In 1959, Russian premier, Nikita Khruschev
(he of the “We will bury you” threat),
visited the US:
and attended a luncheon in his honor on
the 20th Century-Fox lot in Beverly Hills.
Attending was every major movie star
(without spouses since seating was
limited):
Judy
Garland and Marilyn Monroe
arriving
at the luncheon.
Emceed by Frank Sinatra, the guests and
the guest of honor went from lunch to a
nearby soundstage where Sinatra and
Shirley MacLaine were currently filming
the musical “Can Can.”
MacLaine and a troupe of dancers,
including Juliet Prowse (who would have a
brief period of being “engaged” to
Sinatra) performed a vigorous dance to the
title tune - “Can Can,” as choreographed
by Hermes Pan.
Now, normally, this kind of complicated
dance would be filmed in small sections
and stitched together in the editing room.
But as a live performance, it had to be
done as a complete dance without
interruption.
This was something MacLaine and the
dancers, all wearing heavy velvet dresses,
had never ever done.
MacLaine later said that at the conclusion
of the number, all of the dancers were so
winded they thought they’d never catch
their breath again.
Krushchev later denounced the dance as "an
example of Western depravity."
And now here are some of the treasures
worth applauding from our website today:
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