# Taps for Ann Miller (c1921-2004) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682 "2004-01-23T00:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/1 "2004-01-23T00:17:32Z")
Don’t see what _appears_ to be any other obit threads for [Annie-Pie](http://imdb.com/name/nm0587900/) . . . Always liked her. Interviewed her for _Classic Images_ about ten years ago, and she was very intelligent and “gave good quote,” but was still be kind of goofy, bubbly Annie one expected. Amazing dancer, great stand-up broad, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/2 "2004-01-23T00:27:14Z")
Didn’t she live with her mother for most of her life? I met her in Atlanta many years ago. She was with Mickey Rooney in a production of SUGARBABIES. Sadly, the only thing I remember about Ann Miller is that Mickey Rooney was obnoxious. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/3 "2004-01-23T00:39:10Z")
PS- I just read in an online bio of her that she was a devout adherent of reincarnation and believed that she was once the Pharaoh [Hatshepshut](http://home.swipnet.se/kgdata/hatshepsut_links.html) (the “drag king” of Egypt). (Of course gods trump god-kings, and Shirley MacLaine’s dog is the [reincarnation of Anubis](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743485068/qid=1074818307//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl14/103-5421281-6866215?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).) If Ann was right then she should be having a great time long about now. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/4 "2004-01-23T00:44:50Z")
Never met her – but she’s a tap idol of mine. Her nerve taps (the super quick series of toe taps) were phenomenal - 500 taps per minute, they say. Yikes. What control! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/5 "2004-01-23T01:03:15Z")
Turns out that 500 taps/minute is nothing: according to [this site](http://www.theatredance.com/tap/), > [@](#): > > The Guiness World Book Records holder lists Roy Castle on January 14, 1973 - at 1,440 Taps Per Minute (24 per second). I can’t begin to tell you people how utterly impossible that is. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/6 "2004-01-23T01:12:05Z")
Just dug up my old interview with her, but couldn’t find any deep jewels of wisdom . . . Mostly pleasant chat. Nice lady, interesting life. _Big_ hair. Her actual birth year was 1919; she claimed 1923. Let’s see what the obits say. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/7 "2004-01-23T01:27:11Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Her actual birth year was 1919; she claimed 1923. Let’s see what the obits say. The version I heard was that she _added_ a couple of years so she could start working without on-set supervision… shall I race you to a cite? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/8 "2004-01-23T01:33:59Z")
From Annie’s own mouth: “They weren’t hiring minors because you had to have a school teacher on the set. I lied and said I was 18 for about five years. I had to get my father to get me a fake birth certificate.” This was her “explanation” as to why her birth certificate says 1919 and not 1923. Our mutual friend, who introduced us, says, “_riiiiiight._” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/9 "2004-01-23T01:38:07Z")
I’ll repeat what I wrote for Ann Miller’s bio page at the Internet Movie Database: Although some sources list her year of birth as 1919, the U.S. census taken on April 1, 1930, several years before she entered show business, gives her age as 7 years. (Harris County, Texas, enumeration district 71, p. 2A, family 86, line 36.) [You can see it for yourself,](http://www.rootdig.com/1930census/1930_ann_miller.html) under her birth name Lucille Collier. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/10 "2004-01-23T01:51:34Z")
Hmmmph. Well, I suppose I must stand corrected (or my "_riight_"ing friend must). Still wouldn’t put it past Annie-Pie to go back and fiddle with the records . . . P.S. Does IMDB _pay?_ Their silent-screen people need some serious additions and updating . . . ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/11 "2004-01-23T03:19:39Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Does IMDB _pay?_ I submitted 29,206 lines of data to the IMDb in 2003, and I got a free subscription to IMDb Pro. They used to give gift certificates to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com). ☹ > [@](#): > > Their silent-screen people need some serious additions and updating . . . Well, hey, that’s my specialty. About 80% of several thousand U.S. films 1891-1902 in the IMDb are there because of me, as well as the majority of data on U.S. features 1911-1920. Do you have missing birth or death info? Biographies? Submit, submit! ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/12 "2004-01-23T14:17:04Z")
Susan and I watched “Mulholland Drive” last weekend and were asking each other if she was still alive - I guess I know the answer. She and a former co-worker shared the same hair color - Kiwi Shoe Polish Black #3. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/13 "2004-01-23T14:24:50Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Well, hey, that’s my specialty. About 80% of several thousand U.S. films 1891-1902 in the IMDb are there because of me, as well as the majority of data on U.S. features 1911-1920. Do you have missing birth or death info? Biographies? Submit, submit! Well, what’s there is excellent—thanks to you!—but they need more in the way of bios for a lot of the silent folks (and some of ther more obscrue talkie folks, like Winnie Lightner, Judy Tyler, Lyda Roberti . . .). I just can’t afford to write for free, though it is awfully tempting . . . Can you hook me up with someone there? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/14 "2004-01-23T15:35:26Z")
The tributes I heard yesterday all talked about how versatile she was. Which leads me to wonder: did Ann Miller ever have a major role (either comedy or drama) where she didn’t burst into dance and/or song at some point in the movie? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/15 "2004-01-23T15:43:59Z")
She never really did any dramatic movies, but got terrific reviews in the revival of _Follies_, which gave her some grerat dramatic moments. But I think Annie-Pie herself would hoot uproariously at being called “versatile.” She never had any illusions about her career. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/16 "2004-01-23T17:03:28Z")
[Job openings at the Internet Movie Database.](http://us.imdb.com/Help/Oweek/employment) [Adding or updating data at the IMDb.](http://us.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?faqindex) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/17 "2004-01-23T17:46:34Z")
> [@](#): > > We do not currently have any openings at the IMDb. Thank you for your interest. Ah, well. Wouldn’t you love to have seen Ann Miller as Lady Macbeth or Hedda Gabler? Complete with big hair, sparkly showgirl outfit and tap number? ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/18 "2004-01-23T19:20:07Z")
I loved her in _Easter Parade_. Of all the dance partners that abandoned Fred Astaire in the first fifteen minutes of his movies, she was the only one I ever bought as potentially having a better career without him. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taps-for-ann-miller-c1921-2004/225682/19 "2004-01-23T22:06:24Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Wouldn’t you love to have seen Ann Miller as Lady Macbeth or Hedda Gabler? Complete with big hair, sparkly showgirl outfit and tap number? Hedda: “You can see for yourself! You haven’t the slightest reason to be in such mortal terror— [Interrupting herself.] There! Now we can all three enjoy ourselves!” Tappatappatappakickkicktappatappa Lady MacBeth: “To bed, to bed! there’s knocking at the gate: come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone.–To bed, to bed, to bed!” Tappatappatappakickkicktappatappa Exuent Works for me