The man who could do everything: Tommy Rall
Well, maybe not everything. But an extraordinary number of things. And boy, could he do them well.
A while back I showed a clip of Rall in the barn dance from “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” in which he was the standout among other star dancers—although they never became “stars” in the sense of being household words. But Rall’s dancing is so superlative that I’m surprised he’s not the best known among them. In the dance sense, he really could do everything.
When you watch him you can see he’s highly trained in ballet. So are quite a few movie dancers (Gene Kelly was, too). But the quality of Rall’s balletic movement is extraordinary—exceptional technique, exceptional attack, exceptional strength, exceptional height, exceptional turns, exceptional speed, exceptional clarity—well, you get the idea. He could have been a remarkable ballet dancer had he not turned to the theater and movies, and in fact he was an exceptional ballet dancer, turning pro ballet soloist in his teens:
…[H]e continued studying dance with Adolf Bohm, David Lichine, and Bronislava Nijinska, all of whom facilitated Rall’s conversion to the cause of ballet. On Lichine’s recommendation, the 14-year-old Rall joined the Ballet Theater company, a touring ensemble, in 1944. He spent three and a half years becoming a seasoned professional while still in his teens, and dancing principal roles. By 1947, he’d gone as far as he could with the company and, for the moment, with ballet, and was ready to make the jump to theatrical work.
Rall’s talent was too protean to be confined to ballet; jazz and tap and acrobatics were included in his strengths. But the following clip (in which he’s not officially doing ballet) contains the quickest, sharpest, and cleanest series of double air turns (a classic ballet step for men) I’ve ever seen. Rall is the one with the blue sleeves, and the air turns are the last steps he does in this number:
Here’s another dance competition, this time between Bob Fosse and Rall. Watch it—you’ll be glad you did. Fosse is great too, in his own distinctive way (a sort of twisted, slouchy style).
No discussion of Rall’s dancing would be complete without this, from “Kiss Me Kate.” Don’t miss Rall’s flying entrance at around 1:32. Not sure how he does it. Maybe a trampoline in the wings for the initial takeoff, and then he appears to grab onto the set to hang there for a moment. But if anyone could appear to fly without a trampoline, it would be Rall (the one with the little mustache). Fosse is in this number, too, and I left in a later show-stopper segment that Fosse choreographed for himself and Carol Haney:
Here’s a still of that flying leap:
But one of the reasons I said that Rall could do anything was that he also could sing. Well, what’s the big deal? So can quite a few dancers. But not like Rall. Not operatically. In fact, towards the end of his dance career, Rall sang with opera companies. And not podunk companies, either—the Opera Company of Boston, the New York City Opera, and the American National Opera Company.
Here he is, singing in the Broadway show “Milk and Honey”:
And of course he acted in all those movies.
What else? Well, he’s apparently a painter, as well:
Tommy Rall is also an accomplished visual artist. He began drawing and painting as a child and first studied formally with Sueo Serisawa in Los Angeles. He also studied drawing under Herbert Jepson at the Chouinard Art Institute for two years and at the Art Students League in New York.
[NOTE: More about Rall’s early life and ballet career here].
I come here more and more often for the dance posts (though I’ve never been to the ballet in my life).
Fantastic!
Do today’s theatrical dancers have anywhere near the amount of ballet training as the previous ones?
I can’t say I have been impressed with new shows as much as these examples.
Was Fred Astaire ever trained in ballet?
I have always been awed by that Bob Fosse – Gwen Verdon piece from Kiss Me Kate – 75 seconds of some of the most artistic, expressive, pure athleticism I have ever experienced . . . visual candy.
Skilly:
It’s indeeed great, but Verdon wasn’t in Kiss Me Kate. Do you mean Carol Haney?
OMG, my apologies, yes, Carol Haney! That woman was awesome! Whatever happened to her? So sexy and, MAN!, could she dance!!
AesopFan:
Fred Astaire had a little ballet training—not tons, but some.
I like girls.
Thank you, Neo. Very enjoyable.
Neo, thanks for the note on Astaire. I kind of thought as much: he had the ballet grace, but not the jumps and spins, unlike Rall.
Just dropping this off “for the record” – it’s a collection of Sonja Henie clips; the quality is variable (fair to poor), and the poster had no musical sense at all (no attempt to use the original sound, or cut a connected track that matched the action), HOWEVER, the second clip (0:53) shows Sonja actually dancing (no skates) and she looked very proficient to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSJMwn1QXNI
Neo, thankyouthankyouthankyou for those wonderful clips of Tommy Rall. You are right — the man is fabulous! Gosh !!!
Only — Tommy, Why Can’t You Behave
:>((
I have not much interest in dance, but I can appreciate it, and I appreciate the education I get in it here.
It helps to round my education.
Thank you.
Fosse and Rall were groundbreaking in the fifties. But old Fred Astaire–at the age of 55–could still pick them up and lay them down when Fosse and Rall were revolutionizing dance in film, as this clip from Daddy Long Legs demonstrates:
https://youtu.be/FwImKYGCSxI?t=98
sid charisse
and for the men, i am a big fan of Russ Tamblin..
[yawning man (tom thumb), west side story, etc)
his son is also in the industry
lots of people in industry that time were triple threats
today, very much not so much
it was different when people went to the music store to buy written music to play at home, and so could judge what they were hearing better… (fewer audio tricks. anyone here who performs want to elucidate for us, as i am tired)
that kiss me kate clip starts with more singing by Rall.
Also always nice to see my dad’s favorite Ann Miller.
While I was still in the military, I had the privilege of serving with Tommy Rall’s son. His son tended to keep it quiet about who was his father. He had some interesting stories about growing up and I enjoyed his descriptions of acting and dance classes. He decided against the stage and joined the military where, the last time I saw him, he was doing quite well and was one of the more technically and tactically proficient individuals with whom I served.
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