Just Watched the 1933 movie "42nd Street." Why was Ruby Keeler Considered a Good Dancer?

She tap danced with all the grace and elegance of a Clydesdale - clompity-clomp-clomp-clomp. And she looked down at her nasty hooves the whole time.

Anybody else ever seen this movie and wondered how this woman became a star?

I've always thought that, too. And she sang flat.

Ginger Rogers eclipsed her in popularity for a reason.

The bar must have been really low back then. She was awful:

No one thought she was a good dancer, including herself. She succeeded on her plucky charm that won over Depression-era audiences in need of a spiritual lift.

Her movie career only lasted a short time in the 30s. She was over by the end of the decade.

Then came her surprise comeback in 1971 on Broadway with "No, No Nanette." She and the musical became a nostalgic hit of middle-aged theater-goers and younger audiences.

She was married to Al Jolson.

At 14 or 15, she was apparently working at a gangsters' speakeasy. From there she went to Ziegfeld (how is only your guess) and by 19, she was married to superstar Al Jolson who was 42.

She may have had some innocent flower charisma but I don't think innocence or talent had anything to do with her rise to fame.

I rewatched that movie a couple weeks ago too. It sure isn't as good as I remember it.

Bebe Daniels is wonderful in it.

My friend and I watched it way back in college in the 80's and then we would sometimes do the "Ruby Keeler stomp" for fun (yes, we were gay). So no, you're not the first one to notice her bad dancing.

All this time, I've thought she was married to Dick Powell after Joan Blondell was. Turns out that was June Allyson. (Why, though?)

Her husband got her the job.

She and Dick Powell were the leading sweetheart couple of the early 30s. They made a string of hit musicals for Warner Bros, with the inventive Busby Berkeley directing. At least Powell could sing well.

The movies were pre-Code, so they were also surprisingly explicit, such as the "Petting in the Park" number.

More of "Pettin in the Park" with Billy Barty as a lecherous toddler.

Warner Baxter plays the most hyper, shouty man-bitch in Pre-Code movies.

He's like the nightmare gay choral or theater director we've all had in high school.

Wasn't pushing into the floor, a certain heavy footed quality, a hallmark of hoofing? It wasn't graceful nor was it meant to be.

Ruby Keeler said later that Al Jolson was a drunken abusive husband. She finally divorced him after 12 years and married a businessman that she stayed married to until his death.

Fun fact: Pugsley on the original Addams Family, Ken Weatherwax, was her nephew.