roller skates are difficult and dangerous its amazing how he makes it look so easy

My mom is 98 and has always said Fred Astaire had a face for radio. That always cracked me up. She wasnt lying.

Everyone here is mesmerized by Donald O'connor, okay he do deserves that, but what an adorable sweet girl, Noreen Corcoran did sing a charming song!

obviously not many could match him

If Hollywood had it's issues with child Stars at this time he protected the young child Stars him self

Such an immense talent. Greatly admired. Will we ever see the like again.

Not Donald O'Connor. That's Rick Astley.

Wheels are locked, jump cut before and after tap dancing. Don’t get me wrong, he’s multi talented but that’s how that was done

Still don't get the attraction of tap dancing.

He was a fantastic dancer, and performer. His "Francis the mule" movies are so much fun. And his dancing. His scene in the movie "Singing in the Rain" is absolutely phenomenal.

Anyone remember how great he was in SINGIN IN THE RAIN? He was a class act in many of the scenes, upside down, and up on walls.

These were the old style skates, not shoe skates. If you look, when he put them on, he attached them to his "business shoes". The fall knocked off the skate.

He grew up in Danville Illinois

Melanie has the key

He danced so well. I thought he looked young no matter his age. He never seemed to facially age.

I'm afraid there may be "special effects" in the actual tap sequence, because there was a cut in the film just before the tap section began (3:09), and another before he began smoothly roller skating again (3:39)...and in between those two cuts, it looks like the skate wheels *couldn't* turn-they were fixed in place-which would make the tapping sequence much more do-able. Not to downgrade O'Connor's incredible dancing skills, but it appears, at least in that sequence, he had a little extra help

Who is the little girl? She was great!

He was amazing and she was cute!❤

The only little trick I see here is that the actual tap dancing portion of the performance, from around 3:10 to 3:40 is clearly done on a set of skates with the wheels seized-I’m guessing they welded the bearings on that set of skates, and the cut to close-up for the fancy footwork allows for a separate take to change out the skates. The cut back to real roller skates at 3:40 is a bit less seamless, but still not glaringly egregious, and the whole thing seems to work.

What a talent 😊

What movie is this from?

I wish they would make musicals like this again - feel good mysicals with no sex or swearing that the wntire family can watch together. It would be so refreshing.

How many Corcoran kids were there? They all looked alike.

Amazing is right. What a talent!!

Shirley Temple and some scarecrow

Being a roller skater and tap dancer, it’s harder than it looks. Now I couldn’t do either one being crippled.

I miss the days of fun uplifting movies

Donald O'Connor was a phenomenal entertainer. He could act, sing, and exhibit his amazing athleticism through dance.

I grew up watching these great movies, an era where just the basic standard was you had to dance, sing, act, crack a joke and play an instrument to concert standard. Some just did it better than others.

What movie was this from?

Can't believe I've never seen this. I thought I was pretty well-versed in the old musicals. This was charming and I love the song. :)

Wow... knew that Donald O'Connor was a very talented dancer yet never knew he was such a great "dancer" on skates. He left people with so many great moments of him on the Silver Screen. Was a treat seeing this movie clip. Thanks.

This in no way detracts from his performance, but I strongly suspect that he used two pairs of skates. When they cut to him and he starts tap dancing, I believe the wheels were fixed, so they wouldn’t roll.

Wow! He had some serious guts.

The young lady was very talented too.

He had the magic for the rollerskates. Nice scene, I've never hear of this one.This makes me want to check out rollerskates again. Outdoor rollerskates, rollerskates in general.Skating outdoors is a wonderful memory.

O'Connor was one of the best.

Name of the Movie,Please.

I loved him!!!!! ❤️

BTW: What is this film and who is the little girl ? Is she still living ?

My mom met Donald during the war ww 2, and in 1982, we both saw him star in a production of Showboat, as Captain Andy. Closing day in San Diego, he autographed my pgm. for me. Poignant because tht Showboat production was the last thing my folks did w/ me....just the 3 of us, prior to their splitting up and divorcing.

He was the featured performer when I went to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp when I was about 15. I doubt many of us knew who he even was, but I remember it as the highlight of the summer. We had several evening concerts and performances and his is the only one I remember.

That takes a lot of skill. And those skates were a lot harder to use than the common boot ones we had as kids and that you can still get. My mom had a pair of those old one. The biggest issue I had when trying to use them was the danger of them slipping off your shoes. More than once when trying them I nearly planted my nose in the ground. And in the end decided to stick to my Roller Skates.

Even as a child I recognized he was underappreciated. Try to tap dance like that even with locked skates!

I’m still in love with him. Hope I always am. ❤

Not a single performer today could even come close to that!

What an athlete.

Donald was one of my Grandmother 's favorite actors. I can remember watching his movies with her. God Bless!😇🙏🤗

Donald O'Connor was the real talent to be honest even in singing in the Rain he is the true dancer for all that Gene Kelly got all the credit the truth is Gene Kelly was very good at what he did and what he did was did was to be a producer to be a director he was very good at control but he did not have the grace or the talent that Donald O'Connor did, and Donald O'Connor I always believed never got literally the accolades that he should have gotten.

My parents didn't get me modern roller skates they got me the same kind of roller skates you see in in here... I was always jealous of the other kids that had modern roller skates like you see in many of the 1970s and 1980s movies.