WEBVTT - Rockettes: Still Kicking After All These Years 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.640 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.880 There's Charles W. Chuke Bryant. There's Jerry. Happy New Year. 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:19.520 You are too tall to be a Rockett, aren't you? 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:26.920 Just barely? Jerry and I can be rockets and you can't. No, 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.000 it's true, which is a shame, because you have the 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.599 gams I do. Actually, I've got pretty decent legs. You know, 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.400 at least my calves are all right. What no thighs 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:42.720 they're a little tree trunky for for my taste. Yeah, 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.639 I've got a bit of like a fertility idle thing 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.280 going on, like up tour the hips and all that. 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.440 M Yeah, well it's because of all those squats. I 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.560 was not expecting to talk about this about your gams. Yeah, well, 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.200 I'll talk about my legs all day long. Well, let's 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:02.680 hear it. They're shapely, Okay, they're they're not. I gained 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:07.120 all my weight between my waist and my chin. Uh huh, 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.840 Like I don't. If you looked at my legs in 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:11.679 my arms, you'd be like, think, I weighs a hundred 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:17.440 and sixty pounds and then the rest of me comes 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.800 along to bust that myth step aside, I still have 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:27.080 a nice little fanny. Sure everybody knows that. Sorry listeners 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.280 in the UK, Oh yeah, that means something different over there, doesn't. 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:35.160 It's just so dainty and nice that a little, a 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.319 little five year old kids can say fanny. In the 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.600 United States, it's just the Brits who are sick ghos. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:46.000 But this isn't about our gams. This is about a 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.800 dance troup, A legendary dance troop. Yeah, about as legendary 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.880 as a dance troup can possibly be. Are the rockheads? 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.640 I think so? I just said that sentence like, Yota, 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.440 can you do the voice? No? No, no, not even 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:07.640 going to try. But this totally surprised me digging into 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:11.920 the research on this to to learn that the legendary 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.200 Rockets of New York City and Radio City Music Hall 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.480 are not from New York City. No, they're not. Where 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.919 are they from? Chuck? Did you know this? I had 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:27.280 no idea. Now, yeah, so shout out to St. Louis. Yeah. Uh. 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.440 They were founded in the nineteen twenties five, to be exact, 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:36.840 in St. Louis, Missouri as the Rockets, the St. Louis Rockets, 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.560 which I think they were trying to be a basketball team. 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:43.280 Maybe St. Louis Rockets. Sure. Yeah. There was a choreographer 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.720 named Russell Markert, which is uh, I kept wanting the 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.839 same market, but that is an r. And he founded them, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.639 like you said in and he was he was inspired 0:02:55.720 --> 0:03:00.960 by a British dance troupe named the Tiller Girls, which 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:05.080 was founded in the by John Tiller, and it was 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.480 kind of a similar idea. He saw these Tiller Girls 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:11.760 and he was like, I want a high kicking, glamorous 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.720 theatrical dance troupe of my own. Yeah, so I'm gonna 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.000 rip it off. He did. Actually, so, John Tiller is 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:24.800 is um widely acknowledged as the the creator of what's 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.040 called precision dance, which is where you have a bunch 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:33.200 of dancers who are really highly trained, really athletic, and 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:37.200 really precise in their movements, UM that can move in 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.600 such unison that that you take a number, like a 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.360 number of different dancers and they basically become one thing 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.560 that's that can do things that an individual dancer can't do. 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.000 And that's precision dance technique. And John Tyler literally invented it. 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.280 With I think four ten year old girls in the 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:00.720 eighteen nineties, and um, he came up with some further 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.840 refinements to it, like when you put your hand around 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.360 the waists of the people on either side of you, 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.040 it kind of lends to the unity of the whole thing. 