Benny Goodman and Dean Collins in “The Powers Girl” (1942)

World War II played a significant part in bringing the Swing Era to an end – the draft took away musicians, and the high cost of resources, as well as war time rationing, put a drain on recording as well as touring schedules of the Big Bands.  Not many bands survived World War II.  Benny Goodman’s band was no exception.

This exerpt from “The Powers Girl” (1942) shows  Goodman’s transitional ensemble playing “Roll ‘Em”.  It was trashed by critics as one of Goodman’s weakest, though listening to the band now, it still swings pretty hard.  The style of dancing here is often referred to as the Hollywood style of Swing – Lindy Hop made for the movies – that was popularised by Dean Collins (1917-1984), who brought the dance from New York to Hollywood. It is a more upright version of the original “get down” version of the “Savoy style” of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers.  Although people were already dancing it in Los Angeles, Collins adapted it to for the movies, and was in fact, a pioneer of Lindy Hop instruction, as he was a technician of the dance who was able to break down what was usually a street dance learnt by watching and through trial and error. In this clip, Collins adds a new dimension to the dance, as he dances with his parter Jewel McGowan using an umbrella, leading her with the handle!

Here’s another clip from the movie, featuring Goodman’s band playing the Basie classic “One O’clock Jump”.  It’s a great alternative to the original Basie.