beyond fred, ginger & gene

Unlike Warners, which fully respected his "The Music Man," Metro pretty much botched Meredith Willson's "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" in 1964.

Willfully so.

As thuddingly directed by Charles Walters and massacred by writer Helen Deutsch (working from Richard Morris's stage libretto), it dropped songs and truncated the plot. Ah, but the feeble film isn't a total loss.

Smack-dab in the middle is "He's My Friend," a production number that Willson wrote especially for the movie. Guided by choreographer Peter Gennaro, star Debbie Reynolds, Gus Trikonis (Goldie Hawn's first husband) and, again, the remarkable Grover Dale stomp their hearts out, mixing the Irish Jig with some incredible high kicks. It's one of the best.

The number: "He’s My Friend”

The composer: Meredith Willson

The singers: Harve Presnell and company

The choreographer: Peter Gennaro

The dancers: Debbie Reynolds, Grover Dale, Gus Trikonkis and company

The cinematographer: Daniel L. Fapp

The film editor: Fredric Steinkamp

The production designers: Preston Ames and George W. Davis

beyond fred, ginger & gene

"Pulp Fiction." Quinten Tarantino's breakthrough film of 1994. Travolta and Uma twist at Jack Rabbit Slim’s. An iconic moment. Instantly.

Say no more.

The number: "You Never Can Tell"/"C'est La Vie"

The composer: Chuck Berry

The choreographer: Tarantino

The dancers: John Travolta and Uma Thurman

The cinematographer: Andrzej Sekula

The film editor: Sally Menke

The production designer: David Wasco

Note in Passing: Despite being one of the highlights of the film, perhaps the highlight, this dance is given no choreographer credit on screen. Strange. So I put out feelers. Joe Dante came through, verifying my initial suspicion: Tarantino himself choreographed the dance. Say no more.

beyond fred, ginger & gene

If I had to pick just one dance number that never fails to amaze me, it would be Gillian Lynne's staging of the epic seven-minute "Money to Burn" production from George Sidney's 1967 film version of “Half a Sixpence.”

Set on a bare stage, the number starts modestly, slowly building in momentum before it takes off and soars. The ensemble is led by Tommy Steele but it's the athletic Grover Dale who dominates. Geoffrey Unsworth's camera moves with the dancer and, surprisingly, keeps up.

Dale is the dancer with the walking stick. Watch and be astonished.

The number: “Money to Burn”

The composer: David Heneker

The choreographer: Gillian Lynne

The singers-dancers: Tommy Steele, Grover Dale, Elaine Taylor, Cyril Ritchard and company

The cinematograper: Geoffrey Unsworth

The editors: Bill Lewthwaite and Frank Santillo

The production designer: Ted Haworth

beyond fred, ginger & gene

Herbert Ross' collaboration with Nora Ephron, "My Blue Heaven" (1990) - about the uneasy relationship between a big-living hood and an uptight FBI agent - stands as one of Steve Martin's most underrated films.

And even if the film was as disappointing as the critics said (and it isn't), a delightful dance number - titled “Merengue!” - certainly redeems it.

For good measure, Ross (a former dancer and choreographer himself) had it staged twice.

The number: “Merengue!”

The composer: Ira Newborn

The choreographer: Lynne Taylor-Corbett

The dancers (the initial performance) : Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Lesley Cook and Melissa Hurley

The dancers (the encore) : Moranis, Joan Cusack and Bill Irwin

The cinematographer: John Bailey

The editors: Robert Reitano and Stephen A. Rotter

The production designer: Charles Rosen

beyond fred, ginger & gene

Ah, the days when filmmakers had to be creative.

I'm not talking about cinematics but content. However, in this case, cinematics and content are irrevocably intertwined. In bringing William Inge's seminal play of longing to the screen (by way of Daniel Taradash's fine screenplay), director Joshua Logan faced the challenge of having the piece's star-crossed lovers - stumble-bum Hal and small-town queen Madge - be intimate with actually showing them engaging in sex.

He shrewdly solved the problem with a dance that has become an iconic screen moment, even though is lasts only a few minutes.

Swooning and gyrating to "Moonglow" and "The Theme from 'Picnic,'" expertly intertwined by composer George Duning, stars William Holden and Kim Novak seem to be improvising their choreographed sex act. But, in actuality, the dance was overseen by the very clever choreographer, Miriam Nelson, who for some bizarre reason was never credited.

Nevertheless, what she created in 1955 fairly drips with passion.

The number: “Moonglow”/”Theme from ‘Picnic’”

The composer: George Duning

The choreographer: Miriam Nelson

The dancers: William Holden and Kim Novak

The cinematographer: James Wong Howe

The film editors: William A. Lyon and Charles Nelson

The production designer: Jo Mielziner