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Arthur Duncan, ‘Lawrence Welk Show’ tap dance virtuoso, dies


Arthur Duncan, who stored faucet dancing seen and related throughout the nation on tv when most had relegated it to the previous and who additionally broke floor as a Black entertainer, has died at 97.

Duncan was greatest recognized for his 18-year run on “The Lawrence Welk Present” as the one Black solid member, and is broadly considered a trailblazer for a mainstream tv selection present. His different profession included appearances on different tv reveals, in movie and in high theater venues world wide.

Duncan died Jan. 4 at a care heart close to his dwelling in Moreno Valley. It took a number of days for phrase of his loss of life — from issues associated to a stroke and pneumonia — to get out.

It wasn’t simply Duncan’s presence on the Welk present from 1964 to 1982 that mattered, however what he did: virtuoso faucet dancing at a time when the artwork kind had turn out to be nearly invisible. Faucet greats had been nonetheless round, however jobs had way back dried up.

Duncan honed his abilities as large bands — which regularly employed tappers — made means for rock bands, and jazz gamers — who usually made their rhythmic innovations alongside hoofers — moved to smaller venues and extra experimental musical kinds for which faucet dancers needn’t apply. Faucet was now not the dance of the streets, live performance halls or Broadway.

“Throughout the Nineteen Sixties, there have been solely two reveals on tv the place you would see faucet dancing each week: Friday on ‘The Mickey Mouse Membership’ for Expertise Spherical-Up Day, and Sundays with Arthur Duncan with a featured dance on ‘The Lawrence Welk Present,’ ” mentioned dance historian Rusty Frank, creator of “Faucet! The Best Faucet Dance Stars And Their Tales 1900-1955.” “These had been the times earlier than digital recorders, streaming TV and YouTube, so when you needed to see faucet dancing, you needed to sit in entrance of that tv on the particular airing time.”

Writer and dance critic Brian Seibert wrote that “when Welk launched Duncan as ‘the younger man who’s maintaining faucet dancing alive,’ the epithet was primarily based actually.”

Arthur Duncan, proper, is seen in an undated picture with Ray Charles, left.

(Courtesy of Carole Carbone-Duncan / Sean Carbone)

Having to repeatedly develop new routines, Duncan “typically adopted a regular recipe of strong rhythm and large finishes, but the number of steps was spectacular,” Seibert wrote in “What the Eye Hears,” broadly considered essentially the most authoritative historical past of faucet.

In a single quantity, Duncan borrowed the thought of dancing atop a piano, one thing he’d seen carried out by the acrobatic Nicholas Brothers and rhythm pioneer John Bubbles. Duncan’s daring edge-to-edge slides clearly made the pianist nervous.

Earlier than the Welk present, Duncan had a semi-regular gig on the comparatively short-lived “The Betty White Present” in 1954. White — who turned a lifelong pal and later starred in “The Golden Ladies” — pointedly refused calls for from Southern associates to have Duncan faraway from her present.

“There have been viewers members who weren’t thrilled to have a Black particular person on the present,” which additionally toured across the nation, mentioned Ralna English, a dancer and longtime main singer for the Welk troupe. “I do know that. I heard that. A few of these older individuals had been so prejudiced.”

Duncan elected to miss racial slights.

A older man and a younger man on a stage.

Arthur Duncan throughout his closing present in Chicago with dancer Reggio McLaughlin.

(Sarah Elizabeth Larson)

“He had a variety of pleasure,” English mentioned. “He at all times dressed to the nines. By no means had a nasty phrase to say about anyone. He stood tall. All the time a gentleman.”

Dancer, trainer and entertainer Skip Cunningham used to admire Duncan from afar on the weekly broadcasts.

“He was protected for them and protected for us,” mentioned Cunningham, who is also Black and later turned Duncan’s pal. “They couldn’t have picked a greater particular person like that. It wasn’t troublesome for him to do.”

Duncan was born on Sept. 25, 1925, in Pasadena, the sixth of 13 kids to Corabel LaMar and James Alfred Ernest Duncan, who labored as a service provider seaman earlier than settling in Southern California, in response to members of the family and Duncan himself throughout an interview in August.

James Duncan later labored for a neighborhood oil firm, Duncan recalled, and the household turned a part of a tightknit Black group within the Pasadena space that valued exhausting work, thrift and training.

“Our dad and mom had been very involved about training and well-being,” Duncan mentioned.

A man helps another man with his tie.

Faucet dancer Arthur Duncan, left, prepares for his closing efficiency at age 96 in June in Chicago with assist from his stepson Sean Carbone.

(Sarah Elizabeth Larson)

Whereas his siblings pursued different careers — the navy, banking, training, firefighting — younger Arthur discovered the humanities irresistible, catching the bug when a few grade faculty buddies recruited him to hitch their would-be dance workforce.

Quickly he was finding out formally, getting a reduction as a result of his father volunteered to assist out on the dance studio. He earned cash promoting newspapers at a avenue nook — he’d get further change by doing a couple of steps.

He’d use the newspaper gig to get into positive eating places, the place the patrons included performers from the Pasadena Playhouse. Typically they’d take an curiosity within the outgoing, assertive youth who, by the way in which, was accessible to bop and sing. A girl who ran a neighborhood nightclub gave him an opportunity.

“I’d are available and do my bit and break up. Go dwelling and depend the 2 {dollars} I had in my pocket,” he recalled.

“You wouldn’t name it dancing,” he mentioned of his early efforts. “I used to be aggressive and curious and bought in the way in which. So they’d to assist me to do away with me. So every thing labored out positive, however nothing occurred in a single day.”

As a youth, Duncan additionally delivered prescriptions and took some pharmacy lessons at Pasadena Metropolis Faculty, however his coronary heart wasn’t in it. He additionally served within the Military — the place he spent a lot of his time performing for troops — receiving his discharge in 1946.

All of the whereas, he hustled dance gigs.

His early supporters included famed choreographer and director Nick Fortress, who tried to maintain him working, and Henry Mancini, who created musical preparations for his routines freed from cost.

Duncan at all times went the place the work was: “I went to Australia on a 10-day job. I ended up coming dwelling 4 years later. That’s the way it works.”

A man jumps near Disney characters.

Faucet dancer Arthur Duncan performs with Disney characters on this undated photograph.

(Courtesy of Carole Carbone-Duncan / Sean Carbone)

After the Welk present ended, his roles included starring within the Broadway touring firm of “My One and Solely” with Tommy Tune, mentioned actor Joe Hart, who additionally had a featured half in that solid.

On movie, Duncan kicked off the well-known problem scene within the Gregory Hines film “Faucet” (1989), wherein the outdated greats confirmed their stuff.

Duncan’s TV visitor spots included dancing with Dick Van Dyke within the 1992 TV film “Analysis of Homicide.”

Alongside the way in which, Duncan in the end turned an essential bridge to generations of tappers, together with by means of grasp lessons, after it had regarded as if critical faucet may stop to exist, mentioned revered Chicago-based tapper and trainer Reggio “The Hoofer” McLaughlin.

Duncan disliked speaking about how he overcame racism, his private life and his age. He most popular to marvel at his success, credit score all who helped him and emphasize tenacity and exhausting work. And he at all times targeted on the following gig.

He married twice and had no kids. His first marriage, to Donna Pena, resulted in divorce in 1973. In 2019, he married his longtime pal and companion Carole Carbone. His survivors embody his spouse, stepson Sean Carbone and siblings Michael Duncan, Mabel Duncan and Eleanor Starr.

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