Watch the First Charleston in a Commercial Film

Check out what might be the first time that charleston dance is depicted in a commercially released sound film. Entitled "A Night in Dixie", dated 1926, the film was part of a series of "Phonofilm" shorts produced in 1925 and 1926 by Lee De Forest. 

From the YouTube description:

“It features ‘The Club Alabam Revue’ with Billy Fowler’s band and at about the :55 mark a girl named Jean Starr in the black outfit comes out an does what may well be the first solo Charleston routine ever done in a commercially released sound film... The guy in blackface at about the 2:55 mark is Johnny Hudgins who was a versatile and well traveled African-American entertainer for many years.”

That blackface makeup is just horrible, of course. Which is a shame, since Hudgins' dancing is pretty fantastic. Anyway, check out the whole thing here.

We have not found any references to earlier commercial films that depict the charleston. If you know of any, share them in the comments.

Hattip: swingindenver on Reddit.