Him & Us - Reggae Like it Used to Be

Teri Scoble, the nearest ITV had to a Flick Colby in the seventies, and her family-based dance troupe Him & Us, have come up in discussion over on our forum, so I thought you'd like to see an example of there work. There are quite a few clips of their performances on YouTube: I've chosen this one, since it's a song that Flick also worked on with Ruby Flipper (posted here). From The Arrows TV show.

Now I'm not talking about which is better here: I'm just interested in the difference between the two approaches. If anyone wants a download link (quality will be pretty low), leave a comment and I'll post one.

Legs & Co. - My Forbidden Lover

Legs & Co. dancing to Chic's My Forbidden Lover, on Top of the Pops. Dig those shiny electric blue disco trousers!

A mystery contribution: many thanks to Bonanza, who sent it.

Download from Rapidshare (19.8 MB)

Legs & Co. - Nobody Does It Better

Here's are Legs & Co. dancing to Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better, theme song from Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. Thanks to PattiforPM who sent me this routine. ages ago. I was sure I'd already posted this clip, but I've searched the blog, and it's nowhere to be found. Sorry to take so long.

Download from Rapidshare (21.2 MB)

Legs & Co. - I Want Your Love

Here's Legs & Co. dancing to Chic's I Want Your Love in big frilly ball gowns, and also givimg Peter Powell a little thrill in their underwear. Thanks to PattiforPM, who sent this in response to a request from Hadeel.

Download from Rapidshare (23.6 MB)

Pan's People - Top of the Pops 1970 titles

A contributor to our discussion forum named 2G has sent me this rare clip of A Top of the Pops title sequence from 1970, in the days when the people who make the show had the good sense to include Pans' People in the titles.

Flick in spectacles! Thanks to 2G for the clip.

Actually, it seems to be two separate title sequences from two separate shows: a fact I confirmed when I found the another version of the first half of the clip as the titles of the very first Einsfestival TOPS repeat:

Download 2Gs two sequences (10 MB)

Download Einsfestival titles (5.5 MB)

Legs & Co. - Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft again.

I posted a version of Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft a while ago, that LuluPatti&Sue had sent me. Picture quality wasn't all that great, and as a TOTP2 clip, it had big chunks of graphics spoiling our view of the performance.

Now PattiforPM has kindly sent in a much better version of the routine, without the graphical clutter. So now we can have a clear view of the whole performance, including those fantastic high kicks of Patti's. Yippee!

Rapidshare Download link (20.7 MB)

Legs & Co. - Stomp

Here's another Legs & Co. performance generously donated by Amy: dancing to Stomp by the Brothers Johnson.

Rapidshare download (22.1 MB)

Legs & Co. - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

On Top of the Pops, Legs & Co. dance to Mr. Whackson O. Jacks' Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. What is that on Sue's knee?

Both PattiforPM and Bonanza sent me this clip. Many thanks.

Download link (21.9 MB)

Ruby Flipper - Aria

Attention please: Captain Peacock speaking. I'm happy to say that, since I last had occasion to speak to you all, there has beem a marked improvement in behaviour on this site. Although there are still some unacceptably vulgar comments, their frequency has dwindled. May it continue to do so.

I'm also happy to see that the quality of material is improving, with plenty of selections from the Golden age of light entertainment, the early seventies, and less of that braying, banging pop "music" that seems to be taking over the world. And here is another example of such beautiful music: Acker Bilk's Aria, featuring the lovely Miss Patricia Hammond.

Young Mister Grace has asked me to thank Amy for providing this charming performance.

Now: carry on, and keep up the good work.

Rapidshare download link (27.4 MB)

Pan's People - Summer Breeze

I'm afraid this is an extremely low quality video clip. but I thought it was worth posting for historical reasons: because this routine marks the first ever appearance of Sue Menhenick on Top of the Pops, dancing with Pan's People to the Isley Brother's Summer Breeze. Unfortunately a combination of moody lighting and the aforementioned crappy video quality means that for most of the clip, it's difficult to tell who's who.

So on behalf of all the Sue fans who regularly read this blog (and there are plenty of them, believe me): Please please please, if anyone out their has a better copy of this performance, please send it in to the blog. They will be eternally grateful. Thank you.

