THE FRANKIE MANNING MEDIA ARCHIVE Frankie Manning demonstrates steps from the Big Apple. Video Courtesy of Lance Benishek. 1. Stomp Off 2. Hop 3. Cross 4. Rock Time 5. Boogie 6. Boogie back 7. Applejack (“Ho”) 8. Gaze Afar THE FRANKIE MANNING MEDIA ARCHIVE is an ongoing project to digitize significant footage of lindy […]
Guest Post: Vote for Hellzapoppin’ for the National Film Preservation Board
Guest post by Ricardo Ferraro The internet has plenty of posts related to relevant lindy hop dance movies. But, what if there was a program to preserve the original copies of these movies ? Indeed, there is one: The Library Of Congress Film Registry from the Library Of Congress National Film Preservation Board. And the […]
Announcing the Frankie Manning Media Archive
The FRANKIE MANNING MEDIA ARCHIVE is digitizing significant footage of lindy hop’s greatest ambassador, Frankie Manning. Much of this footage is rare and never-before-seen. This Frankie Manning footage will be freely available to inspire and educate dancers all around the world. The FRANKIE MANNING MEDIA ARCHIVE is volunteer produced by the Frankie Manning Foundation. Consider […]
Swinging Archives and Libraries
Guest Post by Karen Campos McCormack In March 2018 I was lucky to spend a month in New York, in Harlem, researching the history of Lindy hop thanks to the support of the Frankie Manning Foundation. I had previously researched the history of swing via the internet, Amazon, second hand bookshops and the limited […]
Symphony in Black
A Rhapsody of Negro Life 10 mins., black & white, 16mm. FAB 6260 Paramount Pictures, 1935. Director: Fred Waller; Photography: William Steiner, Jr. Valburn/Ellington Collection of the Library of Congress This film of extraordinary historic and esthetic interest features Duke Ellington at the piano presumably composing the title symphony, crosscut with shots of a band […]
Swingin’ at the Savoy
Not to be confused with the book by the same name by original Lindy Hopper Norma Miller. I guess the name was too good to resist! Produced by Living Traditions, the people responsible for the very successful Lindy Hop revival in Seattle, this recent documentary provides an intimate glimpse of Lindy Hopper Frank Manning. Frankie […]
Swing Kids
1993 Directed by Thomas Carter The Lindy Hop scenes in Swing Kids were choreographed under Otis Sallid by Ryan Francois, a very talented young Lindy Hopper at the time. Sallid met Francois while both were working on the Savoy Ballroom scene in the film Malcolm X. Both of these films have had an important influence […]
Stompin’ at the Savoy
TV Film 1992 Directed by Debbie Allen A melodrama, based on a true story that took place in the Savoy Ballroom in its heyday. The story follows four young women whose nights at the Savoy are the high points of their lives. Norma Miller was nominated for an Emmy for her choreography in this film. […]
The Spirit Moves
Part 1: Jazz Dance from the Turn of the Century ’til 1950 1950 Produced, directed, edited, and narrated by Mura Dehn. Camera: Herbert Matter Mura Dehn was a Russian emigre to the United States in the 1930s. She was so impressed with the African-American social dance that she saw in New York City that it […]
Radio City Revels
RKO Benjamin Stoloff 1938 Frankie Manning’s shine was cut from the dance sequence in the film. This may be because it didn’t meet the standards of the censors of the film; in his shine Frankie did a step that Jerome Williams had popularized, as in this publicity picture from the Big Apple dancers performance in […]
Queen of Swing
A documentary about Norma Miller By John Biffar This content was originally written by Judy Pritchett with Frank Manning. Copyright, 1995, 1996, 1997 for the savoystyle.com. It may not be reproduced without written permission. Please use the contact form on this website to get in touch. This Biography is also part of the World Lindy […]
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
USA 1937 82 mins. Black and White Republic Pictures A musical revue with an all-star cast that includes Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, Ted Lewis and his Orchestra, Louis Prima and his Band, Gene Autry, and Joe DiMaggio. Manhattan Merry-Go-Round has a storyline about gangsters taking over a radio station. Variety Magazine of the day […]
