COMMENT & ANALYSIS: OBITUARY - Fayard Nicholas.Byline: Fayard Nicholas THE climax of the dazzling movie came when the blue-eyed, blonde Norwegian Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (April 8, 1912 - October 12, 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and actress. She is a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936), a ten-time World Champion (1927-1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931-1936). skates on black ice before disappearing into the sunset with her leading man, John Payne. But the true highlight of Sun Valley Serenade serenade [Ital. sera=evening], term used to designate several types of musical composition. Opera and song literature yield numerous examples of the serenade sung or played by a lover at night beneath his beloved's window; outstanding is was the eye-sparkling tap-dance sequence performed by Fayard and Harold Nicholas Harold Nicholas, (March 17, 1921 – July 3, 2000) was an African-American dancer specializing in Tap, the younger half of the world famous tap dancing pair The Nicholas Brothers, known as two of the world's greatest dancers. to Glenn Miller's Chatanooga Choo Choo. Ironically, these black brothers were not allowed to appear on the stage at the same time as the white stars in the 1941 box-office triumph, lest it should offend the sensibilities of the American public. Well, black ice is one thing and black people quite another. It was, however, Fred Astaire, acclaimed as the finest popular dancer of his generation, who declared that their "jumpin' jive" routine in Stormy Weather two years later was the best dance sequence ever filmed. Fayard Nicholas was born in Mobile, Alabama, but grew up in Philadelphia. His parents were both in showbiz and with Harold, who was seven years younger, he formed The Nicholas Kids. They began in vaudeville, dancing in the Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, and then the legendary Cotton Club. Dressed in toppers and tails, they were astonishingly a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. acrobatic, as would be seen in films, where their flying splits was one of the most daring pieces of choreography ever staged. On Broadway, they were a wow in the The Ziegfeld Follies and in the Rogers and Hart musical, Babes in Arms. In 1936, their success took them to London's West End. With Twentieth Century Fox, they made The Great American Broadcast and Sun Valley Serenade. Later they were signed up by MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. and were cast in The Pirate (1948). In the same year, they performed at the Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium. World tours followed, before they parted amicably in 1964. Fayard continued as a solo dancer and played in The Liberation of LB Jones (1970), a searing examination of racism in the Deep South. Harold died in 1985. Fayard, who married three times and had two children, continued to dance, even after a double hip replacement. Fayard Nicholas, dancer' born October 28, 1914, died January 24, 2006. |
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