Eleanor Powell, The World's Greatest Tap Dancer

Eleanor Powell was an American film actress and a graceful and nimble-footed dancer who became famous during the 1930's and 1940's,for her creative, quick-fire, solo tap dancing routines and became known as the ”Queen of Tap Dancing”.

She  featured in several Broadway revues, and her first movie appearance was in George White's 'Scandals of 1935'.  When she appeared in 'Broadway Melody of 1936', Eleanor began her long association with MGM musicals, where her co-stars ranged from Nelson Eddy to Fred Astaire to Jimmy Stewart to Burns and Allen.  In 'Lady Be Good' in 1941, she wore top hat and short tails to dance "Fascinating Rhythm” for director Busby Berkeley. The number opened on a close up of her tapping feet and ended spectacularly with her being thrown head over heels time and again down a corridor of male dancers.


 In 1943 she married actor Glen Ford and retired from acting. On her divorce from Ford in 1959 she began a new, and successful nightclub career.  Her career continued into the early 1960's when she made several guest appearances on television, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace.


Eleanor Powell died of cancer at the age of 69 in February, 1982, and she was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.


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Early Louis B Mayer

Louis B Mayer was a self-made man who rose from an apprenticeship at his father's scrap metal business in Canada to become the highest paid corporate executive in the U.S.

He was born Lazar Mayer in the Minsk district of Russia sometime between 1880-1885. The exact date is not certain. He grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after his parents fled Russian oppression in 1886. His father was a peddler and a scrap metal dealer and after a poverty-stricken childhood Mayer left the family home and moved to Boston in 1904. He became enthralled with the theatrical business; he diligently saved enough money for a theater, a burlesque house and soon afterward was alternating live shows with the latest rage, motion pictures. The theatre became a success and Mayer expanded into film distribution by opening the Louis B. Mayer Film Company. In 1915, with several partners he formed the Metro Pictures Corporation, and one of the first films they acquired for distribution was D.W. Griffith's classic "Birth of a Nation" (1915).

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