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Eleanor was fantastic! Fred was fantastic! They BOTH had talent that 99% of humanity doesn't. Who honestly really cares which dancer was "better." They were BOTH wonderful to watch. They BOTH had terrific personalities. They BOTH deserved the accolades they got. NOTHING comes close to their talent in 2022

A woman of great integrity and character.

One thing would have made this even better: actual films of her dancing.

Am I missing something? The astounding Eleanor Powell is all about movement, yet there's nothing here but stills.

She definitely gave Fred a good run for his money. Such a brilliant dancer and my absolute favorite. Ann Miller my second favorite dancer has a similar style.

I believe I've seen all her dance and tap films and she was an amazing dancer, I loved seeing this lady dance! And what an amazingly, wonderful face she had, it was a face that bespoke not only beauty, but Trust and Innocence! Yes, hard to pull off, but hers did! Glad you remembered hers, thank you! ❤

I went to Peter Ford’s birthday party in 1969 and Glen was there with Eleanor in the kitchen at Rosie Grier’s home. She wore a muumuu and never left the kitchen. They made chili. I met Peter and Glen in Paris and took Peter on my famous 1 hour tour of the Louvre. I had no idea Glen was such a big star, thinking of him as a western actor. In fact he is great in ‘Gilda’ which was written by my cousin Marion Parsonett.

I've seen lots of clips of Ms Powell, starting with a clip from the 'That's Entertainment' series you mention, in which a split screen was used to show the camera view of Powell dancing 'Fascinating Rhythm' and a wide-shot of the scenery being moved around to allow close-ups as the dance progressed. I've since seen many other KZfaq videos of Ms Powell dancing as a solo star, with Fred Astaire, at a poolside ('Ship Ahoy', in which she dances on tables and leaps over the water), and even dancing with a pet terrier! Always impeccable. Many thanks, as always, for yet another excellent biography!

Thank you for this wonderful biography on an amazing professional dancer. Eleanor Powell had a rough start - but she found her passion at a young age & the stars aligned for her ! Bravo ! Well done !!

Back in the mid 70's I was friends with Peter Ford, Eleanor's son. One day he had a small party for her and screened one of her films. She was extremely friendly and down to earth and I remember how she told how in dancing in films, when they got the take they wanted, she would have to go into a sound studio where she would have to redo the scene to synch it in with the film. Fun fact: She had the same phone number as Dineyland but with a different area code so she used to get a lot of wrong numbers meant for them and eventually had to change her number.

I think she was the greatest dancer ever. She also had the most beautiful smile.

Astaire said about her, “ she really put’em down like a man, no ricky-ticky-sissy stuff for Ellie. She really knocked out a tap dance in a class by herself.”

Thank you for sharing a video on the wonderful Eleanor Powell. As co-author on a biography book coming out on her next year from University Press of Kentucky (both of us knew Eleanor in the last years of her life), I wanted to offer a few corrections. You said she started dancing at three different ages, but she started at age six. She went to New York in October of 1927, not 1929. She actually made her first appearance on film in 1930 in "Queen High" where she briefly danced in a scene with Ginger Rogers. MGM did not cancel her contract, but she herself asked for release, and left the studio months before the term ended. She never dated Sid Luft. He and his mother were family friends from when she lived in Crestwood, NY. There is much misinformation online about Eleanor, but we hope to rectify that with the book.

if you've seen her dance..all this is academic...she was freaking wonderful....

I thoroughly enjoyed that. It was a perfectly judged potted biography. Excellent work. Thank you for taking the time to make it.

Eleanor Powell was - without question - the finest-and-best tap-dancer in Hollywood. I adore Ginger, but *she* was also a superb actress and singer, whereas Eleanor Powell was a tap-dancer supreme, and just that ! Gerry George.

I thought that she and Fred Astaire in "Begin the Beguine" were fabulous and have always been regretful they didn't do more together. I think the 2 of them and the Nicholas Brothers were the best dancers of all time.

