Preserving and Advancing the Art of Tap Dance.
By Tap Legacy
The Cotton Club 1984, Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and Choreographed by Dr. Henry LeTang starring Gregory Hines and Maurice Hines among others.
It is the story of what was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people that visited the club, those that ran it, and is peppered with the Jazz music that made it so famous.
By Tap Legacy
Henry Phace Roberts from Savannah, Georgia, USA.
A Tap Master and National Treasure, An Honorary Board member of the Tap Legacy™ Foundation, Inc.
As a child he started performing on the streets of Savannah, by the age of 14 he became a professional dancer, few years later he joined the Five Blazers a group known for the one Man Dance. He also performed with a group called the Three Rockets.
Henry was a charter member of the Copasetics, and held the Vice President position from the inception of the group until his passing. His last performance at the age of 87 was with the group on their European tour.
His Movie Credits are= 1984 – The Cotton Club, 1943 – Stormy Weather, 1943 – Cabin in the sky,
He was a guest on major TV variety shows such as = Milton Berle Show, Sammy Davis Jr. Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, Kath Smith Hour
Phace also appeared in Little Foxes, Mikado in Swing, Big Broadcast of 1936, Irene, Jump For Joy, Black and Tan Fantasy.
Sit back and enjoy this one of a kind man and his performance with the Five Blazers of the One Man Dance.
By Tap Legacy
The Cotton Club a 1984 film about a Harlem Jazz club of the 1930s.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee.
The film was nominated for several awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture Drama, Also for Oscars for Best Art Directions Richard Sylbert and George Gaines and Film Editing.
The story of a musician named Dixie Dwyer begins working with mobsters to advance his career but falls in love with the girlfriend of gangland kingpin Dutch Schultz.
A dancer from Dixie’s neighborhood, Sandman Williams Gregory Hines , is hired with his brother by the Cotton Club, a jazz club where most of the performers are black and the customers white. Owney Madden, a mobster, owns the club and runs it with his right-hand man, Frenchy.
Dixie becomes a Hollywood film star, thanks to the help of Madden and the mob but angering Schultz. He also continues to see Schultz’s moll, Vera Cicero, whose new nightclub has been financed by the jealous gangster.
In the meantime, Dixie’s ambitious younger brother Vincent becomes a gangster in Schultz’s mob and eventually a public enemy, holding Frenchy as a hostage.
Sandman alienates his brother Clay Maurice Hines at the Cotton Club by agreeing to perform a solo number there. While the club’s management interferes with Sandman’s romantic interest in Lila, a singer, its cruel treatment of the performers leads to an intervention by Harlem criminal “Bumpy” Rhodes on their behalf.
Dutch Schultz is violently dealt with by Madden’s men while Dixie and Sandman perform on the Cotton Club’s stage.
Enjoy the Williams Brothers Fiery Duet!!!
By Tap Legacy
From the 1984 film The Cotton Club,
The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem. The film’s plot and story follows those people that frequented the club, those that ran it, and is loaded with the Jazz music that made it so famous.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Gregory Hines Sandman Williams and Maurice Hines Clay Williams among others.
The clip is of yet another historic moment of a The Tap Masters Challenge, with Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, Harold Cromer, James Buster Brown, Ralph Brown, Bubba Gaines, George Hillman, Henry Phace Roberts, Howard Sandman Sims, Henry LeTang, Charles Young.
Enjoy this Tap history moment.
By Tap Legacy
To All Dancers, Dance Enthusiasts and Tap Dancers, Join us in celebrating the Birthday of James Francis Cagney today 07/17/1899. born in New York City.
** Born on the Lower East side of Manhattan NY.
** Second of seven siblings, graduated from the Stuyvesant High School, NY 1918.
** According to his authorized biography, Cagney, although of Irish and Norwegian extraction, could speak Yiddish since he had grown up in a heavily Jewish area in New York. He used to converse in Yiddish with Jewish performers like Sylvia Sidney.
** Ranked #45 in Empire UK magazine’s The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. October 1997.
** Films co-starring James Cagney and Pat O’Brien were these nine: Here Comes the Navy – 1934, Devil Dogs of the Air – 1935, The Irish in Us – 1935, Boy Meets Girl – 1938, Angels with Dirty Faces – 1938, Torrid Zone – 1940, The Fighting 69th – 1940, Ceiling Zero – 1936, as well as their finale together, four decades later, Ragtime – 1981.
** American Film Institute Life Achievement Award 1974.
** President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG). 1942-1944
** Convinced decorated war hero Audie Murphy to go into acting.
** He was voted the 14th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
** Though most Cagney imitators use the line You dirty rat!, Cagney never actually said it in any of his films.
** He was voted the 11th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
** Named the #8 greatest Actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends List by The American Film Institute
** His performance as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy – 1942, is ranked #6 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time – 2006.
** His performance as Tom Powers in The Public Enemy – 1931 is ranked #57 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
** Yankee Doodle Dandy – 1942 is ranked #88 on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time.
** Turned down Stanley Holloway’s role as Eliza’s father in My Fair Lady – 1964.
** Broke a rib while filming the dance scene in Yankee Doodle Dandy – 1942 but continued dancing until it was completed.
** Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan at a ceremony at the White House on 26 March 1984.
By Tap Legacy
o All Dancers, Dance enthusiasts and Tap dancers, join us in celebrating the Birthday of Henry Phace Roberts today May 30th, 1911.
Phace was born in Savannah, Georgia, USA. A Tap Master and a National Treasure, and an Honorary Board member of the Tap Legacy™ Foundation, Inc.
As a child he started performing on the streets of Savannah, by the age of 14 he became a professional dancer, a few years later he joined the Five Blazers a group known for the One Man Dance. He also performed with a group called the Three Rockets.
Henry was a charter member of the original Copasetics, and held the Vice President position from the inception of the group until his passing. His last performance at the age of 87 was with the group on their European tour.
His Movie Credits are= 1984 – The Cotton Club, 1943 – Stormy Weather, 1943 – Cabin in the sky,
He was a guest on major TV variety shows such as = Milton Berle Show, Sammy Davis Jr. Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, and more.
Phace also appeared in Little Foxes, Mikado in Swing, Big Broadcast of 1936, Irene, Jump For Joy and Black and Tan Fantasy.
Sit back and enjoy this one of a kind man and his performance in the One Man Dance, he is the fourth in the lineup.