I have vague memories of some old cartoons (30-40s vintage)…Loony Toons-Merrie Melodies…where a snappy tune was playing, and all the toons were dancing with joy…including some really old guy walking along pointing his wagging finger in the air.
(I assume this is the archetypical old-folks dance.)
What song/dance does it represent?
Don’t know, but didn’t the Keep On Truckin’ guy do that too?
Maybe you’re thinking of the dancing popcorn at the movie intermission/intro from long ago.
I remember the same finger-wagging dancing old guy. I think it was either in a Popeye or Betty Boop cartoon, but I don’t remember which or either.
It was a common trope. Probably used in dozens of cartoons.
Grampy, maybe. He’s in several of the Betty Boop cartoons.
And you know
That you’re over the hill
When your mind makes a promise
That your body can’t fill
– “Old Folks Boogie,” Little Feat
It’s the Charleston. Or the Big Apple. Or the Lindy Hop.
Here’s the Wiki: Big Apple (dance) - Wikipedia
As well as *Blast from the Past, *where the retro Brendan Frasier made it look stylish.
I associate the finger in the air with the Flapper era.
Dennis
Grampy was cool, though, especially his inventions. When I was a wee lad, I hoped I would age like Grampy.
I have a clear mental image of this Max Fleischeriish character, leaning on a walking cane, wagging his finger.
But I also have a clear mental image of having seen a pic of Henry VIII holding a turkey leg. :eek:
Weird: I was so convinced that there was a portrait of Henry holding a turkey leg that I went looking for it on Google. Must be that alternate universe leaking through.
Wasn’t this the cartoon where some student receives a lesson on how not to be square? If so, the “old guy” was actually the uber hipster professor leading the class, and the dance was the latest Jazz Age number, the polar opposite of an “old-folks dance”. Now if someone could find the clip on Youtube…
^^That sounds like the cartoon that used a Kay Kyser parody. (But I can’t identify it, either.)
Now I’m thinking about Owl Jolson,
I love to sing-a
about the moon-a
and a june-a
and the spring-a!
That.
Of course, it helps that he was utterly charming in that film, and at the peak of his looks.
yes…that!
OK, there is Katnip Kollege (1938), or is what you saw definitely more 1920s?