My mother was crazy about her, she loved all of her movies. Of course I had to take tap dancing growing up. My mother lost her father at age 7 and was raised by her mother and grandmother who worked too for support. Her mom worked at a laundry during the day and at a bar at night. Her grandmother worked at the laundry doing the lace curtains popular at that time. Going to the movies gave them some happiness during the Depression.

Many tried to copy her but NONE came close. She was THE BEST.

She wasn't 'too good', she was simply different. She was more athletic where he was graceful and elegant.

What a great talent Eleanor Power had.

This beautiful woman was the greatest dancer of all!!! Incomparable. I found at the end of this video she died on my birthday. 😢

So my mom was a dancer. We'd be watching these old movies and she'd see someone dance and tell me "That looks hard, but it's really easy." That is until she came to Eleanor Powell, Gene Kelley or the Nicholas Brothers and then it changed to "She/he/they make it look easy, but that's really difficult."

She sounds like a wonderful woman. This world could use more like her...if more like her even exist.

Love her! She was hands down the best dancer of them all.

Powell was a DANCE GODDESS who was astoundingly talented and the TRUE Female version of Astaire or Kelly.

I think the reason she was not Fred's favorite for himself might be a little more complicated that the explanation offered by the narrator (that she was too good for him and that she would have diminished his dancing). In all partner dance, whether ballet, ballroom, swing, or whatever, the physicality of the dancers (actual height, frame size, and limb length/proportion) as well as quality of movement, styling and musical interpretation, have to complement each other. I have watched her a lot over the years and I have watched his other partners and the leading Hollywood dancers of that era. Not only was she a little too tall for him (at 5/6"), but she was very athletic and aggressive in her style. He was much more refined, graceful, balletic, and smooth/fluid in his style. I think there are other pieces too to what Fred meant by saying that she danced like a man. I think it is not so much that she would have made him not look good, but that her style did not compliment his. I think part of the reason is that if you watch her upper body, ie., torso, spine, upper back and shoulders, it is very straight, up and down, at least in her solo tap work. She is not bending in the back and using her upper back and shoulders to create roundedness and angles. The roundness and give and softness in the lady's upper body as well as how she uses her arms and hands is what creates the feminimity in the female dancer. This would be true in many styles, whether ballet, ballroom, jazz or tap. If you study Ginger and Rita, by contrast, you will see what I mean. They create a lot of curved lines with their torso, esp. upper back and shoulders and their use of their arms and hands is very feminine. Also, Eleanor stays very flat, ie., facing the camera straight on and is is not turning herself horizontally to be on an angle toward the camera nor vertically, not bending at different points through the torso. Angles is always softer on the eye for stage and camera than facing flat. So, all this straightness gives a less feminine impression (and less interesting as far as her torso, although she always the fire in the legs and feet) and is therefore more masculine. (In art in general, straight lines are usually associated with the masculine and the curved line is generally more associated with the feminine.) I personally think they are very well matched for tap and love them together in that. But you can see as soon as she steps into the ballroom world (for the slow part of Begin the Beguine, for example) she is no where near as comfortable and that I think killed the "chemistry" for their dancing the adagio stuff together. For those reasons, as well as her overall power, athleticism, and attack, especially when his style was so soft and relaxed esp. with his ballroom, yes, of course, he would be over-powered by her and therefore she would not be the best partner for him. If someone had worked with her on upper body and how to soften it in the slow dances, she may have been able to over-come some of those pieces and it might have worked out for them to have more complementarity with each other on screen. Just my two cents as someone watching dance and watching dance on film for a long time. Love them both, though. Most dancers of all disciplines agree he is the best dancer of any discipline for all time. And surely, she is one of the best tap dancers of all time and one of the best female dancers of any discipline of all time. I have loved watching both of them since I was a child.

