#174 American Kicks: A History of the Rockettes

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2014

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Radio City Rockettes are perhaps America's best known dance troupe -- and a staple of the holiday season -- but you may not know the origin of this most iconic of New York City symbols. For one, they're not even from the Big Apple! Formerly the Missouri Rockets, the dancers and their famed choreographer Russell Markert were noticed by theater impresario Samuel Rothafel, who installed them first as his theater The Roxy, then at one of the largest theaters in the world -- Radio City Music Hall. The life of a Rockettes dancer was glamorous, but grueling; for many decades dancing not in isolated shows, but before the screenings of movies, several times a day, a different program each week. There was a very, very specific look to the Rockettes, a look that changed -- and that was forced to change by cultural shifts -- over the decades. This show is dedicated to the many thousands of women who have shuffled and kicked with the Rockettes over their many decades of entertainment, on the stage, the picket line or the hallways of Grand Central. www.boweryboyspodcast.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Barry Boys Episode 174, the history of the Rockets.
0:04.6	Hey, it's the Barry Boys.
0:06.2	Hey, the Barry Boys are brought to you by Audible,
0:08.9	the leading provider of audiobook entertainment
0:11.2	with over 150,000 titles to choose from.
0:14.3	For a free audiobook download and 30-day free trial,
0:17.2	go to audibletrial.com slash Barry Boys.
0:21.2	Hi there, welcome to the Barry Boys. This is Greg Young.
0:23.8	And this is Tom Myers.
0:25.1	Today we bring you the history of one of America's most famous
0:29.6	dance institutions, the Radio City Rockets.
0:33.2	You said one of America's famous, I might argue that they are
0:37.8	America's most famous dance troupe.
0:40.4	If you ask any tourist that arrives in New York for the very first time and you
0:44.3	ask them to name five or ten things that they most associate with New York City,
0:49.3	I will bet you that one of the things that they say are the Rockets.
0:52.6	They've come to me more than just a little like high glitzy entertainment.
0:56.1	They represent glamour, patriotism.
0:58.5	They're sort of the fast pace of the city embodied
1:02.2	in a line of beautiful women and the bright lights of Broadway.
1:05.7	They're also of course a commercial entity.
1:08.4	So just right out front here, let's just say this is not like a giant advertisement
	...

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