Download link (22.5 MB)

Legs & Co. - Summer Nights

Here's six lucky blokes, including former Flipperer Floyd*, dancing with Legs & Co. to John Travolta & Olivia Newton Jones' Summer Nights: from Grease, of course. On TOTP's Christmas special, 1978. Introduced bu that witty fellow, Noel Edmunds.

* In his last TOTP appearance.

Or watch this on mobypicture | youtube | youtube | youtube

Mediafire download link (35 MB)

Second Generation - Alexander's Ragtime Band

Here's another performance from Patti as a member of Dougie Squires' Second Generation. They're dancing to a medley of ragtime tunes, based around Alexander's Ragtime Band on Sunday Night at the London Palladium – in fact from the same 1974 episode as the Pick A Bail of Cotton clip I posted earlier. She's the one with the blue feather.

Watch out for Patti's "deliberate" mistake at 01:26 - I think she got away with it.

Download link (50.7 MB)

Legs & Co. - Ain't No Stopping Us Now

Here's a clip of Legs & Co. dancing to McFadden & Whitehead's Ain't No Stopping Us Now.

Thanks to Amy for another great clip.

Download from Rapidshare (21.3 MB)

A thorn amongst six roses

Legs & Co. replaced Ruby Flipper* on Top of The Pops, on Thursday 21 October 1976. But the new group it first had no name. How did they get their name? Here's Ed "Stewpot" Stewart to introduce the girls, or rather, shove a microphone into their faces and have them introduce themselves, and explain...

You can see and hear how nervous poor Gill is. By contrast Lulu, the nervous new girl only a few months before, is now a confident old hand, like Patti and Sue.

Download link (10.1 MB)

* Or should it be: Ruby Flippr were transformed into legs & Co?

Legs & Co. - Love is in the Air

Here's another Top of the Pops clip, of Legs & Co. dancing to John Paul Young's Love is in the Air.

My thanks to Amy for sending this clip.

Rapidshare link (20 MB)

Blue Mink - Wacky Wacky Wacky

I posted an example of non-TOTP Flick Colby choreography a couple of days back: Les Girls, from Les Dawson's Sez Les TV show, dancing with Johnny Nash. It got a positive response, so I thought you'd like to see this clip I found, of UK session supergroup Blue Mink singing Wacky Wacky Wacky. It's from the same series, 1972, and Flick is the choreographer here, too.

The only member of Blue Mink I could have named before I wikipedia-ed them (just now) was walk-on-the-wild-side bass player Herbie Flowers: I think that's him on tuba.

And if vocalist Madeline Bell's voice seems familiar, it's because she sang in any UK advert with a female vocal in the seventies and eighties you can think of. "I could do with a D" springs to mind.

An amusingly silly song.

Download link (39.1 MB).

Pans People - Until You Come Back to Me

Here a black & white clip of Pans People dancing to Aretha Franlin's Until You Come Back to Me. Low quality, but it's probably the best we can get.

Download from Rapidshare (26.5 MB)

Legs & Co. - Jones Versus Jones

Here's a Legs & Co. routine that's a sublime mixture of silly and strange: Lulu, Patti & Pauline are in drag, looking like moustachioed British Empire minor officials, in short-trousered suits and fedoras: with their brides Gill, Rosie & Sue: still in their bridal veils and fancy wedding underwear, they've started the divorce already. Illustrating Kool & the Gangs' Jones Versus Jones.

Picture quality is not te best, but we should still thank Amy for finding this clip.

Download link (18.4 MB).

Pan's People - Great Balls of Fire

Another Pan's People routine from Georgie Fame & Alan Price's TV Show The Price of Fame. It's the early Andi/Flick version of PP, dancing in classic early-seventies see-through yellow outfits, while Georgie & Alan sing and play Great Balls of Fire, and the titles roll.

Download from Rapidshare (15 MB)

Legs & Co. - Strut Your Funky Stuff

DLT introduces Legs & Co. dancing to Frantique's Strut Your Funky Stuff.

Thanks to PattiforPM, who sent in this clip.

Rapidshare download link (21.9 MB)

Legs & Co. - Never Let Her Slip Away

Great minds think alike: both Suefan and Amy sent me this clip: Legs & Co. dancing to Andrew Gold's Never Let Her Slip Away.

