Ernie Flatts Versatile Dancers

May 1, 2021 8:26 PM

The Ernie Flatt Dancers put the variety in variety show with their weekly numbers on The Carol Burnett show. Here they are dancing to Emerson Lake & Palmer's Hoedown. Here's guest star Ken Berry with the Dancers. Or Sally Struthers. And here, flip-dancing with Dick Van Dyke. They certainly had Versatility!

Ernest O Flatt was a dancer and choreographer who not only did weekly television, but also was tap coach to Gene Kelly for An American In Paris and choreographed for Broadway and film. [NYT obituary link]

posted by hippybear (5 comments total)

Their dance numbers were always a treat on TCBS, and I also liked when they got to play bit parts in the sketches. I thought Don Chrichton had a comic delivery as good as Lyle Waggoner’s.

I recently rewatched the parody of The Waltons they did where the dancers played all the younger kids, and I thought they held their own among the principals. (Although Harvey Korman was channeling Will Geer at an almost preternatural level.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:01 PM on May 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

I remember the Ken Berry. My mother and I watched Burnett starting late 73' to '78. didn't start following every skit till Nixon resigned. I mentioned Burnett just last week to my mom. Perhaps my personal favorite comedian of my time and the last half of the 20 to 21 century. We're positive she'll endure into the 22nd. An AI baseline human core whattamadohickey would be Burnett. My father actually liked to watch us crack up, the Gone with the wind skit drew tears, laboured breathing. Conway as mr-a-tuddball. Lucy is my all time fav but that was later, understanding her business accumen that said f&;$k you to the establishment if need be.
Burnett's beyond comedic genius, there's an actor, writer, et.al.
But a ....somber, emotional side that I find in an enDearing. She could play the saddest of clowns if chosen or the perfect arch villian.

"They said it was a man's game — Sid Caesar, Dean Martin, Milton Berle — because it hadn't been done. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be done."

gottdamb rite. Believe me, 5 minutes with Berle is like 45 seconds of Answering questions about cigars and palm tree sandtraps, The dress, avoid him dad said. Always looked like a minor Hut on Carson.
viva
posted by clavdivs at 10:03 PM on May 1, 2021 [4 favorites]

Ooooh! My link to fame! I was a huge Carol Burnett fan in childhood, and then in 1990 I was in a production of Mame in Santa Barbara starring the delightful Toni Kaye who had been a Ernie Flatt dancer on the show and I was all OH MY GOD the entire rehearsal period. Now that lots of musical numbers from the show are widely available I'm always looking for Toni when I watch them. My 1 degree of separation from Carol Burnett, *sigh*.
posted by JanetLand at 5:31 AM on May 2, 2021 [9 favorites]

As a former amatur dancer and swim team member, I'm very impressed with the dancing in the fins. I had a hard time walking in them. Alas, as my mother always told me, "15 years of dance classes and you still trip over your own feet." When the world opens up again, I really want to take some dance classes.
posted by kathrynm at 9:37 AM on May 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

Back in the 70s during a visit to Hollywood my family sat through a Carol Burnet Show taping. I say “sat through” because it took over five hours, nothing was shot sequentially, and most of the time was spent waiting for the set dressers and lighting people. The most interesting part was a dance performance (I was young so don’t remember who) as it was complete in itself, and the dancers’ costumes were brilliant with really saturated colors. It was explained that this was compensation for the poor quality of color TV at the time.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:56 PM on May 2, 2021 [3 favorites]