One can hardly exaggerate what Jean-Luc Godard has meant for the cinema, and for the french Nouvelle Vague in particular. We won’t repeat this praise, but simply view once again the absorbing dance trio in his Bande à part 1964 film. The dance moves are those from the Madison, a dance novelty from the late 1950s that was still popular in the Sixties. The music is from Michel Legrand, and actors are Claude Brasseur, Anna Karina and Sami Frey.
Long before the Fifties, sheet music covers already illustrated men’s romantic fascination for enigmatic, threesome amorous relations…
‘Breton, Bretonne‘ from the operette Déshabillez-vous!’. Music by René Mercier, lyrics by André Barde. Published by Salabert (Paris, 1929), illustrated by Roger De Valerio.‘Les Emboiteurs‘ by François Perpignan and Henri Passerieu, published by Enoch & Cie (Paris, s.d.), and illustrated by Lucien Métivet.‘‘I går så var den din i dag så ä den min‘ by Helge Lindberg and Karl-Ewert. Published by Nils-Georgs Musikförlag (Stockholm, 1929) and cover illustrated by Garmland.‘Karmeslied‘ by Hendrik Stuurop & Jan Van Riemsdijk, published by Toneelfonds ‘Van Hulst’ (Kampen – Netherlands, s.d.). Cover illustrated by Willy Sluiter.‘Anna, was ist denn mit Dir?‘ by Léo Fall, Rudolf Bernauer and Ernst Welisch. Published by Drei Masken Verlag (Berlin, 1912), cover illustration by Paul Telemann.‘Das Töchterlein von Herrn Pedell‘ by Hermann Leopoldi and Erwin W. Spahn, published by Drei Masken Verlag (Berlin, 1929). Illustration: Willy Herzig.‘Eine kleine Freundin hat doch jeder Mann‘ by Franz Lehar and Arthur Rebner, published by Drei Masken Verlag (Berlin, 1921) and illustrated by Wolfgang Ortmann.‘Wenn die Sterne am Himmel Leuchten‘ by Emmerich Kalman and Julius Brammer, published by Drei Masken Verlag (Berlin, 1921) and illustrated by Wolfgang Ortmann.‘Entre dos fuegos‘ by R. Alberto Lopez Buchardo and Emilio Fresedo, published by Breyer, Coleccion (s.d.), cover illustration signed ‘FOHN’.‘Det kommer en båt blåa jackor‘ by Elis Ellis and Max Roland, published by Elkan & Schildknecht (Stockholm, 1928), illustrated by Eric Rohman.‘Bal-Album‘, various composers. Published by A.B. Skandinaviska Musikförlaget (Stockholm, s.d.) and cover illustrated by Orla Muff.‘Carneval Polka‘ by Procida Bucalossi. Published by Lundquists (Stockholm, 1893), unknown illustrator.
‘Tančíme lipsi — Dobrý den, lipsi!‘, two dances composed by Willibald Winkler and Dušan Pálka. Published by Státní nakladatelství krásně literatury, hudby a umění (Prague, 1959). Sheet music cover illustrated by Jaroslav Šerých.
The Lipsi wasn’t just another Fifties dance craze. It was a political statement, not by unruly teenagers but by the 66-year-old leader of post-World War II East Germany, Walter Ulbricht. The promotion of the Lipsi as a youthful dance was a cramped attempt from the communist regime to restrict the influence of Western music. Ulbricht abhorred gangs of youths who glorified rock ’n’ roll and wanted to swing wildly.
‘Lipsi Sonderheft – Alle Tanzen‘, album published by VEB Lied der Zeit (Berlin, s.d.), illustrated by Dietrich (source: albis-international)
In 1959, just two years before he would build the Berlin wall, Ulbricht declared that in order to counter Western excesses “It is not enough to condemn capitalist decadence in words, to battle against pulp literature and bourgeois habits and to criticise ‘hot music’ and the ‘ecstatic songs’ of a Presley. No, we have to offer a better alternative.”
It was orchestra leader and composer René Dubianski who came up with that politically correct alternative by merging a Latin-American cha-cha-cha with a German waltz. The dance teachers Christa and Helmut Seifert created suitable and easy steps so that everyone could follow them. They named the dance by adaptingthe Latin name for Leipzig: Lipsia.
Ulbricht hoped that the Lipsi would not only put an end to the supposed western decadence but also would become an international success. That’s why the regime strongly promoted the new dance and —anticipating a huge success— even patented it worldwide. Eine tolle Idee!
In an attempt to appeal to the German youngsters the DDR authorities produced an animated promotion of the Lipsi. In it the American Mister Brown, upon his return from the Leipzig Fair, enthusiastically started to teach young people in the US how to dance the Lipsi.
In reality, however the Lipsi did not catch on among the youth. Also in other Soviet-sphere countries like Estonia and Czechoslovakia it did not achieve its purpose. Possibly only the apparatchiks and the Politburo danced the Lipsi with enthusiasm.
