Frankie Manning, the Ambassador and Master of Lindy Hop, Dies at 94

[dipsydoodle]

Frankie Manning, a master of swing-era dance who went from the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem to Broadway and Hollywood, and then after a long break enjoyed a globe-trotting second career as an inspirational teacher and choreographer of the Lindy hop, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 94 and lived in Corona, Queens.



Excelling in what quickly became first America’s and then the world’s most popular participatory form of jazz dancing in the 1930s and ’40s, Mr. Manning led the way in giving the Lindy hop professional expression. The dance, which enables both partners to improvise rhythmically at the same time, has had enduring appeal as both a social and a performance dance, sweeping aside hierarchical, class, ethnic and gender conventions. When questioned about the apparently irresistible allure of the Lindy, Mr. Manning invariably described it as “a series of three-minute romances.”
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Born on May 26, 1914, Mr. Manning left Jacksonville, Fla., with his mother three years later as part of the great northward migration of Southern blacks. They settled in Harlem. One day in 1929, on his way to Sunday school, he experienced a cultural epiphany on Seventh Avenue, outside the Alhambra Ballroom, when he discovered that he could take part in a youth dance there instead. Dancing soon became his passion, and though his mother initially dismissed his dancing as “too stiff,” he practiced incessantly and kept getting better.

In the early 1930s the entrepreneur Herbert White invited Mr. Manning to join his elite troupe, Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, at the Savoy Ballroom. Granted free admission to the Savoy, where he moved to the incessant rhythms of the major 1930s big bands, white as well as black, he rapidly progressed as a dancer. But Mr. Manning, who was working as a furrier, did not consider himself a professional; as he explained in his autobiography, “Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop” (Temple University Press, 2007), written with Cynthia R. Millman, “We didn’t get paid, but the people watching might throw some money on the floor near the dancers, and we would divide it up.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/arts/dance/28manning.html?_r=3

I knew about this yesterday but purposely waited until it was in your own press. He was an amazing man - still teaching around the world into his nineties.

This wouldn't have fitted correctly in either entertainment or music - so, you got it here.

[madrchsod]

1. you forgot the youtube video......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTg5V2oA_hY

[dipsydoodle]

3. Yep

That's Frankie @1.24. Thanks for posting such a clean copy. I thought it best to keep it simple - wasn't sure how many are familiar with Lindy Hop/ swing dancing.

He was a lovely fella , I did classes with him many times and he had a real amazing laugh too when he was telling stories. The ref to 3 minute romances is of course because 78rpms wouldn't hold more than 3 minutes max.

[CBGLuthier]

2. I have been woking through Ken Burn's Jazz

over the past few weeks. He is featured prominently and was a witness to a lot of great history.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

4. my PBS happened to play the episode with him yesterday.

[dipsydoodle]

5. I've got that too

and don't recall whether or not he mentions what may have been the only golden rule at the Savoy - gentlemen had to wear jackets and were not allowed to remove them. Frankie lived local so as a suit got wet with perspiration he just used to go home and change into another.

[Vidar]

6. RIP Frankie. You were one of the Kings of Swing.

[Javaman]

7. I had an opportunity to chat with Mr. Manning a few years ago.

I was at the time putting together a small doc on the lindy hop and got a chance to talk about the lindy with him. What a nice guy.

Man oh man, he will be so missed in the lindy hop community.

I got into the lindy because my parents danced it. I took lessons and really got into it. I would watch his films and study his moves.

Thank you Mr. Manning!!!


Remember folks, real men let go on 5. :)