August 9th | 16 Movies
It’s nearly impossible to watch a Nicholas Brothers dance routine and not be in complete awe of their talent. Fayard and Harold Nicholas were a dancing duo who graced the silver screen, enchanting audiences with their athleticism, elegance, and style. They became recognizable figures throughout the 1930s and 1940s appearing in a variety of musicals. They were a class-act—always dressed to the nines with their tail coatstailcoats flying behind them and taking great care with their presentation and attention to detail.
The Nicholas Brothers perfected their routines over the years by elevating their jazz tap style with gravity-defying acrobatics. Even as their style evolved, the foundation of their routine stayed the same. The routine would begin with synchronized choreography, often prefaced by a singing interlude, and would showcase the brothers’ fast feet and ear for tap rhythms and sounds. This would be followed by a friendly competition in which each brother would perform a brief solo routine highlighting their individual specialitiesspecialties. The brothers would then reunite for a show-stopping finale that would leave audiences astonished and wanting more. According to biographer Constance Valis Hill, “[the Nicholas Brothers’] rhythmic brilliance, musicality, eloquent footwork, and full-bodied expressiveness are unsurpassed, and their dancing represents the most sophisticated refinement of jazz as a percussive dance form.”
Fayard Nicholas was born in 1914 and his younger brother Harold was born 7 years later. The brothers came from a middle-class family of musicians. Their father Ulysses was a self-taught drummer and their mother Viola was a talented pianist. The brothers spent a lot of time at the music halls and night clubs where their parents performed or at their local cinema. Fayard in particular waswas so captivated by silent films that he convinced his parents to name his younger brother after his favorite silent film comedian Harold Lloyd.
Their parents nurtured their sons’ budding talent as performers. The greatest advice their father Ulysses gave his oldest son Fayard was to not copy others routines and to keep eye contact with their audience. Fayard spent every moment he could mastering his tap dancing skills. In an interview he said, “If I thought of something to keep from losing it, I’d start performing it.” Harold proved to be a talented impersonator and entertainer. Although he struggled to keep up with Fayard, he eventually had a breakthrough that allowed him to quickly develop his dancing skills. Fayard and Harold became known as the Nicholas Kids. Their career breakthrough came in 1931 when they were invited to perform on Philadelphia’s “Horn and Hardart Kiddie Hour” radio show. Because the audience couldn’t see them dance over the radio, they focused on singing and paying particular attention to the musical quality of their tap dancing.
Five years later, the brothers’ appearance on that radio show would be recreated in the musical The Black Network (1936), one of several Vitaphone shorts the brothers appeared in. Directed by Roy Mack, The Black Network imagines an all-black radio station showcasing local talent on air. Now dubbed the Nicholas Brothers, the duo appearappears in two segments, most notably a dance number in which they present themselves as consummate professionals despite their young age. Like with the 1931 radio debut, the brothers focus on what the audience can hear: a singing interlude and a melodic tap dance routine.
A few years earlier, the Nicholas Brothers made their screen debut in Pie, Pie, Blackbird (1932), another all-black musical short directed by Roy Mack and starring Nina Mae KcKinney. The brothers performed an acting bit with McKinney and close out the musical with an elaborate dance number. Dressed in pastry-chef hats and white jackets, the brothers sing and dance to Eubie Blake and his band’s rendition of “China Boy”. While this number mostly focused on their tap dancing skills, audiences got an early glimpse of the Nicholas Brothers’ trademark splits and jumps.
Harold Nicholas briefly broke out on his own for the Disney short Stoopnocracy (1933)—where he got to show off his Cab Calloway impression—as well as the independently produced pre-code drama The Emperor Jones (1933), a landmark film starring Paul Robeson. Harold Nicholas performs a brief number in a nightclub sequence. The set was modeled after the Cotton Club, a famous New York City nightclub that boasted some of the best black entertainers of the era including the Nicholas Brothers.
The duo reunited for the Warner Bros. Vitaphone short An All-Colored Vaudeville Show (1935). Also directed by by Roy Mack, the Nicholas Brothers are one of five acts in the film. They perform two short numbers and it’s here that we can see that they’re not only faster on their feet but they’re also more in tune with each other. This is one of the earliest examples of the brothers performing their famous synchronized splits which they would master in the coming decade.
Columbia Pictures took interest in the Nicholas Brothers and cast them in the boxing drama Jealousy (1934). In full-length features, the brothers’ act would boil down to a single number which could easily be edited out when distributed to southern Southern markets. UnfortunatelyUnfortunately, their number in Jealousy wound up on the cutting room floor. However, it’s very likely that the deleted footage from Jealousy was spliced in years later into the low-budget crime drama My Son is Guilty (1939).
The Nicholas Brothers reached peak fame in the 1940s when they appeared in six musicals for Twentieth Century Fox. Their first was Down Argentine Way (1940), a Technicolor musical starring Don Ameche, Bette Grable and Carmen Miranda. In their dance number, the brothers enter the scene with Harold singing in Spanish and Fayard playing the maracas. Donning tuxedos with coat tails, they perform a variation of their usual tap routine but this time with more splits, spins and pizzazz. Director Irving Cummings threatened to trim the number but choreographer Nick Castle convinced to leave it untouched. According to biographer Constance Valis Hill, “in the South, where it was the custom to censor segments of a film that contained scenes with black actors, Down Argentine Way was shown uncut… their performance in Down Argentine Way was so electrifying that soon after the film was released, Twentieth Century-Fox awarded them a five-year contract.”
