Small Town Girl Berkeley, Busby performer Miller, Ann performer Van, Bobby performer Film 1953-04-10 MGM MGM 1953, Video MGM/UA rereleased in 1990. Choreography: Busby Berkeley. Performed by Jane Powell (Cindy Kimbell), Farley Granger (Rick Livingston), Ann Miller (Lisa Bellmount), Bobby Van (Ludwig Scholemmer). With Nat King Cole (himself). A rich playboy, jailed for speeding in a small town, learns to adjust his values. "I've gotta hear that beat" performed by Miller. and staged by Willie Covan who was on staff at MGM as a director and choreographer. "My Gaucho" performed by Miller and ensemble. Andre Previn was the musical arranger and noted that for "I've Gotta Hear That Beat" Berkeley devised a dance in which Ann Miller, tapping madly, cruised around a huge floor which had dozens of holes in it. The holes had been drilled so dancers or extras lying on their backs under the floor holding musical instruments could "whip their arms out at precisely the moment the lyrics dictated." When asked why he had Ann Miller dance through the musicians with their arms sticking up through holes cut in the floor?" Berkeley answered, "Because it was interesting to watch, interesting to photograph. I could have had her come out on the stage and do a buck-and-wing routine, call it a dance, and that would have been that. But I always try for the new and different." "There was Ann Miller" Previn remembered, " spangled and glittering, whirling around dangerously, avoiding the holes in the floor; there were subterranean instrument holders, gasping for air; and above it all, Buzz [Berkeley], on the seat of a huge camera crane, shouting imprecations, screaming instructions, hurling the camera at an alarming speed." Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Thomas, Tony: That's Dancing!. New York, Harry Abrams (1984). Billman, Larry: Film Choreographers and Dance Directors: An Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia, 1893-1955. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland (1997). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Ann Miller (biography) loc.music.tdabio.131 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.291