The Nicholas Brothers performing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" from the film Sun Valley Serenade (1941). (Photograph from the Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.)

The Nicholas Brothers, late 1930s. Photo by James J. Kriegsmann. Photofest.

For sixty years The Nicholas Brothers–Fayard (1914-2006) and Harold (1921-2000)–led distinctive careers as masters of tap and "flash dancers." Hired in 1932 at the Cotton Club, the two were 18 and 11 years old, respectively, and already had professional credentials. Appearances with major bands led to the brothers' first film Pie, Pie Blackbird, a Vitaphone short with Eubie Blake. Kid Millions (1934) marked their Hollywood debut, and subsequent movies included Down Argentine Way (1940), Stormy Weather (1943), and St. Louis Woman (1946). Besides performing with major bands in the 1930s and 1940s, the two were on stage in Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, Babes in Arms, and Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1936 in London. During the 1960s the pair were featured in three Hollywood Palace television specials. Two decades later, Harold performed in the national tour of Sophisticated Ladies (1982) and on Broadway in The Tap Dance Kid (1986), while Fayard contributed choreography to Black and Blue (1989). Kennedy Center Honors were received in 1991 and, a year later, The Nicholas Brothers: We Dance and Sing was produced as a documentary. www.nicholasbrothers.com