A parallel story of an old, male world leader trying to stop the youthful urge for liberty, happened 45 years earlier, when popePius X failed to launch the Furlanaas a safe but boring alternative to the tango.
Walter Ulbricht (1893 – 1973) and pope Pius X (1835 – 1914) at their desk (source: Wikimedia Commons)
To illustrate the fierceness of the attacks against Western music in general and Elvis Presley in particular, here is a quote from Junge Welt, the official newspaper of the Central Council of the communist youth organisation: “His ‘singing’ resembled his face: stupid, dull and brutal. The boy was completely unmusical (… ) and roared like a shot deer, just not as melodiously.”
‘The Chestnut Tree’ by Jimmy Kennedy, Tommie Connor & Hamilton Kennedy, published by The Peter Maurice Music Co (London, 1938) and illustrated by G. Peres.
In these posts we already turned our attention to a few British dance crazes. Think of the springy Sir Roger de Coverly, or theNorthern Souldance style of the 70’s. Perhaps you do remember the catching, working-classLambeth Walk. Well, here is another one of these singing dance sensations: The Chestnut Tree. Hip hip hurray!
The Chestnut Tree was the second in a series of five novelty dances, of which theLambeth Walkwas the first. The dances were launched in quick succession by the outbreak of WWII, and were produced by the Mecca Dance Halls —at the time the largest dance hall chain in England. At the head of Mecca Dance was clever Carl Heimann, advertising himself in the medallion on the cover.
‘The Chestnut Tree’ by Jimmy Kennedy, Tommie Connor & Hamilton Kennedy, published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co (New York, 1938). source: John Hopkins, Sheridan Libraries – Lester S. Levy sheet music collection
The American version of The Chestnut Tree cover shows us that even King George VI was tapping his breast and his head while singing along. Or wasn’t he? In a newsreel of 1936 we see King George VI, then still the Duke of York, joining in a singalong while visiting a camp for teenage boys. Together they sing Under the spreading chestnut tree, an action song of only one verse, that is repeated again and again while certain movements replace some of the words.
Under the spreading chestnut tree, Where I held you on my knee, Oh how happy I should be, Under the spreading chestnut tree.
The action song was a great hit for the royals as witnessed by this other newsreel from 1939 — even the Queen and the princesses are joining in.
It was the success of these images of the King tapping his knee, breast and head, that inspired the creators at Mecca Dance to package the children action song as a new novelty dance. Indeed, hadn’t the publicity already been done by the King himself? Thus, The Chestnut Tree was born…
‘How to dance The Chestnut Tree, by Adele England’, dance instructions on the 1938 sheet music’s back cover.
Adele England was the leading teacher in the Locarno, Mecca’s flagship ballroom in Streatham, south London. She devised the dance hall routines for Heimann’s five novelty dances. For The Chestnut Tree she was not only inspired by the action song, but also inserted elements of the polka in order to appeal to the older patrons: the dancers were invited to circle the dance floor mimicking a tree, and to conclude by boisterously shouting ‘Chestnuts!’
Mecca tried to replicate its success by creating a third dance: The Park Parade about a couple taking a romantic stroll in the park on a summer’s day and by distributing free straw hats for the dance’s launch. In the newsreel below we can see and hear Miss Adele England explaining the ball room routine.
‘The Park Parade’ by Arthur Young, Anthony Page & Tommy Duggan, published by The Peter Maurice Music Co (London, 1939)
Heimann’s novelty dances all had the same mix of ingredients. They were quintessential English with English composers, producers and developed by an English dancer. They were meant to be performed by (mostly white) Britons of all ages, with or without dancing experience, rich or poor alike. The dances were a simple arrangement of steps performed in repetition while the patrons circled the dance floor in couples. All routines included shouting together and were meant to be a good laugh.
Heimann didn’t leave to chance the success of his novelty dances. Instead he devised huge promotional campaigns to launch themall over England. First the sheet music including dance instructions was sent to the press and to both the Mecca and non-Mecca dance halls, free of charge. It camewith a warning that the dance was not to be performed in public before the date of the national launch.
‘The Handsome Territorial‘ by Jimmy Kennedy & Michael Carr. Published by The Peter Maurice Music Co (London, 1939). source: Sheetmusicwarehouse
The dances then all had a simultaneous debut at the Mecca dancing halls throughout the country. Professionals demonstrated the dance first and then invited patrons to join in. The words of the song were displayed on large banners along the dance halls so that everybody could sing along. And the very same day the sheet music and gramophone records would go up for sale.
The fourth (Handsome Territorial) and fifth (Knees Up, Mother Brown) novelty dances were less successful. During the war the dance business, owing to the presence of the large number of American servicemen and the jitterbug craze, would become explicitly less ‘British‘ and more Americanised.
Time to get your knees up!
Further reading: Doing The Lambeth Walk: Novelty Dances and the British Nation, by Allison Abra
