Althouse: "The 1960s Dance Craze That NOBODY Remembers…I’m Crying From Laughing So Hard!"

March 25, 2015

"The 1960s Dance Craze That NOBODY Remembers…I’m Crying From Laughing So Hard!"

Well, hell. Go ahead and act like that. Whether the Nitty Gritty is a specific dance or not, I remember the single, and I accept this as absolutely core 60s dancing:

40 comments:

Unknown said...: I miss the 60's.; 3/25/15, 6:08 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Life was so hard for Judy Garland.; 3/25/15, 6:10 PM
gregwithtwogs said...: It appears to be a dance created for The Judy Garland Show. Nothing to see here. Move on.; 3/25/15, 6:15 PM
Unknown said...: Nice gams.

(Wrong decade, but still...); 3/25/15, 6:18 PM
bwebster said...: Showed the video to my wife, a 60's dance expert. She says it's not a real dance, but one made up for the show (perhaps with the hopes of it 'catching on').; 3/25/15, 6:42 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Peter Lawford as the host!

He had a nice role in "Exodus" with Paul Newman, but then after he became a Kennedy Brother-in-law and part-time pimp of Hollywood starlets for the Kennedy Bros, his career went to crap.

The dancing is cute, though.; 3/25/15, 7:05 PM
FullMoon said...: No bouncy or jiggly boobs back in the day. Strapped down for tv.
Now, even ladies in commercials have a nice bounce, on purpose; 3/25/15, 7:06 PM
Wilbur said...: I always loved the "Double Beatin" part of the song.

A lot of great music back then. A lot of crap, too.; 3/25/15, 7:13 PM
CStanley said...: Dude on the left side of the screen (behind Judy much of the time) was the best dancer of the bunch- fluid movements instead of herky jerky.; 3/25/15, 7:14 PM
Sean Gleeson said...: Always loved this song. Southern Culture on the Skids did a very good cover of it, back in the ’90s.; 3/25/15, 7:14 PM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/25/15, 7:25 PM
Charlie Currie said...: bwebster is right...this is a very stylized, choreographed dance piece...some of the steps are from popular dances, but they were not all put together like this.

In my high school years - '60-'64 - I would go dancing 3 or 4 nights a week.; 3/25/15, 7:26 PM
Unknown said...: .

Why?

Seriously

Why?; 3/25/15, 7:38 PM
donald said...: So, my buddy says he says to me (this was about 95') SCOTS is the new thing (Southern alternative country typically at the Star Bar or The Point). I go. Hated em. Fucking hated em. They played with Truckadelic. Now there was a band. RIP Gregory.; 3/25/15, 7:53 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: The guy in the back seems like he's having a good time and doesn't look that bad. The girls look cute even if the hair is a bit severe.

Bust out some VHS-es of MC Hammer-style dancin', see who'll laugh at you, man.; 3/25/15, 7:59 PM
Big Mike said...: There's a reason no one remembers that dance craze.; 3/25/15, 8:09 PM
CPJones said...: Haha, love the lame business Lawford does with the tie at the end...bad actor shtick for Discomfort.; 3/25/15, 8:17 PM
Leslie Graves said...: Canonical.; 3/25/15, 8:58 PM
Whitey Sepulchre said...: Walker. Koch Brothers.; 3/25/15, 9:12 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: An obvious play on Freddie and the Dreamers dance "Do the Freddy" if more stylized and definitely choreographed.; 3/25/15, 10:13 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/25/15, 10:17 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: The freeze-frame forefront guy of the video instantly reminded me of this.
60s dance moves = 80s Richard Longo.

I would love Althouse to elaborate.

I am Laslo.; 3/25/15, 10:19 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: More Longo. Is this a 60s dancer?
60s dance moves = 80s Richard Longo. Again.

I am Laslo.; 3/25/15, 10:26 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: I picture Althouse in the early Eighties at a gallery showing Longo and her writing in her notepad:

1. Draw a figure caught in a dramatic moment.

2. Ronettes.

3. Akimbo.

I am Laslo.; 3/25/15, 10:28 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ""The 1960s Dance Craze That NOBODY Remembers…I’m Crying From Laughing So Hard!""

If you think that's funny, try going to a dance club today. It will be full of fat people who look like they're trying to kill cockroaches.; 3/25/15, 11:57 PM
glam1931 said...: Well here's the choreographer and lead dancer, Bobby Banas:
https://themartinreport.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/getting-right-down-to-the-nitty-gritty-with-bobby-banas/; 3/26/15, 2:31 AM
glam1931 said...: Here's his demo reel. He was actually a very familiar face in musicals of the 50s-60s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqYHJjLfKwM; 3/26/15, 2:32 AM
tim maguire said...: surfed said...
An obvious play on Freddie and the Dreamers dance "Do the Freddy" if more stylized and definitely choreographed.

The song reminds me of "Do the Hanky Panky." And of course, this was no dance craze, these are obviously professional dancers trying hard to look stiff.; 3/26/15, 6:57 AM
Bob Ellison said...: "Nice gams" - late 18th century: probably a variant of the heraldic term gamb, which denotes a charge representing an animal's leg, from Old Northern French gambe ‘leg.’

I had the very same thought, Robert Parrish. I don't want to watch people dancing, but at least they're dressed well, and the women have pretty legs.; 3/26/15, 6:58 AM
glenn said...: I love the early 60's. Went racing, met my wife, got married. Got a job, had kids, Quit racing. Still have the wife, kept the job for forty years. And yes there were girls who went to dances dressed up.; 3/26/15, 7:53 AM
Jan R. said...: What makes me laugh is the looks on the faces of the grown ups when the camera pans back to them at the end. They all look as if they've eaten bad shrimp.; 3/26/15, 8:02 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: A stage full of "Elaine's".; 3/26/15, 8:12 AM
Sam L. said...: I'm seeing some kind of line dance.; 3/26/15, 11:41 AM
Sam L. said...: Hey, gang, check out the vid marked Can You Dance 60's Style!; 3/26/15, 11:44 AM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/26/15, 12:48 PM
Bill said...: Great stuff, Ann. Best part is Lawford spitting out the words "niTT-y griTT-Y" with such evident disdain. A hoot!; 3/26/15, 12:53 PM
Anonymous said...: If you think that's funny, try going to a dance club today. It will be full of fat people who look like they're trying to kill cockroaches.

***********

At a recent high school reunion, the dance floor reminded me of a sea of bobbing whales and manatees.; 3/26/15, 3:49 PM
navillus said...: Needs more Bad Left Shark. And cowbell.; 3/26/15, 4:04 PM
Bill said...: Robert Banas is (from all appearances) a contented grandfather and grower of beautiful roses.

I love learning that people from the past are in a good spot.; 3/26/15, 6:29 PM
cassandra lite said...: But can you do the Freddy?; 3/26/15, 9:39 PM