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:14.080 Um And and uh, Russell Maker Marcert saw this and 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.039 was like, this is amazing. If I can get some 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.839 American girls with longer legs to kick higher, it'll knock 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.960 everybody's socks off. That's a quote, by the way. Yeah, 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.640 and there's a there's something to that, that synchronicity of 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.280 for me for movement and sound that just knocks me 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:36.000 out every time. Um, when I go and see a 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.440 a choir, what's like a hundred people singing together and 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.960 high kicking, or or a symphony, just the not only 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.679 the sound, but the movement when you watch a symphony, 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.000 that's a big part of it for me. Uh, forget 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:55.320 a coral symphony, Like I'm on the floor weeping if 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.320 you take me to a coral symphony. But there's something 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.880 about that precision of of all these people together. It's 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.680 just really like, I don't know what it is about it. 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.320 I mean, it's Uh, it's a collective voice or collective movement, 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.960 but it's that precision that really just gets gets me 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.400 every time for sure. Well that's what the Rockets are 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.680 known for. It's their their trade is precision dance. They're 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.200 as good as it gets with it. Although the tailor 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:25.719 girls are definitely still around, they still have Christmas specials themselves, um, 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.560 and they're doing their thing for sure. So it's it's 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:31.960 not just an off hand thing to say the Rockets 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.000 are as good as it comes, as good as they 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.800 come in in precision dance, because the tailer girls would 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:40.680 probably say, um, I would dispute that statement, but they 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.800 would say it with a British accent, right, I just 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:48.599 be that statement. Uh. So they were not as tall 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:53.040 back then. The original height requirements were between five two 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:57.360 and five six and a half, and now they went, 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:01.360 will take your tallest dancer and make them our shortest ancer, 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.039 because I guess it's just I don't know, I'm not 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.440 sure why they did that, but now it's between five 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.560 six and five ten and a half. And it is 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:15.440 not because they want to exclude people or any or 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.640 discriminate against people who are too tall or they feel 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.719 too short. But it's so they can just all look. 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.599 It's an optical illusion, so they can all look the 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.800 same height because they take that five ft ten and 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.000 a half inch dancer, although they don't have to be 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.280 that tall, but they take whoever their tallest. Answer is 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.160 put her right in the middle and then just stagger 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.799 it out from there, and in the end everyone looks. 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.760 It's weird. Everyone looks to be the same height even 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.160 though they're not. I don't understand how this works. It's 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.279 just I saw so many different places that I'm convinced 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.599 that it does work. I just don't get the illusion 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.239 of how how it works. Well, I think over four 0:06:55.279 --> 0:07:00.560 inches and thirty six women, it's just so nut of 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.400 differences as you scale down that it would take I 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:08.960 guess a an extraordinary human to be like that woman 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:11.640 is an inch and a half taller than the one 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:16.280 five people away from her. You know, I got you. Yeah, 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.600 I guess that's true. So you're just a normal person, 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.640 is what I'm saying. Yeah, you should feel good about that. 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:28.320 I fall for that optical illusion every time. Yeah, everybody should. Um. 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.680 So they started with the Missouri Rockets with just sixteen women, 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:35.480 and like I said, now, they have thirty six and 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.760 they debuted in St. Louis, but then went to New 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:42.080 York to perform Rain or Shine on Broadway, and that 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.720 is where a man named s L. Roxy that was 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:51.480 his nickname, uh Rothafel, which is an interesting name. That's 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.920 where he saw them and said, Hey, I gotta get 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:59.080 in on this. This is amazing. Yeah. So Russell make 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:05.800 Markert took the idea from John Tiller, and Roxy Rothafel said, Hey, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.800 I want in on this jam. So I'm gonna grab 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.600 a few of these dancers from St. Louis and bring 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.480 him over to New York City and we're gonna have 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:19.000 him start dancing there. Okay, And I know just the 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:21.760 place for him. There's this new venue that's opening up 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.920 in ninety two and they're gonna call it the Radio 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.760 City Music Hall. And I'm going to make sure that 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.560 these dancers are able to perform, and we're going to 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.600 call them the Roxyettes. How about that, huh because of 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.880 his nickname, right, And Marcaret said, that's fine, just make 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.679 sure you pay me some money for it. Sure, And 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.520 he did get paid and got paid until nineteen seventy one. 