I 1st became aware of Eleanor Powell as a kid in the early 50's watching her dance in old movies on television. Even as a kid I knew she was very special..& in a class all of her on. Even though I loved Fred & Ginger .. Eleanor Powell had another dimension to her dancing that was unique esp with her athleticism ....Stange that years later as you speak of here .I read. she had a close relationship with Bill Robison & Bubbles which I can see his influence in her dancing. Being African American I picked that up right away about her.. for she danced with a certain kind of what we called" Soul.". Thanks for the thoughtful documentary. About the Great Eleanor Powell...

People have to remember that Fred Astaire was 13 years older than Eleanor Powell, but he kept up with her flawlessly.

Eleanor Powell was the greatest all around dancer in Hollywood history. That's my opinion.

This was an era when films were fun. Took your mind off the problems of the world. I will continue to watch movies of the 30's. they are just fun! Right now the world is having troubles, I would rather watch the old movies. they lighten my heart.

The best tap dancer I’ve every come across

She had more yang (male) energy than others that danced with him. Plus she could easily keep up or even take the lead.

She was a tremendous talent.

She was great and an incredible talent. Her films with Red Skelton are wonderful.

A fine biography, thanks much. She was the best of the best. Had quite a crush on her.

For what it's worth, Fred Astaire told Peter Ford, Eleanor's son, that she was was a better dancer than him. He felt vulnerable next to her. I ALWAYS enjoy watching Eleanor Powell's routines. She was mesmerizing.

I always wanted to dance like Fred Astaire as a kid just like my father and millions of others for 40 years. That was just a dream to be cool. Then one day in 2001, I watched Broadway Melody 1940 and the fever of tap hit me hard during that magic scene of Begin The Beguine when that female partner took over the scene over Fred Astaire, and I had never seen that before. Eleonor Powell passed on some vertigo of passion at that moment and I later learned to tap. All from here. The combination of her smile, her movements and aura were like magic. I was bewitched for life. What a Lady!

She is equally assertive in a dancing way.

Eleanor is the all time BEST DANCER we have ever seen! She brought chills and tears to my eyes, dancing with Astaire. I had heard that he was jealous of her perfection and talent, that he had to practice whilst the steps came to her with ease. I was shocked to learn she had married the drunk of all drunks Glen Ford, but happy to see she became a mother to a wonderful child who loved and supported her. Eleanor was in fact too good for Astaire, and he was flawless.

Eleanor was among the greatest, but not "too good" for Fred ... he was one of a kind and they were very appropriate for each other.

Watch her on KZfaq and be prepared to be blown away! I love her spins, she is so fast she spins like a figure skater!

Fred was 11 years her elder. I say he did alright for an older guy!!

She is my favorite female of vintage dancers. I remember her beautiful smile second to her amazing talent for dancing. I agree, she was the best!

The quality of classic Hollywood portraiture never fails to astound me.😻

I feel Eleanor and Fred made each other better dancers some of their best work was in Broadway Melody of 1940 ( the only movie they make together) it a lost to everyone that they didn’t make more movies together.

A force to be reckoned with

Eleanor Powell was Fred stairs 2nd favourite dancer in the show buzz scene, his first and best dancer was his sister Edelle,she was a great dancer, been a tap dancer myself but not as good as her she had that rhythm ,that impressed Fred who not was a person of complement,people say ginger was his favorite but Fred never mentioned it but again gave her credit where it was due for not been a complainer when she would dance till her feet bled,rest in peace Eleanor amen,💖

She definetly had her own very special dance moves. A wonderful dancer for sure

She was the best dancer ever, male or female.

Agreed. She was intimidating to her male counter-parts of the day, Fred Astaire, included. POWELL... WAS A WONDER!

I loved her dancing with Buttons, the cute puppy, in "Lady Be Good."

When I saw her dance w Astaire, I saw equals. It was phenomenal, I'd have loved to see her have done more films. She is amazing!

she was more atletic than Fred

I always loved watching Elinor Powell dance she was truly a Great!!

