Original Memphis Five - I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate, 1922

The Original Memphis Five – I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate, Fox Trot (Piron), Pathé Actuelle 1924 (USA)

NOTE: The Original Memphis Five was an early jazz quintet founded in 1917 by trumpeter Phil Napoleon and pianist Frank Signorelli. Jimmy Lytell was a member from 1922 to 1925 and Miff Mole as standout musicians in the group. Jimmy Durante played piano (with Ladd's Black Aces) while both Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey were members of the Original Memphis Five. The group made many recordings between 1921 and 1931, sometimes under different names, including Ladd's Black Aces (from 1921 until 1924) and The Cotton Pickers. The name Original Memphis Five was first used in 1920, and applied to various small groups of white musicians throughout the decade. Both Red Nichols and Miff Mole later led their own groups named Original Memphis Five. Phil Napoleon, however, would continue using the group name until 1990.

In the first two decades of the 20th century, the social dance was passing through enormous transformations both in its form and spiritual content. From the waltz or a tango - which were the intimate au pair experience - it was developing towards a hot collective, almost tribal dance imported from Africa and the Caribbean. "Coarse", "boorish", "vulgar" - those are only some from vast collection of insults the new dances were determined by the journals. Machicha, shimmy - these were the first swallows of the dancefloor entertainment. Yet, it wasn't until 1925 - when came King Charleston and took power - and the world learned what it might be a collective dance madness.

Shimmy - which in 1919 was launched exaequo by two Broadway stars: Gilda Gray and Bee Palmer - was an earlier version of the Charleston, more elaborate with the elements of oriental dance. The name "shimmy" comes from one of the figures of Arabic belly dancing. Gilda Gray however - who was Polish (Marianna Michalska born in Cracow, Poland) - supported the rumors - supposedly for self-promotional purposes - that name "shimmy" comes from her imperfect English, when preparing to go on stage Gilda spoke to her dresser: - Gimmie dat' sheemiee' (chemise). For these and other reasons, the slideshow in this film presents a small collection of lovely covers of the shimmy-sheet music from various places in the world.

For those who want to see, how DID REALLY look the shimmy-dance, go and see two fantastic shimmy-renditions by the Budapest Operetta artrists, from 2012 and 2010    • Видео   and    • A bajadér - Shimmy   and also a very good Russian version from 2010    • Видео   . All are danced to Emmerich Kalman's famous shimmy "Fräulein, woll'n Sie Shimmy tanzen?" from operette "Bayadera".