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.840 He that's it's hard to believe. But he worked for 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.480 the Rockets or with the Rockets from nineteen thirty two 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.280 to or I guess even previous in St. Louis, all 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:00.760 the way until nine. It's really amazing. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.679 That's a pretty long career. UM. So they they opened 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.520 Radio City Music Hall. I think they're part of a 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:12.720 seventeen UM group act. Uh. And that was like such 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.319 a hot ticket, something like a hundred thousand people wanted in. 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.640 But there it's a theater, which I think it still 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:24.720 remains the nation's largest UM indoor venue, which is really 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.320 saying something because I guess it would just be a 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.480 like a theatrical venue because obviously the largest indoor venue 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.920 sports venues UM have it beat by quite a bit. 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:40.440 But oh, theatrical it has to. Yeah, it's either movie 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.560 or theatrical or something. But it's the largest venue of 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.640 its kind in in the United States from what I see. Yeah, 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.000 and for many years they they I mean they had 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.320 specials every now and then, but it was sort of 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.679 just a movie theater. Yeah, and here's the thing, you 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.560 could go see the movies. I think especially it started 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.920 to take off in the fifties, like before they would 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.640 have premieres for movies, and the Rockets would like perform 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.199 at the premiere. And then at some point, I don't 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.240 know if it was Russell Markeret or Roxy Rothefell, or 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.560 somebody said, well, why why just do this once? How 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.800 about every time somebody comes to see a movie at 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.680 the Radio City Music Hall, We'll have the rock the 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:23.240 Rockets perform before the movie. Can you imagine that? It 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.400 would be pretty cool? I mean, like imagine seeing that 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.280 and then being like, okay, now for the movie. That's 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:33.480 just it would be a different experience for sure. But 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.880 it was rough on the Rockets because not all the 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:40.319 movies were successes. So they would change the Rockets show 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.440 for each movie. So if a movie came along and 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:48.440 it was just a terrible flop, this whole choreographed routine 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:50.120 that they had learned would be out the door in 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:51.640 two days. And now all of a sudden they had 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:53.800 to learn a new one quick because there was a 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.679 new movie coming into replace that one. So they did 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.760 a different routine for each film. Yes, interesting, and sometimes 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:02.679 they would have to learn it in a matter of hours, 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.400 like around midnight before the next day's performances. I wonder 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.120 if it was tied to the film sometimes, I think 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.679 not all the time. I think it was. I think 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:16.360 it was in some cases, but I think more than anything, 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.959 they would change the routine just because the people coming 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:21.760 to see a different film would want to see a 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.880 different routine. Okay, I got you, that makes sense. Yeah. 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:28.240 Uh So in the nineteen forties they were one of 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.280 the first groups to sign up for the United Service 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.000 Organization and go and perform for the troops. Uh And 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:40.040 in the nineteen fifties is when things really started to 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.240 kind of take their toll. Like they were performing sometimes 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.200 up to five times a day. Uh And so they 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:50.160 said they built a dormitory there, which you know, they 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.280 could live in. I don't think they were required to, 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.800 but it really was to accommodate the fact that they 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.800 were working almost around the clock, whether because learning these 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.520 new routines like you said, and then performing up the 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.120 five times a day really grueling stuff. It was basically 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.040 the prototype for Google, just just making it so your 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:13.959 employees didn't have to leave. Oh interesting, you know what 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:18.160 I'm saying, Just go sleep in your pod. So the Rockets, UM, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:23.199 their fame started to grow pretty pretty quickly. Um And 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.040 they made like a few steps, if you'll forgive the 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.720 pun um along the way. That kind of cemented them 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:35.520 as a as much a piece of America as apple 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:40.200 pie or baseball or moms or what have you. So 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.920 the fifties were also big for the Rockets too, because 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:48.560 they joined the Macy's Thanksgiving they prayed in nineteen fifty seven. 