We came up here for the snow. Where're you keepin' it?
Although it's on every Christmas, I first watched 1954's White Christmas just a few years ago. I thought I'd hate it, but I ended up enjoying it, especially Rosemary Clooney. Until seeing the film, I only knew Clooney as George's aunt, and her brief time on ER.
Every year since, I've thought of doing a post on actor and dancer John Brascia, Problem was, there wasn't really much out there, he only had a few sporadic roles over the course of his career. This year, I dug a little deeper. If you've seen the film, you remember John, the featured dancer in light green twirling Vera-Ellen around the dance floor. There is something about Vera-Ellen I found a little hard to watch, but Brascia lit up the dance floor and the screen.
In addition to White Christmas, Brascia was also the featured dancer with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi in Meet Me in Las Vegas. (1956). I have not seen that film, but will keep an eye out for it on TCM. Brascia was born to Italian immigrant parents in California in 1932. In high-school, it wasn't dancing that was his passion, but sports, playing both football and basketball.
After his success in White Christmas, Brasica, along with dancer Tybee Afra created a dance team known as Brascia and Tybee. In addition to headlining many nightclubs, they also appeared as the opening actor for performers including; Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne and George. Their success on the dance floor obviously carried over into real life. The two were married in 1958.
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