The Ross Sisters' "Solid Potato Salad" routine

[Larry Kart]

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=BNR74UCidBI&feature=player_embedded%3e

Did the painter Balthus ever see this?

[Free For All]

That's just freaky. And shame on me for some of the thoughts I had.

[TedR]

I still can't believe what I was seeing. I mean I can (almost)see how she lowered herself to get the apple......but I can't fathom how strong she had to be to raise herself back up! I assume they were circus performers?

[Larry Kart]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Sisters

[Man with the Golden Arm]

oh to be that traveling salesman who has to sleep in the barn.

[Free For All]

I was looking at the Broadway Rhythm dvd on amazon and came across this still. May have to pick it up!

[JSngry]

Potato salad?

[Larry Kart]

It's a Slim Gaiilard "Vout" language number. Here's a snippet from a Nat Cole Trio version:

And one by Ella Mae Morse with Freddie Slack:

[JSngry]

Yeah, I got that. I just don't know why they used that as a prelude to their contortionist act. They look and sound really, really dumb. I was about to click out of it until it got to the good part.

And then...I stayed!

[Larry Kart]

Yeah, I got that. I just don't know why they used that as a prelude to their contortionist act. They look and sound really, really dumb. I was about to click out of it until it got to the good part.

And then...I stayed!

I assume they used it because it was a popular novelty number of the time, and they had to do something before they got to the other part. For my tastes, the way they look and sound -- I prefer "squareness" to "dumbness" (and I'm not sure that the raised-backstage Ross Sisters were square at all in real life) -- adds immensely to the sub rosa salaciousness of their contortions.

BTW, here's Gaillard doing his "Potato Chips," with a powerful solo spot for Ben Webster:

[Man with the Golden Arm]

this one makes me hungrier.

[BERIGAN]

I still can't believe what I was seeing. I mean I can (almost)see how she lowered herself to get the apple......but I can't fathom how strong she had to be to raise herself back up! I assume they were circus performers?

I think its some clever editing...they ran the film backwards....

Edit: oh, you mean the apple part, not the earlier time...oh well...her feet are in slots, or straps of some kind perhaps??? Amazing no matter how it was done!

Edited May 28, 2010 by BERIGAN

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I still can't believe what I was seeing. I mean I can (almost)see how she lowered herself to get the apple......but I can't fathom how strong she had to be to raise herself back up! I assume they were circus performers?

I think its some clever editing...they ran the film backwards....

Edit: oh, you mean the apple part, not the earlier time...oh well...her feet are in slots, or straps of some kind perhaps??? Amazing no matter how it was done!

Yes, I think you're right, Conrad. The apple seemed to jump into her mouth, too.

The youngest one was only 15 when they did that bit of video. And she later married Dickie Henderson, the British (so called) comedian, when she was 19. And died at 34 (bored to death, no doubt - buried at Gunnersbury, near Ealing).

MG