
OH,
BROTHER!
Brother
dance acts.
They
come in twos.
And
in threes.
Most
started when they
were just little
kids,
with
lots of years of
practice on the way
to perfect.
We've
got six Brother Acts
to show you -- just
as soon as we show
you some things from
our website:

Starting
out as Hines, Hines
& Dad,
it
wasn't long before
Gregory and Maurice
Hines became dancing
stars -- sometimes
together, but most
often as solo
acts.
Here
they are in 1978's
Broadway hit
"Eubie":
James
Berry and his older
brother, Nyas, and
younger brother,
Warren, were The
Berry
Brothers.
They
performed at
Harlem's famed
Cotton Club and
starred in a few MGM
musicals in the
early 1940's,
including "Lady Be
Good," which is
where this number
comes from:
Harry, Al and Jimmy
Ritz abandoned their
birth name of
Joachim and adopted
the moniker The Ritz
Brothers (they saw
the name on the side
of a laundry
truck).
They
were stars of
nightclubs, stage,
and movies for half
a century, mixing
great dancing with
breathless comedy.
Here, from "Sing
Baby Sing" in 1936,
are the Ritz
Brothers in their
prime:
Like
the Berry Brothers,
the Nicholas
Brothers -- Fayard
and Harold --
started very young:
They
thrived in
nightclubs like the
Cotton Club, on
Broadway, and
in movies.
Here
they are performing
"Chattanooga Choo
Choo," with Glenn
Miller (on trombone)
and Harold's
then-wife, Dorothy
Dandridge, in
1941's "Sun Valley
Serenade":
When Gene Kelly was
a tot, he was part
of a vaudeville act
--The Five Dancing
Kellys -- which
included his younger
brother, Fred.
Fred
and Gene eventually
taught in the family
dancing school.
Gene
made his way to
Broadway, then
Hollywood stardom.
Fred
performed alone, and
then went back to
teaching dance:
(During
WW2, two of his
students were
England's two
princesses,
Elizabeth -- later
Queen Elizabeth II
-- and
Margaret.)
Gene
and Fred danced on
film together only
once - in 1954's
"Deep in My Heart."
Current
Internet Sensations
- The Gardiner
Brothers - were born
in Colorado to Irish
parents, but moved
to Ireland when they
were young and began
dancing at a very
early age.
They aren't twins --
there's a 4 year
difference in their
ages -- but they are
often mirror images
when doing their
dance
routines:
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