The Nicholas Brothers were an entertainment act composed of brothers Fayard (1914–2006) and Harold (1921–2000), who excelled in a variety of dance techniques, primarily between the 1930s and 1950s. Best known for their unique interpretation of a highly acrobatic technique known as "flash dancing", they were also considered by many to be the greatest tap dancers of their day, if not all time. Their virtuoso performance in the musical number "Jumping' Jive" (with Cab Calloway and his orchestra) featured in the 1943 movie Stormy Weather has been praised as one of the greatest dance routines ever captured on film.

Growing up surrounded by vaudeville acts as children, they became stars of the jazz circuit during the Harlem Renaissance and performed on stage, film, and television well into the 2000s. Diminutive in size, they were appreciated for their artistry, innovation, and soaring leaps.

Early lives

Fayard Antonio Nicholas was born August 28, 1914, in Mobile, Alabama, and Harold Lloyd Nicholas was born March 17, 1921, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, The brothers were fascinated by the combination of tap dancing and acrobatics. Fayard often imitated their acrobatics and clowning for the kids in his neighborhood. Fayard taught himself how to dance, sing, and perform by watching and imitating the professional entertainers on stage. He then taught his younger siblings, first performing with his sister Dorothy as the Nicholas Kids, later joined by Harold. Harold idolized his older brother and learned by copying his moves and distinct style. Dorothy later opted out of the act, and the Nicholas Kids became known as the Nicholas Brothers.

Career

The brothers moved to Philadelphia in 1926. As word spread of their talent, the Nicholas Brothers became known around Philadelphia. They were first hired for a radio program, The Horn and Hardart Kiddie Hour, and then by other local theatres such as the Standard and the Pearl. When they were performing at the Pearl, the manager of The Lafayette, a New York vaudeville showcase, saw them and immediately wanted them to perform for his theater. The brothers attributed their success to their unique style of dancing—a hybrid of tap dance, ballet, and acrobatics sometimes called "acrobatic dancing" or "flash dancing"

Producer Samuel Goldwyn saw them at the Cotton Club and invited them to California to be a part of Kid Millions (1934), their first performances in a Hollywood movie. The brothers made their Broadway debut in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 and also appeared in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's musical Babes in Arms in 1937. They impressed their choreographer, George Balanchine, who invited them to appear in Babes in Arms. With Balanchine's training, they learned many new stunts. Their talent led many to presume they were trained ballet dancers.

thumb|[[Ben Bernie with the Nicholas Brothers, photographed during a Radio City broadcast (Radio Mirror magazine, April 1936)]]

By 1940, they had moved to Hollywood and for several decades divided their time between movies, nightclubs, concerts, Broadway, television, and extensive tours of Latin America, Africa, and Europe.

On April 8, 1998, Carnegie Hall hosted a lifetime tribute to Fayard and Harold, with the event "From Harlem to Hollywood: A Tribute to the Nicholas Brothers". Both brothers were in attendance along with a sold-out audience. In honor of the brothers' exquisite tap dance legacy and artistic contributions as a dance team in Hollywood films, the night included a veritable Who’s Who in tap dance and entertainment, presenting and performing. On a large screen, the brothers’ full tap dance scene in the film "Stormy Weather" was shown.

Teaching

The Nicholas Brothers taught master classes in tap dance as teachers-in-residence at Harvard University and Radcliffe at Ruth Page Visiting Artists. Among their known students are Debbie Allen, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson. Colburn Kids Tap/L.A, Channing Cook Holmes, Chris Baker, Artis Brienzo, Chester Whitmore, Darlene Gist, Chris Scott, Tobius Tak, Carol Zee, and Steve Zee.

Style and moves

The brothers were particularly known for their expressive use of their hands and arms while dancing, particularly tap. One of their signature moves was to leapfrog down a long, broad flight of stairs, completing each step with a split. Its best remembered performance is in the finale of the movie Stormy Weather (1943). The choreographer Nick Castle said, "Just do it. Don't rehearse it, just do it." And so it was done, unrehearsed and in one take, which relieved Harold Nicholas because he did not want to do the rigorous routine over and over all night.

In another signature move, they would rise from a split without using their hands.

Personal lives

Fayard

Fayard married four times. His marriage to Geraldine Pate lasted from 1942 until their divorce in 1955. That year, he married Mexican dancer Victoria Barron. As of May 1960, that marriage remained intact, with "Vicky" also working alongside Fayard professionally. He married Barbara January in 1967, and they remained together until her death in 1998. He married Katherine Hopkins in 2000.

