I started this odyssey of finding music I liked on the internet with “Old Movie Stars Dance to Uptown Funk.”
Stars from the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s dance to current music. No matter what your age, this is fun. It might even get you to dance yourself.
You’ll see famous dancers: Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Donald O’Connor, Cyd Charisse, the Nicholas Brothers, and others. And you’ll see others you might not have thought of as dancers. See if you can spot Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Groucho Marx, Buddy Ebsen, Laurel and Hardy, and Gracie Allen.
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire are my favorites, with Donald O’Connor coming in as a close third. With Astaire and Kelly, you see two different kinds of machismo expressed through dance. O’Connor was always a second banana because he was a comedian, so no chance to be a romantic lead, but his dancing is amazingly muscular. Wow!
I’m attracted to the male dancers, of course, but don’t forget to watch the women. Remember the saying about Ginger Rogers. She did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels!
More than 50 million people have watched this so far. I think you’ll really enjoy it. There are many similar sites on the web, but this is the best I’ve found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F0lBnsnkE
And when you are done watching the dancing, you may want to watch the original 2015 song “Uptown Funk” sung by Bruno Mars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0
These clips always start with some ads. If you wait a few seconds, you’ll have the option of skipping them.
Many of them have captions, which you can turn on by putting your curser at the bottom of the film and clicking on cc. You can also switch it to theater mode or full screen.
