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YouTube Gold: Cab Calloway And The Nicholas Brothers

Simply dazzling

Nicholas Brothers Dance On Pedestals
American tap dancing duo The Nicholas Brothers, featuring Harold (R) (1921 - 2000) and Fayard, perform on two pedestals, backed by an orchestra in the movie Stormy Weather.
Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images

For a lot of people today, things like barber shop quartet singing and tap dancing is unbearably nerdy and fuddy-duddy-ish.

It wasn’t always so. There was a time when both art forms were alive and vibrant. And in particular, tap dancing was at one time an incredibly demanding, athletic style of dance.

In this clip from the movie Stormy Weather, the great Cab Calloway is singing Jumpin’ Jive and before long, two dancers jump up to take over.

A lot of people probably didn’t realize that they were the famed Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold.

The brothers grew up in Philadelphia and were around vaudeville much of their lives. They later moved to New York and were part of the Harlem Renaissance.

What they do in this clip is simply incredible. It’s one of those things that you immediately know can not be replicated, much less surpassed. These men were artistic geniuses.