This video has been on this site before but it was a pretty bad copy and anyway, it's been deleted. Someone got a better copy and I think they enhanced it with some A.I. technology. It's not perfect but it's better so I decided to post it.
It's a number from the 1985 special, Night of 100 Stars which was done to benefit the Actors' Fund so they were able to get an incredible number of great performers on it…well more than a hundred. Some of them were in this long dance number. It's sad to think that today, if you could conscript everyone you wanted, you couldn't possibly put together such a collection of famous hoofers.
You'll see each star's name superimposed when he or she appears…all but Dick Van Dyke. That's because that was not his first appearance on the special. He was in an earlier section of it.
When I first ran this here, it brought a message from my pal, Craig Shemin. I've edited his remarks down but here's the important thing he had to say…
The number is a tribute to Conrad Cantzen, an actor who died in 1945. It was thought that Conrad was down on his luck, but when he died he bequeathed an estate of more than $200,000 (that would be more than 2.3 million bucks today) to the Actors Fund of America.
Here's where the shoes come in. Conrad specified that the money be used to establish a fund for the express purpose of purchasing shoes for actors. This fund continues to operate today, administered by the Actors Fund. Apparently, Conrad thought that actors should not look "down at the heels" while pounding the pavement auditioning.
In case you can't make out what everyone is saying at the end, it's a reprise of the song from the introductory section:
Starting from the bottom up, that's the route to choose.
No one ever feels lowdown at the heels
Shoo away bad news and shoo away the blues
By spending Conrad's Cash on a brand new pair of shoes.Conrad's tale is such a nice story of an enduring act of generosity that I wanted to share it with you and your readers.
Thanks, Craig…and thanks to whoever fixed it up and put it back on YouTube. It really is an extraordinary piece of work and talent…