Fred Astaire took dance lessons from this young man in London.

@JamesIrwins78s

2 жыл бұрын

Really, thanks for the info! Glad to learn more about Ken.

@JulesCreativityPersonified

6 сағат бұрын

You can so tell|! I was going to say he dances like Fred!

We can see here where Fred Astaire got his inspiration for his style. His first movie, Dancing Lady, was released less than two years before Oh, Daddy! here. Ken Johnson was well-known and admired in the hoofers' world for years, but did not have the deserved visibility. That was because of the same reasons the lady in the clip cannot stay in that restaurant for another minute. He was black, and his "Snakehip" dancing was indecent. He is amazing!

@JamesIrwins78s

8 ай бұрын

Well, actually, it was because she wasn’t supposed to be there to her husband’s knowledge, and her husband was unexpectedly in the crowd. Ken’s dancing was hot though, too bad he died so young. He may yet have made a decent career for himself, but now he’s widely forgotten. A real shame indeed.

Spectacular dancing. Too bad the movie didn't value it as much as i did. I would have been happier just watching him.

About a month and a half after his death Al Bowly died from a German rocket attack in London. He had been given the choice of staying in London or going out into the countryside. He chose staying in the city. When they found him, he looked asleep in bed, but was dead, apparently from the shock of the rocket blast out front.

Ken was killed in 1941 when a bomb struck the London club he was appearing at.

@JamesIrwins78s

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I read up on that, such ashame that a talent like him was killed under such circumstances, as well as Al Bowlly too, who had his bedroom door shot straight into his head from a bomb that exploded outside his house, the same year no less!

@Shif80

8 ай бұрын

An explosion that created three jazz vampires. If you know, you know

@sophiebennett2806

8 ай бұрын

With a ponchant for Patisserie Valerie. Poor Peter 😞

@tomkent4656

8 ай бұрын

@@sophiebennett2806 ???

@sophiebennett2806

8 ай бұрын

@@tomkent4656 sorry Tom that reply was for @carlharrisom1416 they'll get it. It's a reference from Moon Over Soho

I just learned about Snakehips from The Splendid and the Vile

@glenngallo7118

2 жыл бұрын

Me too

@Adnaerel

2 жыл бұрын

I learned about him via Moon Over Soho, second book in the Rivers of London series.

@JamesIrwins78s

2 жыл бұрын

I found his music via Peaky Blinders.

This talented young man was also leading the 1930s Black British jazz scene, conducting his band KEN 'SNAKEHIPS' JOHNSON & HIS WEST INDIAN DANCE BAND. He is well represented on the Topic CD 'Black British Swing 1931-46'. He was murdered by Nazi bombs in 1941. Another leading light in Britain at the time was singer Al Bowlly. With much more style and diverse range than the likes of Americans Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, he could have been bigger than them in later years. He was also murdered by a Nazi bomb, in 1941.

@JamesIrwins78s

5 ай бұрын

Yeah I always thought it was interesting how they died so closely to eachother. I listen to both of them, and actually I consider them both “later-end” artists as I mainly listen to 1910s/20s era music, with a 78 collection to boot. But I haven’t been able to attain either Bowlly or Johnson on 78.

a fantastic dancer.

@JamesIrwins78s

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, this was the profession he was best at, rather than bandleader which was not his thing up until he had to take the place of bandleader when the previous bandleader left.

@vincentv7159

2 жыл бұрын

@@JamesIrwins78s he made a good bandleader

Did anyone else hear about this via Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers Of London series?

@JamesIrwins78s

Жыл бұрын

Not how I found it but I’m sure there’s someone else on here.

@Binyamite

Жыл бұрын

Me 😂 And I think it’s great that this artist seems to get a lot of recognition here thanks to Moon over Soho. Pioneers like Snakehips should always be remembered!

@professionaltaxevader4638

Жыл бұрын

Great chronics of the second world war from reader´s digest volume I page 228 when 2 50kg bombs hit café paris in mid of his band perfomance, killing him and another one of his muscial crew.

@ardotte

8 ай бұрын

yes!

@simoom58

5 ай бұрын

Me too!

I'm glad I could see this was real. I hope he never gets forgotten... Not a comfortable scene to view, though, seeing how disinterested the audience are. Thank you for uploading this, a d Oh Daddy's!

@jongarvey8487

Жыл бұрын

Any musician who's played at a dining venue knows that audiences are NEVER interested!

@cherylwilkinson3228

9 ай бұрын

It is part of a movie. They are just actors playing a part.

@hoobeydoobey1267

9 ай бұрын

Those are called extras and they are to be background, not stealing the scene.

@esmeephillips5888

8 ай бұрын

The blonde at 1:10 looks plenty interested.

@mynameisworld

3 күн бұрын

They seem pretty interested. They're entirely focused on the dancer, except for the ones who are part of the story and have to do lines for the movie.

Not only Ken's band swung; he did, both ways. For a few months before his death he lived with Gerald Hamilton, who was twice his age and a notorious conman, the original of the title character in Isherwood's 'Mr Norris Changes Trains'. Johnson and Hamilton had a cottage at Bray, later renowned for its colony of showbiz celebrities.

@JamesIrwins78s

8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the information!

Perfection

So little footage of Ken Daceing - even then the camera cuts away to a rather dull scene - pity - at least we have a little footage - maybe some lost film may one day be unearthed - unlikely

@JamesIrwins78s

Жыл бұрын

That’s why it’s best to cherish the little that’s available.

@anthonyfrew1571

Жыл бұрын

@@JamesIrwins78s indeed it is - there are for example - only two pieces of film of Al Bowlly singing solo - very little film of many of the great British singers of the 1930s - a few feet of film of Sam Browne - but there is an interview from the 1960s of Sam been interviewed

@EricNobles-vi4pj

3 ай бұрын

He's in a 1930 movie called Crazy House also

@anthonyfrew1571

3 ай бұрын

Thank you

Frances Day, the female lead, changed her name to Samta Johnson when she retired from the business. She was a former fan dancer, renowned for her bisexual conquests. Was Ken one of them? He was 20 here and had been trained by the great Buddy Bradley, Jessie Matthews's dance director. Snakehips's style resembles a mixture of Bojangles and the Nicholases. Curiously he uses the hand-to-stomach gesture made famous by Eleanor Powell. She was just beginning in pictures in 1935 when 'Oh Daddy!' came out. Perhaps Buddy or Ken had seen her in New York days.

@JamesIrwins78s

8 ай бұрын

Possible on both counts I suppose.

Perhaps they still have the out takes?

@JamesIrwins78s

2 жыл бұрын

Possibly, but I don’t know where to look or who would know.

Dancing? The camera mainly focused on the audience and their dialog. What a waste of talent.

@JamesIrwins78s

2 жыл бұрын

Well considering that this is the only footage with any of his dancing in it is pretty amazing, it’s a shame that their isn’t any other videos of him.

Guyanese

@warpnin3

4 ай бұрын

I live in Suriname, the country next to Guyana. Years ago a Guyanese man pointed me to an old house in our capital Paramaribo, and told me the Johnson family used to live there, and how famous Ken Snakehips Johnson used to be in Europe. Now, years later, I remembered that day and looked for this dancer on youtube.