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:53.160 I think, yeah, that was the big the big move, yeah, 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.560 because they went from just a group that you either 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:58.560 had to go to New York or go off to 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.840 war to see um too. While they're in my living 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.600 room now, these girls are high kicking on my television 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.520 and I'm just loving life, all right, So let's take 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:13.880 a break. It's nineteen fifties. Good times are ahead, and 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.760 then dark times come in the seventies because it's New 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:18.880 York City in the seventies and everything was kind of 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:51.080 awful then. So we'll be back right after this. Okay, Hey, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:52.840 before we get started to check, I want to say 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.760 we put on a pretty good stage show ourselves. We've 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.240 been known to and we've got some coming up, you know, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.000 plug plug. Yeah, there's no high kicking involved. There could 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.280 be if people demanded it. I would be willing to 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.000 do a little high kicking. So are we talking about 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:12.040 some shows? Yeah, let's do the real quick, all right. 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.160 So we're we're going out west for our annual sojourn 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.080 in January where we go to Seattle and we go 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.800 to Portland and then we end up at SF sketch 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.560 Fest like we always do in mid January. Yeah, and 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.280 I've got an End of the World live show on 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:30.960 Friday at sketch Fest, and you have a movie Crush 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.320 on Saturday at sketch Fest, right. Yeah, I'm doing a 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.600 matinee show at one o'clock on Saturday, January nineteenth with 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.840 Busy Phillips is my guest, nice and my show is 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.920 Friday the eighteenth that Cafe du Nord did I am 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.440 my own guest, fine solo. And then I have another 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.880 one in Brooklyn on the at the Bellhouse too. Oh 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.200 I thought you already did that one. No, huh, it 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.800 got postponed to January. Great, Yes, so you haven't missed it. 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.960 There's still time for you to come. Fantastic. Uh. So 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.840 that is our little plug, how about that? Yeah? And 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.680 of course our our big stuff you should know show 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.120 is that the Castro on what is that Thursday night? 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.360 That is Thursday. The Yeah, so come see us at 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.880 the More in Seattle, Revolution Hall in Portland, at the 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.600 Castro in San Francisco. Check out our individual little shows. 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.320 Are are cute little individual shows, and there's plenty of 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.320 information on s y s K live dot com. That's right. 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:36.080 So now it's the seventies. Mhm. New York is uh, 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:40.280 it's it's suffering, which is crazy when you look at 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.400 pictures of New York City and the seventies and early 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:48.520 eighties even just hard to believe how bad things were there. Yeah, 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.760 it was pretty rough. And actually it's funny, like you 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.840 can thank Rudolph Giuliani for I guess, cleaning up the 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.720 town if you want to call it that. Okay have 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.360 you ever heard that? What too, Rudolph Giuliani for cleaning 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:06.760 up the town? Huh uh sure, okay, good for him. So, um, 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.080 I saw him in the park one day. You did, 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.200 what was he doing talking to a duck? No, he was. 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.120 He was doing like a photo op. But I had 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:17.120 friends in from uh, from another country, even, I think, 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.760 and I said, hey, guys, that's that's the mayor of 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.040 New York over there, and they're like, oh, that's nice. 