Here's a photo from a party I attended the day after Christmas of 2004. Let me identify the folks in it. The man at the far left is master satirist Stan Freberg. To the right of Stan is actor Robert Forster. The guy in the center at the top is Chuck McCann and to the right of Chuck is me. The woman at the far right is Alice Maltin (spouse of Leonard Maltin) and to the left of her is Betty McCann, wife of Chuck.
The gentleman in the center of the picture — the one wearing the magenta turtleneck — is Fayard Nicholas who, sad to say, just became the late Fayard Nicholas. He died Tuesday at the age of 91. Here's a link to the U.S.A. Today obit.
Fayard was, of course, one of the Nicholas Brothers. And the Nicholas Brothers were, of course, the greatest tap dancing act of all time. Has someone ever compiled a DVD of all the times those gentlemen danced on film? Someone should. They were electrifying and many a movie came to a standing stop after their performance because nothing could follow it.
You never saw the Nicholas Brothers dance? Well then, you haven't seen tap dancing.
It was a thrill to meet him at that party. We talked for maybe a half hour with person after person coming by to tell him how much they loved his work, not just as a dancer but also as a choreographer. He seemed genuinely humbled by the attention, though I can't imagine he hadn't been hearing praise like that for…oh, maybe sixty or seventy years.
There was one moment I have to tell you about. Also in attendance at the party was a fine, fine musican named Ian Whitcomb, who specializes in ragtime and "tin pan alley" music. Someone else had brought a ukulele and at one point, Ian picked it up and strummed and sang a few tunes with everyone joining in where appropriate. We all sang a couple of Sherman Brothers songs in honor of composer Richard Sherman, who was present. And then Ian began playing…gee, I'm not sure of the number now. I'm thinking it was "Ain't She Sweet?" but maybe it was "Sweet Georgia Brown." What I do recall — what I'll never forget — was that Fayard Nicholas started dancing to it.
Of course, he was a much younger man at the time. He was 90.
His feet barely moved and most of the tapping was with his cane. But the man was dancing, no doubt about it. His whole body was vibrating in perfect time with the tune and you could sense the connect of man and music. He had a big smile on his face, much like he sports in the photo above, and that was half the magic right there. That smile. It was a performer's smile. It was the smile of a man who was proud that he could do whatever he could do at that age to delight the people around him. The applause when he finished was thunderous.
I love people who can do something, whatever it is, about as well as it can possibly be done. In his youth, Fayard Nicholas danced about as well as anyone ever has or maybe ever will. And even in his ninetieth year, he could still remind you of just how damn good he was.