Nick Castle would become an important coach and ally for the Nicholas Brothers throughout their career at Fox. The brothers worked with Castle on the choreography for “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo”, a musical number featured in director Archie Mayo’s Orchestra Wives (1942). According to writer and critic Jennifer Dunning, the brothers “explore and utilize just about every unexpected inch of air, floor, and vertical space in Orchestra Wives.” In this sequence, there is a notable shift from strictly tap to a variety of styles and an increased emphasis on acrobatics.
By this point in their career, the Nicholas Brothers were heavily influenced by the precision of ballet and the explosive style of the popular Swing dance movement that was taking the nation by storm. They had brought more acrobatic elements to their routines the previous year in the black-and-white musical Sun Valley Serenade (1941) starring Sonja Henie and John Payne. In what would become one of their most famous numbers, the Brothers sing and dance to “Chattanooga Choo Choo” with actress Dorothy Dandridge. After the initial singing interlude, the Nicholas Brothers break out into their show-stopping dance routine. They incorporate cartwheels, back flips, split jumps and a variety of impressive acrobatic techniques. Dressed in straw boater hats, plaid suits and spats, the Brothers balanced their explosive athleticism with their trademark style. The number is also notable for the pairing of Dorothy Dandridge with Harold Nicholas. The two met years prior while performing at the Cotton Club. A romance ensued and the two married in 1942.
The Nicholas Brothers pulled out all the stops for their most lauded performance in the the all-black musical Stormy Weather (1943). Directed by Andrew L. Stone, Stormy Weather featured some of the best black entertainers working in the industry including Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Katherine Dunham and Fats Waller. The Nicholas Brothers join forces with Cab Calloway for the impressive “The Jumpin’ Jive” musical sequence. Choreographed by Nick Castle, the duo enterenters the scene jumping off dining tables onto a large stage as Cab Calloway and his Orchestra perform on the background. What ensues is a display of their most advanced moves. Of the performance historian Donald Bogle wrote, “this highly demanding performance is so perfectly executed—splendidly styled yet seemingly spontaneous, too, without any sign of strain or sweat—that it truly commands our respect and inspires awe.” In the sequence’s spectacular finale, the brothers defy gravity and physiology as they descend an oversized stair casestaircase, leap frogging over each other and landing in a split with each step. The whole number was done in one take without any rehearsals.
Despite their continued success, the Nicholas Brothers faced problems at their home studio. They wanted more involvement in their movies but were always relegated to solitary dance numbers that could easily be edited out for Southern markets. Due to various reasons, their contract with Fox was not renewed. The brothers reluctantly went their separate ways when Fayard was drafted during WWII and Harold was rejected from the draft due to not passing the minimum heigh requirement. Harold Nicholas found solo work in the Universal Picture picture The Reckless Age (1944) in which he performs the Portuguese song “Mama Eu Quero” followed by a more traditional tap routine. At Columbia Pictures, Harold appears in the musical Carolina Blues (1944) starring Ann Miller. During the “Mr. Beebe” sequence, Harold has an impressive number. Dressed in a top hat, coat tails and sporting a cane, he makes a grand entrance onto the stage where he does a brief solo tap number and is later joined by a group of dancers called The Four Step Brotherss.
After the war, the Nicholas Brothers took a break from filmmaking and went on tour performing throughout the southern Southern belt and the Caribbean. They even traveled to Korea to entertain the troops. They returned to the big screen in what would be their last major film together. The brothers joined Gene Kelly for the “Be a Clown” number in the Vincente Minnelli directed MGM musical The Pirate (1948). They were invited by producer Arthur Freed who believed that because the story was set in the Caribbean and not in the United States that audiences wouldn’t be as opposed to seeing Gene Kelly perform with two black dancers. “Be a Clown” has all the trademarks of a Gene Kelly dance number and was a great departure for the brothers who were used to their own style and techniques. Harold Nicholas, who disliked rehearsal, put very little effort into Kelly’s practice runs which angered the star. The story goes that Kelly accused Harold of not knowing the choreography and Harold responded by doing the entire routine by himself without missing a beat.
Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, tap dancing was considered passé but this didn’t stop the Nicholas Brothers from pursuing their careers. The two parted ways again when Harold moved to Europe and Fayard wanted to stay behind to spend more time with his family. The brothers continued to work throughout the 1970s appearing on television and the nightclub circuit. Fayard was cast in director William Wyler’s race drama The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970). Although at this point Fayard was suffering from arthritis, he still manages to bust a few moves in the film. Harold had a role in Sidney Poitier’s Uptown Saturday Night (1974) in which he plays Little Seymour Pettigrew, a pint-sized gangster. Harold was able to showcase his talent for physical stunts in one of the movie’s fight sequences.
With the 1970s came a renewed interest in old Hollywood musicals and an appreciation for the artistry of tap dancing. The Nicholas Brothers were featured into in retrospective compilations highlighting the best of MGM musicals. In That’s Entertainment! (1974), audiences were reintroduced to the brothers with the “Be a Clown” number from The Pirate. Over a decade later, their number from Down Argentine Way would be highlighted in That’s Dancing! (1985). One of their greatest admirers was Gregory Hines, who almost single-handedly reinvigorated the public’s interest in tap. Hines joined forces with Nick Castle’s son Nick Castle Jr. to make the dramatic film Tap (1989). Harold Nicholas was one of several tap dancing legends who appeared in the challenge sequence in the film. At 67 years old, Harold was still fast on his feet and could still leap frogleapfrog over someone and land in a split.
Harold Nicholas passed away in 2000 at the age of 79. His brother Fayard followed in 2006 at the age of 91. The Nicholas Brothers live on in perpetuity through their show-stopping dance numbers that still wow audiences today.