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.080 I went it's kind of a big deal to just 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:26.280 walk around and see the Mayor of New York Did 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.760 they say have a chalk? I think they're Australian. Actually, yeah, 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.960 that was my Australian impression. That was good. Then that's 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:39.040 pretty that's a great story, Chuck, Yeah, it's fine. But uh, 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:42.120 for them, they didn't understand fully that the Mayor of 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.200 New York City is is Uh, it's it's quite a 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.040 big deal to see him just out and about in 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.600 the city. I I have a similar story. I was 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.680 watching um one of the first few seasons of Law 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.160 and Order on my television one day, and there was 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.360 the Mayor of New York City, really Rudy Giuliani. Interesting, 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.400 but I you it was a big, big deal. I 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.600 got another story, Okay, did you know and the Michael 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:11.520 Bay film Pearl Harbor that they camped in Bruce Willis's 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.600 John McClean character from die Hard in one hospital scene. 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:20.200 How just digitalie, that's an anachronism right now, that doesn't 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.360 make any sense. Did they really do that? Yeah? There 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.480 if you can look at up Pearl Harbor John McClean 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:29.119 and there's like screenshots of of John McLean and his 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.399 white tank top just briefly for a blip in the 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.280 background of one of the hospital scenes in Pearl Harbor. 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.280 It's so weird. So you know, there's a nude woman 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.200 in the window of one of the buildings that the 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.320 rescuers fly by. The Disney movie from the sixties. Yeah, 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:50.720 all these weird movie easter eggs just board editors. I 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:55.480 guess that's exactly what it hit for juvenile editors. All Right, 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.159 so it's the nineteen seventies in New York. None of 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.640 this has happened yet that we're talking about. The rescuers did. 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:03.639 The rescuers did, but there was no die Hard. There 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.359 was no Pearl Harbor movie except for Toro Toora Toora, 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.439 but no bad Pearl Harbor movie. Okay, uh No. Rudy 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.919 Giuliani he was alive, sure, but he was not in 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.360 the mayor of New York City and in the nineteen seventies, 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:20.240 not as far as we know, who was at that 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.919 was Ed Cotch he was the eighties, I think was 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.200 he maybe late seventies. All right, we'll get that straightened out. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.760 But New York City is going down the toilet, including 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.560 believe it or not, Radio, the Great Radio City Music Hall, 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:38.199 much like our own legendary Fox Theater in Atlanta, UH 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.920 was facing shutdown and demolition potentially. Yeah, there was a 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.320 rough transition from some of those old movie palaces after 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.600 people stopped well going to movie palaces and moved out 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.480 to the suburbs. Um, a lot of those beautiful places 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.280 were left out in the cold, and some of them 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.199 didn't well, a lot of them didn't make it, but 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.000 some of them almost didn't make it. Like you said, 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.520 the Fox and Radio City and apparently it was going 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.040 to be turned into a parking lot. And Belushi himself 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.760 got onto the news desk at Saturn and Live and 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:12.880 was railing against the demise of Radio City Music Hall. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.920 And the Roquettes too had said, hey, hey, hey, hey, 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.000 this is our home. This is an iconic place. Let 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.119 us help, like go raise awareness and funds to to 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.320 save this place. And they did. They were successful. They 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.320 got it put on the National Historic Register of Historic 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:34.040 Places and it has a Landmark designation. Not just the 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:38.240 buildings buildings in New York with the Landmark designation, but 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:42.399 only a hundred and ten interiors have the landmark designation, 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:44.680 and Radio City Music Hall is one of them, which 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.520 means that its interior is so amazingly beautiful that is 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.960 to be protected landmark in the United States. Yeah, I've 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.240 never been in there. I haven't either. I've been to 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.480 Carnegie Hall, but never Radio City. Uh, that's on the 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.880 list for sure. But um, it's interesting because they tried 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:05.879 to Their whole deal was is they wanted exclusive movie bookings. 