Madame Will You Tap... Dance? (1935)

Titles read: ’MADAME WILL YOU TAP... DANCE?’ Probably filmed at Pathe Studio, London. Nice footage of a line of chorus girls doing a tap dance routine in the studio to the tune of ’My Baby Just Cares For Me’. They wear horrible costumes that look quite sexy from the back (little skirts and thin sparkly straps) but when they turn round we can see they are most unflattering, with flat, shapeless tops and elasticated, baggy knickers. We then see various shots of Miss Doreen Austin, a tap expert and one of CB Cochran’s original Young Ladies, showing us the basic steps of tap dancing. She wears a white top and trousers and demonstrates a shuffle, then a simple timestep with a break. She gives us an imitation of the dancing of (Jack) Hulbert and (Fred) Astaire and shows us how to do them. Doreen then does a short routine of more complicated steps that we can work our way up to - maybe! Music for this bit is ’Weather Man’. FILM ID: A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRIT