Reddit mentions of Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop

Great post. Thank you. I'm on mobile, but if someone wants to look up "spirit moves disc 1" and "spirit moves disc 2" you'll find them on YouTube. I also know a dancer who has a comprehensive list of Whiteys Lindy Hoppers videos. I'd also love to see resources compiling all the California dancers' stuff. Plus I just saw a video of John Bedrosian doing St Louis Jitterbug and St Louis Shag pass through Facebook the other day. If someone wants to grab those and put them in one place that'd be wonderful, otherwise I'll update this comment with links (that can hopefully be added to sidebar?)

Edit:
Spirit Moves Disc 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjguncQiw70

Spirit Moves Disc 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHf4tBmAlpI

Shorty Snowden:

After Seben (1929)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcnpZfsfwDA

Ask Uncle Sol (1937)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sdk3mqVSRA

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers:

A Day At The Races (1937):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di-a-jf1c6g&t=3

Radio City Revels (1938)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGAOpTcEyJw

Keep Punchin (1939)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfgKMfexdPQ

Hellzapoppin (1941):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahoJReiCaPk

Hot Chocolate (1941):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_262uUGwzgk

Cootie Williams and Orchestra (1943):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnpcPFnHLUQ


Jitterbug History:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8UkX71MbPY&index=7&list=PLmgkit3LB0tdgRzwPSQE_-YdxqbA1tpg5






Misc. Other Notable Clips:
It Goes To Your Toes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKKO_fYv6JE&feature=youtu.be

Bli-Blip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pthpr7sI9C0&feature=youtu.be

Rip It Up (1956):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLDwMWkp1Iw

Caravan (1946):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14QEoEIvUuk&feature=youtu.be

Swing Fever (1943):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1-LqqPnkf0





Okay I have A LOT more where that came from but I have to step out, going dancing :D

I'll update a second time with more!

Edit 2: I CANNOT emphasize enough how amazing Frankie's autobiography is. It makes so many things make so much more sense. It is an easy read and a FASCINATING one. I highly highly recommend it. I'd make it required reading if I was teaching a class (like, in school) on it. It has so much context. He is such an interesting, charming, warm, genuine guy. With a shocking memory. That book changed my whole perspective on dancing.

Buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/Frankie-Manning-Ambassador-Lindy-Hop/dp/1592135641

Edit 3:
Some context - Shorty Snowden was what they call a "first generation" savoy dancer. He and his group were the people that inspired Frankie Manning and Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Their style was more upright, and less refined.

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers danced a lot more like Snowden and his group in 1937-8, but as you can see, in 1941 they did more of the Lindy hop we know and love. Around this time and later, Dean Collins and a lot of dancers in LA did some pretty iconic dancing. I am not nearly as tuned in on the LA clips as I'd like to be, but Swing Fever and Groovie Movie feature some of these guys.

Anyway, there's a lot of amazing stuff in those clips - note the prevalence of the California routine in the later Whitey's clips. To identify the California routine, spirit moves 1 goes one by one through a lot of the line dances and group choreographies. I also would love to add more clips of Al Minns and Leon James later, who are heavily featured jn spirit moves.

If you ask me though, spirit moves 2 is the real gem. The only clips we have of social dancing at the Savoy. It also features the al and Leon Shim sham, a contest (to prepare for the harvest moon ball), Mambo night (which I need to study a lot more, an amazing blend of dances), and my personal favorite, the Cats Corner, a part of the dance floor marked out specially for the top dancers to really cut. My favorite social dancing clip is here, featuring Leon James, slick slides and spins.

The Frankie Manning Biography: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frankie-Manning-Ambassador-Lindy-Hop/dp/1592135641

Welcome to the friendliest, awesomest cult^ Wgroup of people on earth! :-) What scene do you dance in? We might be able to come up with more locally-relevant links. That said...

Things that pop to mind:

• Yehoodi. Don't miss the welcome wagon, and check out Swing Talk.
  
  
• LindyExchange Start figuring out your travel budget. :-)
  
  
• Bobby White's blog
  
  For instruction: iDance
  
  If you haven't read Frankie Manning's autobiography, I highly recommend it. It's cheap, it's a quick read, and it will help you understand where swing in its current incarnation came from.
  
  Swag:
  
  

• Get yer Aris Allen on from Dancestore.com.
  
  
• Want some sweet repro vintage shoes?
  
  
• Yet more repro vintage clothing!
  
  

Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop !

Here is the mobile version of your link