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Busby Berkeley

An innovative choreographer who freed dance in the cinema from the constraints of theatrical space, Busby Berkeley directed musical numbers that removed the confining proscenium of the stage to incorporate the fluid frame of the motion picture image. His geometrically unique dances were choreographed for that ideal. After a successful career on Broadway, Berkeley helped revolutionize the musical at a time when the genre first took off, thanks to the advent of sound. He choreographed "42nd Street" (1933) and made his debut as a solo director with "Gold Diggers of 1933" (1933), while earning Oscar nominations for his dance direction for "Gold Diggers of 1937" (1936) and "Varsity Show" (1937). He eventually directed a few movies starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, including "Babe in Arms" (1939), "Strike Up the Band" (1940) and "Babes on Broadway" (1941), only to have a falling out with the troubled actress on "Girl Crazy" (1943) which led to him being fired. Berkeley achieved camp infamy with "The Gang's All Here" (1943), which famously featured Carmen Miranda performing "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat." After directing his last movie, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (1949), Berkeley was exclusively a choreographer until leaving Hollywood altogether following "Billy Rose's Jumbo" (1962). Berkeley was a pioneering musical director whose influence stretched across generations.