Actually, Astaire's tapping was kind of eclectic. He had great rhythm and sound but was not as technically proficient as Powell. His dancing with Kelly for instance was mostly taps that were Astaire steps. Kelly actually related this in an interview. Something like Moses Supposes would have been too technical for Astaire and even maybe too athletic. Wings, pull backs, double shuffles, nerve taps, etc...and other advanced tap steps were rarely seen by Astaire, if at all. Astaire was from an earlier generation and mostly a comic lead on Broadway Let's not forget that when Astaire began in films, he was already 34. Chuck Greene, a famous black tap dancer worked with Astaire some and said he was not a fast learner. The Begin the Beguine number was more Astaire like than Powell. Look at Powell's stair dance. She could match Bill Robinson. Bill Robinson and Astaire were actually in some sort of dance competition and Robinson won and I believe Astaire came in third. Not too shabby. Astaire is still my all time favorite dancer though and the greatest but it was a combination of his style, smoothness and wonderful performances.

It's to bad we don't have more God fearing and respectful women like her in Hollywood today. Eleanor was a Mayflower Descendent. Of which I am to. From linage of William and Mary Brewster. Eleanor never liked to work on Sunday. To her it was a time to put God first and Faith. For her to minister to children in building their faith was a great contribution to our great country. I believe she was more woman than most guys could handle. Extremely beautiful in every way. And obviously a work ethic we all could use these days. Her talent and dance ability was the best of the best. Hollywood was so chauvinistic. It was a man's world she was competing in. And put most of them to shame. Obviously Ford had a wondering eye and didn't like the religious aspect of Eleanor. He had the best thing that could ever happen to a man and divorcing Eleanor should have never been an option. She didn't believe in divorce and remarriage. She didn't want to come off as an adulteress. Remaining single and gone into ministry was the best decision she made. In one of the movies she did with Fred Astaire fir the first three weeks in rehearsing she called him Mr. Astaire and he called her Miss Powell. Then Fred said to her, we need to change this, it seemed to formal, but it showed the respect they had for each other. After that he called her Miss Ellie and she called him Fred. These people were professional all the way. Rest in peace Miss Ellie, we need many more like you.

I think she was the best tap dancer ever.

Not to mention that she was also very beautiful

Not to familiar with her loved Fred astaire and all his dance partners didn't know she was to good for him or maybe he was to good for her she was beautiful lovely woman interesting info has no idea about thanks for sharing great video love me some fred astaire

If this is true, how do you explain Rita Hayward? Not only as good a dancer in every way as her male counter parts, but a thousand times prettier than Fred Astaire was handsome. I actually met Eleanor Powell as a child on her program, ‘Faith of Our Children’, and even got to go up to the pulpit and read from scripture. Was on a half a dozen of her shows. She was very nice. That’s when she told us how her tap sounds were dubbed!

At 8:20 you said that she made her film debut in 'Broadway Melody of 1936'. Twenty seconds later, you (correctly) say she made her film debut in 'George White's Scandals of 1935'. At 11:27 you say, (correctly) that after Broadway Melody of 1940, further plans for pairing Eleanor with Fred Astaire were shelved. At 13:17 you say she starred in several films with him.

