Bill Robinson is a fantastic talent and it is a pleasure watching him dance. However, I think they over do the sound effects of the foot taps. I don't believe he is really making those sounds with his feet. The tapping seems to be faster than his movements and sometimes there is tapping when his feet are stationary.
shareTo film dancing scenes, they traditionally play back the music for the dancers, and film it silently. Then, sound effects people (or dancers, in this case) will record the taps to go with the picture. I haven't seen this film in years, so I can't remember if there is any music besides Bill Robinson humming. So I can't really say that's how they did it. But that's how they did it for Fred Astaire.
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