Eleanor Powell–Hola E Pae

We just saw the 1939 trailer put out by the studio to advertise a new movie, called Honolulu. It starred Eleanor Powell and Robert Young in the lead roles and included comedians Burns and Allen and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.

The music was a mixture of older songs, such as Old Folks at Home, Listen to the Mockingbird, Old Black Joe and Darktown Strutters’ Ball, along with newer songs by Harry Warren. However, the music that is of interest to us is an Hawaiian Medley, including Hola E Pae, written by Johnny Noble and played by Andy Iona’s Orchestra. George Stoll was music director, and he was supported by Roger Edens as music supervisor and by Fletcher Henderson as music arranger. This is the same Fletcher Henderson who helped Benny Goodman achieve fame as a bandleader with the use of Henderson’s swing arrangements.

We are providing the full hula tap dance, with flowing grass skirt. While Eleanor always maintained her elegance, no matter the choreography, it is impossible to miss the sexual impact created by those two gorgeous legs showing through that shimmering grass skirt. In this dance sequence, Eleanor combines the dancing elegance and sexual power that we would see later in the dancing of Cyd Charisse. It is almost impossible to watch this dancing impassively. We guess that that is what MGM intended. If so, they certainly succeeded.