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:09.040 Like they were they were to be the only theater 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.679 in town that would be showing a particular movie, so 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:16.920 that that limits there, uh, their pool immediately, and then 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.879 they really prefer g rated movies. They had really strict 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:24.760 screening criteria, so that just it narrowed down their their 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.000 movie pool so small that they would go weeks and 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:31.159 weeks at a time where nothing happened there. Yeah, so 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.879 they would just shut down because again, remember like the 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.040 Rockets are a dance troupe that you would see before 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.679 you saw a movie. So if they're not showing movies, 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.720 they're not showing the Rocketts. And at this time in 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.359 the seventies, the Rockets said, Okay, we're our talent is 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:48.960 being wasted here. At least let us go take the 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.080 show on the road. While you guys are sitting around 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.960 waiting for another movie to come along. And they actually 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.520 they gained that right because their union dancers. We should say, 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.680 we'll get into that a little more later, but they 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:01.800 made it's to get the right to take the show 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:03.800 on the road and they really started to make a 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.800 name for themselves in the seventies. Uh, in places like 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.600 Tahoe in Vegas. Apparently made a huge fan out of 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.440 Sammy Davis Jr. Who would come see the same show 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:15.520 like night after night when they when they play in 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.040 Vegas or Tahoe or whatever. He was just fascinated by 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.840 the rockcats. Love that for sure. Little Sammy, what a 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:24.480 great guy. We should do a show on him. Apparently 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:26.840 he also, oh yeah, I'm done with that. He also 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:30.159 surprised them on stage once by joining them on stage 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:32.480 for a dance number, which apparently he knew because he'd 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:36.280 seen the show so many times, which that's a pretty 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:39.880 Sammy thing to do in Las Vegas. High kicking, Well, 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:44.560 his his kicks weren't so high. Run out on stage, unbidden, uninvited. 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:47.439 He's a little guy, he was. He was the littlest 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.000 rockette I imagine. Wow, but he was too. So, Uh, 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:53.280 they're doing their show on the road, here and there. 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.920 They're making ends meet. Radio City is struggling, even though 0:21:56.960 --> 0:21:59.080 it was designated as a landmark. The eighties were not 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:04.400 super kind to Radio City either. Um. They very famously 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.200 appeared at the halftime show the Super Bowl, and um, 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:11.159 they're trying to change with the times. Uh, they're dancing 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:14.640 it uh in the nineties at different places. And they're 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:18.080 always doing their Christmas deal throughout all this after you know, 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:20.320 they started doing that. And what was at fifty seven? 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.919 Oh they did the Macy's Prade in thirty two. Oh no, 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:27.520 I'm sorry, I thought you meant the Christmas Spectacular. Yeah, 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:31.040 the Macy's Parade was the Thanksgiving Prairie was fifty seven. Yeah. 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:34.680 So they've got their their holiday stuff, their Easter specials, 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:41.359 their Christmas specials. Uh. They're dancing at inaugurations for George W. Bush. Um. 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:44.040 In fact, they came under under fire for dancing at 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:48.720 Trump's inauguration. Well, the dance troop almost was split asunder 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:50.960 over whether they wanted to do that or not. And 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:53.400 it was a big deal. It was a huge deal actually, 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.639 and they had revived the Easter extravaganza. They renamed it 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:00.720 the New York Springs spectacular the year before or and 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:02.720 they said they took a year off and I don't 0:23:02.720 --> 0:23:04.480 think they ever went back to it because of all 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:07.840 the controversy over two thousand sixteen and the inauguration. It 0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:12.960 was just such an unusual experience for the Rocketts. Um 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:17.520 like they're they're just like America personified. And for there 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.440 to be a huge national conversation about, you know, them 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:23.080 performing at an inauguration. It was a big deal for 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:26.120 the organization for sure, especially for the dancers who were 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:30.359 like career rockets. Yeah exactly, Um, should we talk a 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:34.320 little bit about just being a rocket? I think we should, man, 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:39.920 because we've done it. We have. I mean, there was 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:44.560 a brief time although we've basically entered Dina Lohan territory 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:49.800 now Lindsay Lohan's mom, she very famously lied about being 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.200 a rocket. Yeah, she said that her she has a 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:56.439 background in show business. Um, she was a rocket for 0:23:56.440 --> 0:23:59.480 a while, and some journalists went and dug around and 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:02.679