Hit Parade of 1941 (Frances Langford and Ann Miller)

[@rogermaes6001]

Amazing dancer ! At 18 years old ! and with this figure and those legs ! Thanks for sharing this number.💗

[@iccarman]

Ann was about 18 when this was filmed. Nobody better.

[@esmeephillips5888]

Except Eleanor Powell, whom Ann blatantly imitated for years.

[@jordandors]

​@@esmeephillips5888ann did it better tho

[@Jack-ke5uv]

@@esmeephillips5888 The same year 1941, Eleanor Powell also did a tap number on top of a piano like Ann Miller does here. The number that Eleanor Powell did on top of a piano was called "I'd Rather Be Rich" but MGM deleted the number from the release print of "Lady Be Good" to make way for an additional Ann Southern number causing tension between Southern and Powell. However, Eleanor's deleted number in which she dances on top of a piano is still shown on photography advertising stills for the movie "Lady Be Good."

[@esmeephillips5888]

@@Jack-ke5uv It's an old schtick. Ellie had been in production stills straddling two pianos for 'Broadway Melody of 1936', and her German imitator Marika Rokk tapped across three (echoing Ellie's Drum Dance in 'Rosalie' of 1938) in 'Ich Brauche Keine Millionen' from 1939's 'Musik Musik Musik'. There may be earlier examples from the first wave of Sound musicals. Astaire did a gorgeous piano dance in 'Three Little Words'.

[@Jack-ke5uv]

@@esmeephillips5888 Yes, there is something about pianos! The production still I am talking about is the one where Ellie is posing on top of the piano in her tap shoes with Robert Young and Ann Southern sitting on the piano bench looking up admiringly at Ellie. This production still was often used for the cover sheet for the song Lady Be Good.

[@taylordowning2533]

Thanks for posting this!! This is a great number and the cast is awesome, especially for a Republic Pictures film. Patsy Kelly is hilarious

[@esmeephillips5888]

When this pic was reissued in 1952 as 'Romance and Rhythm', somebody edited almost all Ann's dances out of it. The following year she hit Peak Miller in 'Small Town Girl' and 'Kiss Me Kate'. Doh. Otherwise this was an ambitious entry from Republic which copped two Oscar nominations for its music. The standard ploy of surrounding two youngsters, Ann and Kenny Baker, with seasoned support brought in a galaxy of talent: Frances Langford, Mary Boland, Hugh Herbert (who wrote his own dialog), Sterling Holloway, Barnett Parker, Six Hits and a Miss and Borrah Minevitch's mouth-organ mob. This movie made a plot point out of the imminence of television, but Hitler put that on ice for seven years. Frances Langford plays the chantoosie who has to ghost Ann's (fictitiously) bad singing. After the war Frances became a TV star, as Ann's mom in the story intends her daughter to be.

[@vitameatavegamin4236]

Did Francis Langford ever dance in a Film?