Harold Teen (Warner Bros.) (1934)

SIX-DAY LEROY LESSONS BRING SIX INTEREST-WHIPPING PLUGS Hal Le Roy to Teach “‘Gazette’’ Readers How to Tap Dance Would you like to tap dance? How would you like to beat a tattoo with a nimble toe, trained to rhythmic cadence by Hal LeRoy, America’s greatest dancer? Because everyone, young and old, has an open or a secret desire to ‘‘shake a leg’? the ............ (name of newspaper) has arranged with Warner Bros., producers of the hilarious motion picture ‘‘ Harold Teen,’’ to have their star, Hal LeRoy teach you his technique for one routine—which means the steps of a particular dance—in six illustrated lessons, easily understood, and quickly learned, one lesson to appear daily in this newspaper. LeRoy, himself a dancing wizard, was star of the Ziegfeld Follies, ‘‘Strike Me Pink,’’ ‘‘The Gang’s All Here’’ and_ other Broadway musical shows. He is the star of the picture ‘‘ Harold Teen,’’ which Warner Bros. have built around the famous comic strip of the same name, and which Willopen: ‘atthe ..c. cecapnee theatre: Ona ie. eelecnceee vias The ‘‘Harold Teen Hop,’’ the name Mr. LeRoy has given the group of dance steps he will teach, is taken from the dance he uses in the production ‘‘ Harold Teen.’’ Each step is described in detail, illustrated by poses of the famous dancer, showing the position of the feet, hands and body for each of the movements. Money couldn’t buy these lessons—but you can have them for nothing. Simply be sure to get your copies of the ...............0+ for the next six days. Place your order with your newsdealer NOW. Who is Best Amateur Tap Dancer in Town? Prizes for Winners Have you been following Hal LeRoy’s lessons on ‘‘Tap Dancing’’ which ran last week in the Bee See (name of paper). If you have, by now you should be a real ‘‘hoofer.’’ This newspaper and the ............ theatre, in which the Warner Bros. film comedy ‘‘Harold Teen’’ is showing, wants to see the results of these lessons, and will stage an Amateur Tap Dancing Contest at LAYS pede pene ete: theatre on ............ At Sess o’clock. No professional dancer is eligible. Teachers of dancing are excluded. Every one else is weleome to compete, whether they are one year old or 100—just so they can tap dance. There will be valuable prizes for the winners, including a first prize Ofek aticass Register your name as a contestant at the ................008 The judges will be selected by the editor of the ................. (newspaper) and will announced in a day or two. If you can dance, register for the contest. You may win a valuable prize and perhaps find yourself started on the road to fame followed by Hal LeRoy Page Siz Learn Tap Dancing In Six Lessons Taught by World’s Greatest Master by HAL LE ROY (Star of “Harold Teen’’) LESSON NUMBER ONE The secret of dancing, as of any other art—is practice. The ‘‘ Harold Teen Hop,’’ which I have chosen for the steps of the principal dance in ‘‘Harold Teen’’ has a combination of seven steps which will form an interesting routine for the student of dancing. It is neither: difficult nor intricate and anyone should be able to follow my explanations of the different steps without difficulty. Do your practicing in front of a mirror—full length if at all possible. You will find you make much more rapid progress than is possibe without its aid. You should practice two hours a day, mastering each step before you try the next one. Cut out each lesson and the illustrations of steps and positions, preserving it for ready reference. Now let’s go—the first step is a straight tap step. See position No. 1—it’s a forward tap with the right foot. Then a back step with the same foot, as shown in position No. 2. Next, a hop on the right foot, as illustrated in Position No. 3. Now tap forward with the left foot, down with the left foot on a tap and down with the right foot in the same manner. Repeat this movement, starting with the left foot instead of the right. The complete step consists of this movement six times, alternating with each foot at the start. (To be Continued Tomorrow) Learn Tap Dancing In Six Lessons Taught by World’s Greatest Master by HAL LEROY (Star of “Harold Teen’’) LESSON NUMBER TWO If you have mastered the first lesson in the ‘‘ Harold Teen Hop’’ which I described yesterday, you are ready for the second lesson, which is also a tap step. The second step is preceded by a ‘‘break,’ a series of transitional steps which enable the dancer to glide gracefully from one step into the next. It is quite simple and is done by bringing the right foot forward in a tap, then the left foot forward in a similar tap, and repeat this six times. From this, the student is ready to go into the second step. The left foot crosses over the right, then hop to the left foot with the right foot back. Come back on the right foot as the left goes into the air. (See Position No. 4) Now bring the left foot down to a tap. (See Position No. 5) The right foot then crosses behind the left, and you hop to the right foot with the left foot back (see Position No. 6) Now come down with the right foot in a tap (see Position No. 7) and repeat the entire step twice from beginning to end. Master the two steps we have taken up so far, by practicing each separately until you have learned to do them correctly. Then practice them in combination until you can go through them smoothly. Watch the position of the hands, as illustrated. Learn to use your hands naturally for balance. Your rhythm will be improved. (To be Continued Tomorrow) Acrobatic Stunts Not Dancing, Says “Harold Teen’’ Star A dancer may be an acrobat, and an acrobat may be able to dance, but acrobatics are not daneing, and there is a distinct difference between eccentric ‘‘hoofing’’ and ‘‘ground tumbling,’’ declares Hal LeRoy, recognized as America’s finest male dancer, whose series of six lessons in tap dancing is now running in these columns, LeRoy sprang into instant fame when his marvelously nimble feet first appeared on a Broadway stage, and in a succession of riotous successes in musical comedies, including the Ziegfeld Follies and ‘*Strike Me Pink,’’ the 20 year old youth became a_ recognized star of such magnitude that he was drafted by Warner Bros. to appear in the all star production ‘*Wonder Bar,’’ and immediately thereafter was starred in ‘‘ Harold Teen,’’ an exeruciatingly funny drama built around the characters of Carl Ed’s famous comic strip, which will open at the .................... theatre here: on c....6c:..........0 Despite his~youth and his suecess, LeRoy takes his art very seriously. To him a dance routine requires as careful planning and as much thought as the outlines on an artist’s canvas or the plot of a novel. ‘Strangely enough, dancing was the second method of self expression known to mankind,’’ LeRoy says. ‘‘Primitive man, finding it necessary to demonstrate his feelings by some outward expression, picked up a stick and began beating on some resonant substance, probably a conch shell. The beatings assumed a rhythmic quality and it is reasonable to suppose that in a very short time some one else, inspired by the tum-tuming leaped to his feet, the rhythm went to his legs, he stamped on the ground, threw back his head and the first tap dance in the world began. ‘‘A few years ago, as time is reckoned theatrically, troupes of acrobats discovered that the orchestra aided their timing and created added interest to their acts, and occasionally in between stunts, one of the acrobats did a little foot shuffling. “Tt quickly followed that mediocre dancers, who could turn a cart wheel or do a flip-flop added one or more of these stunts to their routine, and a so called athletie dance was created.’’ LeRoy, who is the acknowledged greatest male dancer since the death of the late Jack Gallagher, knows no royal road to terpsichorean heights. In his series of lessons on tap dancing, which are now being published by this newspaper he illustrates and explains a series of easy steps which he calls the ‘‘ Harold Teen Hop,’’ and which he has taken from the routine of his principal dance in the Warner Bros. screen comedy of that name. While he says the steps are easy to learn, LeRoy insists that at least two hours of practice each day is necessary. LeRoy himself practices from 8 to 10 hours daily when preparing new routines, and before his Broadway debut spent the entire day, for months, working on his steps to the music of a portable phonograph.