Eleanor Torrey Powell (November 21, 1912 – February 11, 1982) was an American dancer and actress. Best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top dancing stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Powell appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and most prominently, in a series of movie musical vehicles tailored especially to showcase her dance talents, including Born to Dance (1936), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Rosalie (1937), and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940). She retired from films in the mid-1940s and then began hosting a Christian children's TV show, but she resurfaced for the occasional specialty dance scene in films such as Thousands Cheer and eventually headlined a successful nightclub act in Las Vegas. She died from cancer at 69. Powell is known as one of the most versatile and powerful female dancers of the Hollywood studio era.
Early life
Powell was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Clarence Gardner Powell and Blanche Torrey Powell. Her father left her and her mother when she was two years old. She was raised by her mother with the help of her maternal grandparents (who also lived with them). Eleanor Powell was a painfully shy child, not even able to greet guests that would come into their own house.
Introduction to dance
Powell's mother, Blanche, sent Eleanor to dance lessons at age 11, in hopes that it would combat her shyness. She trained locally with Ralph McKernan (also the teacher of dancer/choreographer Robert Alton) in classical ballet and "interpretive" modern dance. Powell also trained extensively in acrobatics. She immediately showed a natural aptitude for movement, and was discovered by Gus Edwards (of the "Vaudeville Kiddie Review") while performing acrobatics on a beach in Atlantic City, NJ. She subsequently began working her first paid gigs for Edwards at the age of 12, during her summer holidays. Powell's first gig was in Atlantic City at the Ritz Grill, located in the Ambassador Hotel. She performed an acrobatic "specialty" act, and was by no means a star in the show, however she received consistently favorable reviews and this led to other paid performance opportunities, and eventually, more featured spots. Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor, who frequented Atlantic City and saw her perform (and her teacher, McKernan) are credited with having suggested to Powell that she set her sights on Broadway.
New York City: introduction to tap
In 1927, Powell took a break from her schooling and moved with her mother to New York City. She was signed by William Grady at the William Morris Agency, and although she managed to book jobs almost immediately dancing in clubs, vaudeville and at private parties, her acrobatic specialty which had impressed in Atlantic City was not enough for a career on Broadway. Realizing that in order to be marketable as a dancer on Broadway at that time one had to be able to tap dance, Powell began a package of ten tap lessons at a school run by Jack Donahue and Johnny Boyle – these lessons would be the only formal tap training she would ever have. Powell disliked tap at first and had to be coaxed in order to return after her first lesson. She is quoted as saying "in about the seventh lesson it all came together. Just like an algebra problem – you have a tutor teaching you and all of a sudden you say, 'oh, now I see!'".
In training Powell, Donohue and Boyle used an unconventional method: in order to counteract her tendency toward pulling away from the floor and working through her feet, as one does in classical ballet and acrobatics, they had her wear an army surplus belt during her lessons, which had one sandbag attached on either side. This was intended to weigh her down, help her to feel the floor in a different way, and engage with it – to "play" the floor as if it were an instrument. This not only served to help Powell "find her legs" in tap dance, it also was to be a catalyst in the development of her uniquely grounded and smooth tap style.