My thanks to both.

Download from Rapidshare (17.1 MB)

Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now

A slight diversion: none of the regular dancers appear on this clip of Johnny Nash singing I Can See Clearly Now. So why am I posting it? Watch and see if you can work it out:

The dance troupe are called Les Girls. a play-on-words, since this clip is from Les Dawson's TV show Sez Lez. And if their choreography seems oddly familiar, that's because our own Flick Colby was the choreographer on this show.

Thanks to Jez for pointing this clip out to me.

Legs & Co. - Rumour Has It

It's a glamourous life, dancing on Top of the Pops every week, wearing beautiful outfits. Legs & Co. dance to Donna Summer's Rumour Has It.

Rapidshare download (15.3 MB)

Legs &Co. - Love Hit Me

Not so much literal interpretation as a simple gag based on the song title: Legs &Co. in the boxing ring, biffing each other to Maxine Nightingale's Love Hit Me. Thanks to PattiforPM for this goofy but fun routine.

Download from Rapidshare(18.7 MB)

Guys & Dolls - Pakatoa

Just in case you though Patti was the only Legs & Co dancer with a Cheesey Showbiz section on her CV, here's Rosie, in her post L&C singing gig with Guys & Dolls: singing Pakatoa on Dutch TV show Tineke in 1982.

An anonymous contribution from the "Got A Clip to Share" service (bottom of this page). If anyone wants a download link, let me know in the comments or forum.

Legs & Co - You Drive Me Crazy

Jez-45 mentioned this YouTube clip on the discussion forum, so I thought I should post it here. Legs & Co with Shakin' Stevens singing You Drive Me Crazy.

Download from Rapidshare (20.5 MB)

Second Generation - Pick a Bail of Cotton

Here's another archive clip of a young Patti, performing with Dougie Squires' Second Generation. From Sunday Night at the London Palladium a top TV light entertainment show of the sixties and early seventies.

The outfits are impressively authentic don't you think? Certainly every farmer's daughter in the Appalachian Mountains wore white gogo boots, I'm sure.

Rapidshare download link (23.4 MB)

Legs & Co. - Fantasy

Thanks to PattiforPM, who sent me this clip: Legs & Co. dancng to Earth, Wind & Fire's Fantasy.

Someday, someone will write the definitive history of scaffolding In Pop TV. It will cover everything from Granada TV's Don’t Knock The Rock in 1965, through the BBC's Something Else in 1978, to the Young One's Nozin' Aroun'. And of course this clip must get a mention.

Download from Rapidshare (22.4 MB)

Legs & Co. - Car Wash

Legs & Co. dance to Rose Royce's Car Wash on Top of the Pops. Introduced by "Diddy" David Hamilton, with a little of that casual sexism ("Those splendid chassis you see") that tells us that we're in The Seventies.

Thanks again to Suefan for another great clip.

Second Generation - I Believe in Music

Here's another historical item from Patti's time in Dougie Squires' Second Generation: dancing and singing I Believe in Music. Like the previous clip, this is from Sounds Like Les Dawson, a Yorkshire TV special from 1974.

Featuring Les himself playing the piano (straight, for once), Olivia Newton John, and Roy "Pardon My Genie" Barraclough.

Those dancers' outfits have a timeless classic quality don't they? Why I'm wearing mustard yellow crush velvet flared trousers right now, 37 years later.

Legs & Co. - Forever in Blue Jeans

Here's a great routine thanks to PattiforPM: Legs & Co. dancing to Neil Diamond's Forever in Blue Jeans.

They've avoided the obvious costume choice, and gone for six different outfits in denim representing "Forever" as six different ages: Lulu's a baby doll; Sue's a schoolgirl; Pauline's either a prom queen or a bride (I don't suppose a denim veil would really work); Gill's in a sort of "Mother of the Bride" outfit; Patti's the most supple, lissome old lady in the world; and Rosie's spoiling my theory, by being a product placement for an international chain of casinos (on the BBC, too: shocking!)

Watch this clip on mobypicture | youtube

Rapidshare download link (21.6 MB)

Legs & Co. - It's a Love Thing

Legs & Co dance to The Whispers' It's a Love Thing.