You don't come right out and say it but you only allude to the obvious: Eleanor Powell was trained in ballet and acrobatics. Fred Astaire was not trained in ballet or acrobatics which placed him at a disadvantage when coming up against Miss Powell. Fred Astaire told Dick Cavett in an interview that he was not trained in ballet as he simply was not interested in that kind of training. Nor was he trained in acrobatics. Ginger Rogers admitted to having no dance training at all which is why Fred felt more comfortable with Ginger. Ginger would not threaten Fred with powerhouse ballet or acrobatics. All Ginger needed to do was show up in her fluffy gowns and do a few turns with him amidst their romantic on screen partnership. However, Ginger could impress you with her tapping if it was choreographed well like in Barkleys of Broadway. People who say Eleanor was mannish show their lack of artistic knowledge of dance. Eleanor often played a character in her dance and if that character was a man, then so what? As far Eleanor Powell's acting.. I must say her roles did not usually require great dramatic acting. Eleanor did great imitations. For example she imitated a French actress in her first film. She did great imitations of Katherine Hepburn. And I think Eleanor showed she was evolving as an actress in Sensations of 1945 where for once she did not play a dancer. She gets to play an agent who dances. Also Eleanor did quite a bit of dancing after retiring from film. After having her baby in 1945 she went back out on the road in 1947 touring the U.S. nightclub circuit and even danced for President Truman during the tour. In 1948 she was one of the first to perform nightly at the newly opened Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. After completing her Las Vegas residency, she went on a 1949 tour performing throughout northern Europe including a successful run at the Paladium in London. After returning to Hollywood and hustled into a cameo in the film Duchess of Idaho Eleanor made her first TV special appearance in 1952 followed by another 1953 tour. You did mention her 1961 to 1964 performing career in clubs and TV. So you see, Eleanor still did quite a bit dancing after leaving film.

As the lawyers say, “Your question assumes a fact not in evidence.”

Apples and Oranges I say! One of my favourites of all time.

I am a big fan of Ms. Powell

She was just talented and beautiful. She chose to leave hollywod to raise a family. She married the Dishy Glenn Ford.

Fred was well known for his extravagant compliments. No one who has really studied dance would say that ANY of his dance partners, good as most of them were, were better than he. Nor would they say he was jealous of anyone, rather the opposite. All one has to do is look at side by side stills of him dancing solo or with a partner, and his perfection is evident; the axis of his body, his arm and hand movements, his anticipation of the next beat...all superior to anyone who danced with him. ALL dancers of his day praised his skill as the best; some, however, were very exhausted by his stamina of practicing to perfection. Why would Rudolph Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov say (jokingly) "we hate him; he's too perfect. He gives us a complex"? You don't hear any other famous dancers praising others that way.

Great video,So much information.Look forward to many more.

A great beauty, dancer, wife, mother and woman of integrity. What I like about the Begin the Beguine dance scene is that in the dual solos you really see the talent and fluidity of both dancers. I also agree that scene is tops!! Fred in my opinion, was the smoothest and most casual of all in his almost relaxed movements flalessly perfoming in every number, while making the whole dance seem effortless. Eleanor was close for sure and I agree stunning in tap but just short of the casual grace that Fred had. Good channel you have here. I subbed.

What a wonderful documentary that is! Firstly a big thank you for producing it with so much love for details…. Secondly I truly enjoyed the speaker: such a good accent, it was a delight to see and hear this 👍✨

Beautiful woman!

Enjoyed the chance to look at stills to really see details of her leg & foot positions &, muscles.

In 1979, I had the privilege of dining with her at a small dinner party in NYC in 1978. She was gracious and kind and talked about her career as well as her work as a minister. :Lovely woman.

What I find extraordinary about Miss Powell was not only that she had the best body, and was the best dancer I've seen on the TCM movies the past 6 years, but also she had the most lovable, beautiful face of any actress from 1930 to 1960!

I've got to laugh at the idea that MGM thought Powell could be the new Ruby Keeler, who danced like she was wearing iron boots!

Nobody was too good for Fred Astaire! He was perfection. They will never be another like him.

Both Astaire and her were flawless

'Today she comes across in film clips as nothing extraordinary...' Whaaaaat?

