MovieChat Forums > Born to Dance (1936) Discussion > Buddy Ebson

Buddy Ebson

posted 13 years ago by jayhn1111
13 replies | jump to latest

That guy had a really bizarre style of dancing that I"ve never seen before. I guess he was talented. It just seemed kinda sloppy and strange

[–] Eric-1226 13 years ago

His singing in the movie was rather bizarre and strange, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5osQYZrjSBk

[–] jayhn1111 13 years ago

I think I prefer him as Barnaby jones minus the singing and dancing

[–] -501 12 years ago

First, his name is spelled Ebsen not Ebson.

Ebsen never was known for his singing. Ebsen was one of the great dancers of 20th Century and had a successful Vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood career. He was plain-looking and quite tall and never going to out Astaire, Fred Astaire. So what do you do? You develop a niche and his niche was to highlight his long legs and do character roles. When it is clear you're not going to be the leading man, heck, what would you do?

[–] thundercloud47 12 years ago

I have to agree with you there -501. Just my opinion his dancing looked sloppy in this movie until you look a little closer. It takes a very well coordinated person to play an uncoordinated person.

[–] jayhn1111 12 years ago

Thanks for the spelling correction. I don't know how I would've gone through the rest of my life without realizing it was spelled with an E instead of an O. I didn't mean to bash the guy. I just have a hard time getting into his style of dancing.

[–] -501 12 years ago

Jayhn1111,

I think we can all make the mental leap that nothing on IMDB is going make the rest of your life tough to get through. We'll excuse you as you go back to working on solutions for World Hunger.

For others, this is Ebsen dancing with Shirley Temple in a famous skit ... Ebsen starts dancing around the 1:25 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpqt3zgdYUw

[–] jayhn1111 12 years ago

That's a nice little number. I believe that movie was the first time I saw Ebsen in his early days. I've watched almost all the Shirley Temple movies.

[–] rkg313 8 years ago

What about Jed Clampett? ( I hope that's the correct spelling ) He was excellent in the Beverly Hillbillies, he even danced a couple of times.

[–] netshopper-2 12 years ago

See him in The Broadway Melody as well. I enjoyed his numbers.

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 11 years ago

It sure was different. I liked it.

Great movie which I enjoy watching from time to time. I've been a fan of this movie for about eight years now.

~~
Jim Hutton: talented gorgeous hot hunk; adorable as ElleryQueen; SEXIEST ACTOR EVER

[–] netshopper-2 10 years ago

Ensenada had dancing and comedic talent. He lifted this film.

[–] sistergrimm 9 years ago

Buddy Ebsen was a practitioner of a dance style known as "eccentric dance." According to Wikiedia, the term 'eccentric' is a catchall for dancers who have their own non-standard movements and sell themselves on their individual styles. It has been used to describe a variety of highly personal performances by dancer-comedians on Broadway.

We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives in the dream

[–] Sylvie17 8 years ago

I'm just surprised he was chosen to play the tin man. He was a natural to play the scarecrow...