Update: new rapidshare link (20.4 MB)

Thanks again to PatiiforPM for this clip.

Second Generation - It's A Musical World

Here's a taste of standard variety-theatre, light entertainment coreography in the seventies. The stuff that people like Flick were a revolution against: Dougie Squires' Second Generation dance and sing It's A Musical World from a Les Dawson Yorkshire TV special in 1974.

Yes, it's frivilous tosh. So why am I posting it? That will become clear at 1:06 – (please don't scroll down further if you don't want to spoil the surprise.)

Update: Rapidshare download link (31.6 MB)

spoiler alert...

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Amy ask me a while ago if I had any clips of Patti performing in her pre-Legs & Co. gig, Dougie Squires' Second Generation: I didn't, but I've been looking ever since, and here's my first find.

Legs & Co. - Now That We've Found Love

Legs & Co. dance to Third World's Now That We've Found Love. Thanks to Suefan, who sent in this clip.

I just can't work out what this song is about:

“Make Natty shoot, make Natty shoot, make Natty shoot, make Natty shoot, make Natty shoot-shoot-shoot-shoot all over the place..."”

Truly mystifying.

Mediafire link (20.5 MB)

Legs & Co. - Best of My Love

Another gem from PattiforPM: many thanks. Legs & Co. dance to the Emotions' Best of My Love.

It doesn't take much to make me happy. ⎝⏠⏝⏠⎠

Download from Rapidshare (25.7 MB)

Legs & Co. - Way Down number four

What do you do when the King of Rock & Roll dies, and his latest single leaps to the top of the charts for five weeks? The beeb had a little problem. TOTP etiquette meant that the number one chart position song should be played at the end of every weekly episode. But in the days before every release had an inevitable video, there was no clip of Elvis to show: and the very circumstances that made the record a huge hit meant that there wasn't going to be a clip forthcoming. So here for a fourth time, Legs & Co. dance to Elvis' posthumous hit Way Down on Top of the Pops. As usual, mixed with slides of Elvis, and lacklustre dancing from the audience. You can feel the production staff getting thoroughly sick of the song by now. But, ever the professionals, Legs & Co. perform with gusto. Well, Patti, Lulu, Pauline and Gill do. But what's with the empty plinth? Is it an oblique reference? A metaphor for death? Or did either Rosie or Sue just lose the will to live and drop out at the last moment?

Thanks again to PattiforPM, who sent me this clip.

Legs & Co. - Easy

Thanks again to PattiforPM, who has sent me lots of great clips recently: here's another: Legs & Co. dancing to the Commodores' Easy.

Why do I feel a sudden urge to take the dog for a walk to the cash machine, and then buy lots of newspapers? I don't even have a dog...

Mediafire download (25.2 MB)

Pan's People - In Dulce Jubilo

Here's Pan's People dancing to In Dulce Jubilo by My Coalfield. I'm sorry: Mike Oldfield. The chaste nature of the music and the choreography has even persuaded Creepy Jimmy to eschew his usual pervyness, in favour of a staff greetings display.

Download link (22.9 MB)

Legs & Co. - Same Old Scene

Legs & Co. dance to Roxy Music's Same Old Scene. Dressed up in what passed for haute couture in 1980, presumably a reference to the top models the Brian & his chums put on their record sleeves. Thanks again to PattiforPM, who contributed this clip.

Presented by Richard Skinner, standing beside a woman who looks remarkably like... Richard Skinner! Daughter? Secret Daughter? Twin sister? Himself in drag? (camera trickery would be necessary). Who knows?

Update: thanks to SuPaLu for posting this to YouTube.

Download from Mediafire (22.4 MB)

Legs & Co. - Blame It on the Boogie

Here's Legs & Co. – well Sue and Rosie, anyway – dancing to ' Blame It on the Boogie.

Yet another gift from the very generous PattiforPM.

Mediafire download link (23.2 MB)

Ruby Flipper - Jeans On

Here's another Ruby Flipper routine, dancing to Jeans On while David Dundas sings and plays. I don't suppose there are any other feasible outfits for this song.

Update: Improved download link: Rapidshare (16 MB)