He died on January 24, 2006, of pneumonia contracted after a stroke.

Two of Fayard's granddaughters dance as the "Nicholas Sisters" and have won awards for their performances.

Harold

Harold was married three times. From 1942 to 1951, he was married to singer and actress Dorothy Dandridge, with whom he had one child, Harolyn Nicholas, who was born with a severe intellectual disability. In Paris, he had a son, Melih Nicholas, with his second wife Elayne Patronne. He lived on New York's Upper West Side for twenty years with his third wife, producer and former Miss Sweden, Rigmor Alfredsson Newman. Harold died July 3, 2000, of a heart attack following minor surgery.

Filmography

According to a Los Angeles Times article on the brothers, "Because of racial prejudice, they appeared as guest artists, isolated from the plot, in many of their films. This was a strategy that allowed their scenes to be easily deleted for screening in the Jim Crow-era South".

  • Pie, Pie Blackbird (1932) (short subject) (uncredited)
  • The Emperor Jones (1933) (Harold Nicholas)
  • Syncopancy (1933) (short subject) (Harold Nicholas)
  • Kid Millions (1934)
  • An All-Colored Vaudeville Show (1935) (short subject)
  • Coronado (1935)
  • The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935)
  • The Black Network (1936) (short subject)
  • My American Wife (1936)
  • Babes in Arms (1937) (Although the Nicholas Brothers were in the 1937 stage play, they were not in the movie, which came out in 1939)
  • Calling All Stars (1937)
  • My Son Is Guilty (1939)
  • Down Argentine Way (1940)
  • Tin Pan Alley (1940)
  • The Great American Broadcast (1941)
  • Sun Valley Serenade (1941)
  • Orchestra Wives (1942)
  • Stormy Weather (1943)
  • Take It or Leave It (1944)
  • The Reckless Age (1944) (Harold Nicholas)
  • Carolina Blues (1944) (Harold Nicholas)
  • Dixieland Jamboree (1946) (short subject)
  • The Pirate (1948)
  • Pathe Newsreel (1948)
  • I'm in the Revue (1950)
  • El Misterio del carro express (1953)
  • El mensaje de la muerte (1953)
  • Musik im Blut (1955)
  • Bonjour Kathrin (1956)
  • L'Empire de la nuit (1963) (Harold Nicholas)
  • The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970) (Fayard Nicholas)
  • Uptown Saturday Night (1974) (Harold Nicholas)
  • That's Entertainment! (1974) (archive footage)
  • Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975) (archive footage)
  • Disco 9000 (1976) (Harold Nicholas)
  • That's Dancing! (1985) (archive footage)
  • Tap (1989) (Harold Nicholas)
  • That's Black Entertainment (1990) (archive footage)
  • The Five Heartbeats (1990) (Harold Nicholas)
  • "Alright" (Janet Jackson song) and video (1990)
  • The Nicholas Brothers: We Sing and We Dance (1992)
  • Funny Bones (1995) (Harold Nicholas)
  • I Used to Be in Pictures (2000)
  • Night at the Golden Eagle (2002) (Fayard Nicholas)
  • Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
  • Hard Four (2005)

Awards and honors

  • Harold received the DEA Award from the Dance Educators of America.
  • Harold received the Bay Area Critics Circle Award (Best Principal Performance, Stompin' at the Savoy).
  • Ellie Award (1984), National Film Society for both brothers
  • Scripps American Dance Festival Award
  • Kennedy Center Honors in 1991 for both brothers who were in attendance

Other achievements

  • The brothers gave a royal command performance for King George VI at the London Palladium in 1948.
  • A retrospective of their work in films appeared at the 1981 Academy Awards ceremony. Several of these home movies were preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.

See also

  • List of dancers

References

  • Nicholas Brothers Official Site
  • Jitterbuzz Lindy Week Review interview with Fayard Nicholas
  • Performing Arts Gliding Off the Dance Floor: Fayard Nicholas by Terry Gross
  • Remembrances Dancer-Choreographer Fayard Nicholas
  • Remembrances Inspiration to Astaire, Dancer Fayard Nicholas by Joel Rose
  • Harold Nicholas obituary
  • Nicholas Brothers Story on Electro Swing Italia