on Broadway in The Pajama Game with Barbara McNair

I'm a white Texas guy but when I was young there was a black and white movie channel. I was addicted to this stuff

Classic.

Since you are a student of tap dancing and the great music from the 1930s and 40s, there was a movie that came out in 1989 called "Tap" starring Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr., they were two of the best tap dancers that ever graced the stage! You would love this movie, in fact, you out to react to it! This one is right down your lane.

You are SOOOOO ADORABLE & BEAUTIFUL !!!

This is the day’s of the 😊Big Band era. Many of the entertainers hone their skills in vaudeville. The entertainers that you see will never be duplicated this was the GREATEST GENERATION before the war and after. The entertainers in this era were multi talented they could sing, dance, play instruments do comedy. It’s a shame that today’s generation can only do one thing walk with a phone in their face.

You are so correct about dancers. I've seen videos of dancers being challenged by other athletes to do something and they have no problem. Dancers are all over strong and flexible. It's so great that they recorded all this. It's so good.

@brittreacts

3 ай бұрын

Exactly!!

These guys were amazing! Wow!

Cab Calloway was always an awesome entertainer but when I see the Nicholas brothers I just can’t look away.

Cab had the best strut, ever!

This video is from the movie "Stormy Weather", also starring the great Lena Horne (Stormy Weather is her signature song). The movie is from around 1943. Cab Galloway and his band became the resident hand of The Cotton Club in Harlem, NYC after Duke Ellington and his band left for bigger things. Cab put on a big show at the Cotton Club with a chorus line of dancers too. It was THE place to go. Check out: "Minnie The Moocher" with Cab. The 40's and 50's were the era of big bands and swing. music.

Amazing......

The big breakthhough for cab calloway WAS indeed the blues brothers secuence.... america is still pretty segregaded..., and that blues brothers clip opened a few doors.... great performer...,

100% agree. I get the impression that singers and performers used to train and rehearse ten times as much back then. So much talent, but also so much training. If this doesn't impress you, you need a defibrillator.

Cab Calloway is a legend. A musical genius. The nicholas Brothers are true legends

This was a time in our musical history when raw talent was combined with entertainment, and the decorum was not to be compromised but insisted on. Scat was Scat, South Carolina and Mississippi Delta Blues, Gospel music of all denominations and races, Country music, and New Orleans and Dixieland Jazz were all distinct, yet joined at the hip and indistinct in their love of and support of one another. React to Minnie the Moocher by Cab Calloway next.

Going out in Harlem. White tux and tails. Hat gloves and cane. You didn't even start to get ready until after 10 pm. Show up before midnight and watch the show until 4am.

I was just imagining how this would go over on America's Got Talent. I think they would get the Golden Buzzer! Ron from California USA PS I'm going to Angelina Jordan's Concert in Vegas on Feb. 29!