The Jivin' Jacks and Jills were a twentieth century American dance group of the World War II era. The group was assembled by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

via open audition. The intent was to assemble a group of young dancers with appeal to a teen audience.

Louis DaPron Louis Francis DaPron (February 13, 1913 – July 21, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer and dance instructor. He worked often with tap dancer Donald O'Connor. Early days His parents were Elizabeth Kurtz (b. around 1890) and Louis I DaP ...

was the group's

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

. The Jivin' Jacks and Jills first appeared in the 1942 musical '' What's Cookin'?'' and appeared in 14 movies altogether. Their high-energy style may be contrasted with the more precision-oriented approach of rival musical-film studio

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

. There were originally fourteen members in the group, all teenagers, among them future stars

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talki ...

and Peggy Ryan. Other members included Roland Dupree, Bobby Scheerer, Dottie Babb, Dolores Mitchell, Jack McGee, Grace MacDonald, Jean McNab, Jane McNab, David Holt, and Corky Geil. Membership was fluid: at the time of '' Chip Off the Old Block'' (1944) there were twenty members: Scheerer and Harold Bell, Jerry Antes, Jack Coffey, Dante DiPaolo, Lowell McPeek, Lou Payetta, Pat Phelan, George Rowland, Jerry Singer, Ronald Stanton, Jean Davis, Dorothy Web, Shirley Mills, Peggy Brant, Elaine Campbell, Arlyne Gladden, Verda Jenkins, Irma Jeter, Lu Anne Jones, Iris Kirksey, Connie Roberts, and Barbara Strong (O'Connor and Ryan were by this time separately billed stars). Helene Stanley, then going under the name Dolores Diane, was at one time a member. Tommy Rall was at one time a member. In '' Private Buckaroo'', the Jivin' Jacks and Jills performed a dance number to " Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)", which became one of the

Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezz ...

' biggest hits. In ''Mister Big'' the group performed "Rude, Crude, and Unattractive". This was the breakout film for group members Donald O'Conner and Peggy Ryan. Because of the rising popularity of O'Connor and Ryan, the movie was re-shot to include more dance scenes for the pair, was retitled (from ''School For Jive''), and was distributed as an A movie. Although O'Connor was probably the group's weakest dancer at first, he went on to become a star. The group gave its name to the "Jivin' Jacks and Jills Hollywood Reunion", a reunion originally of Universal players (not just the dance team) later expanded to all Hollywood personalities, which was hosted for many years by Michael G. Fitzgerald in Studio City.

Filmography

The Jivin' Jacks and Jills' appeared in 14 films: *'' What's Cookin'?'' (1942) *'' Private Buckaroo'' (1942) *''Trumpet Serenade'' (short, 1942) *'' Give Out, Sisters'' (1942) *'' Get Hep to Love'' (1942) *'' Moonlight in Havana'' (1942) *'' Always a Bridesmaid'' (1943) *'' Mister Big'' (1943) *'' Moonlight in Vermont'' (1943) *'' Jitterbugs'' (1943) *'' Chip Off the Old Block'' (1944) *'' Patrick the Great'' (1945)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jivin' Jacks and Jills, The American dance groups Organizations established in 1942 1942 establishments in California