She wasn't to good for him, she was a solo artist. Fred Astaire started out as a duet with his sister and continued with Ginger, that was just his forte.

excellent piece...i'm assuming your video style is not to include moving video. as a former reporter i have to say the narrative and photos were superb. i'd never seen Powell dance and was intrigued (another compliment to your video to inspire interest). as for your main points and title, being too good for Astaire, i thought it might be hyperbole. but after watching a few Astaire/Powell videos, esp Begin the Beguine, i think you nailed it (albeit trying not to label her dancing as 'mannish'). first thing i said to myself within 5 secs of seeing her dance was 'she dances like a dude'. not meant pejoratively, but that (as you said) she was so masterful and just plain good, there was no need to layer style on top of it. Astaire however was not only excellent, dance for him was style. so indeed, he does appear almost effeminate dancing alongside of her, even though she really doesn't seem like a 'dude', but more of what we know today as an empowered woman. when they dance you almost can't take your eyes off her, and when you do to look at Astaire, you notice his elegance and style, and it seems superfluous next to her just damn great mastery. i think in his own biographical words you quoted, he acknowledged as much in his own way. she really was quite a force, though i'll also agree that her acting wasn't really acting. she was a Brando when she danced, but not when she acted. really enjoyed learning about her, thanks to this video!

Eleanor Powell wasn't "too good" for Astaire.....but she was without question his equal.....In heels no less.

That lady is a joy to watch

Excellent. I know quite a bit about Ellie, and this one pretty much nails it.

This documentary is very interesting yet seriously marred by its exclusive reliance on still photos. The uploader seems implicitly to assume that because film clips are available in other videos, he doesn't need to display any in his. But the absence of any film footage makes the whole video a big tease and undercuts the very premises he argues.

"If" she had any colored blood in her? She should be so lucky "if" it were so.

“In the late 1930s and early 1940s, when the women of the movies served mainly to make the men look good” …I don’t agree with this statement! I only see that yes, the women worked alongside the men, but they were beautiful in their own right!!! They also played important roles that were essential to the plot! So, why this ridiculous comment? …Probably another way of people today to try to make the past look worse than it was!! You know what? …Just stop!! …Yes, just stop. 😩

Very interesting.Thanks so much! I think the person in the photo at 10:24 may be Cyd Charisse.

There was nobody ever too good for Fred Astaire who is widely considered the greatest film dancer of that era. Eleanor Powell was a tremendous dancer with a very athletic dance style. I've read that Fred thought she might have been just too large for him.

a classy gal

In the video, it's stated that Powell and Astaire appeared in more than one film together and it simply isn't true. They only appeared together in Broadway Melody of 1940.

Eleanor Powell was the greatest female tap dancer of all time. The Nicholas Brothers were more skilled than Fred Astaire but had to deal with discrimination which Astaire never had to contend with. His background was Austrian. He was white. It was easier for him to get star billing. If you've never watched Eleanor Powell dance you've missed out. Ditto for an the Nicholas Brothers.

If you watch these old film clips of Fred Astaire dancing ,you can see him constantly watching his feet ,counting his steps, he always had to rehearse his steps for long periods of time ,if you had someone like Gene Kelly ,a great choreographer he could make changes on the spot and Fred could not do that ,the different woman that he danced with would all complain about having to spend all that time practicing, just to get the dance right !!!!!!

I have not seen Eleanor Powell dance, until I have Rita Heyworth is the best I have seen

Shouldn’t you show her tap dancing when talking about it? You never seem to connect photos with film names. No early photos of her life? Talking on her mother, showing a pic with Fred. Gloria Powell - with photos with Fred. I truly do like the info, but hate the editing of each video. It seems lazy and repetitive. And completely scrambled photo inserts. At least you are using question marks properly in the title. I quest you’ll just keep throwing photos at random and repeating them. These could be so much better

Fred mentioned that Eleanor was "a little too strong." She was the greatest!

She was GORGEOUS in "Scaramouche" with Stewart Grainger...they were both HOT!

Could you possibly please do Edward Andrews. Nobody seems to have done anything about him

It is possible she was better than Fred Astaire. I didnt believe it at first but now I lean toward her