Top of page

Rockettes tap dancer Ann Murphy posing arms outstretched onstage and in costume
A young Ann Murphy in Rockettes costume, 1960s. Photographer: W. Pennebaker. Box 2, Folder 4, Ann Murphy Collection on the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall, Music Division, Library of Congress.

High Kicks for Days: Celebrating the Rockettes with Photographs and Memorabilia

Share this post:

The Ann Murphy Collection on the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall is now available for use in the Music Division’s Performing Arts Reading Room.

Ann Murphy’s gift to the Library of Congress, especially strong in photographs and programs of her 20-year career as a Rockette, also offers some administrative schedules and stage management documents that provide a wider look at the 1960s and 1970s, an era often regarded as the heyday of Radio City Music Hall. Murphy’s easy-to-read autobiography, titled How I Got My Kicks, recounts the daily regimen, artistic achievements, and humorous misadventures of life as a Rockette. Her sparkly silver tap shoes are also available for inspection.

The 36 Rockettes, costumed for the Secretary routine, on the Music Hall’s Great Stage. Photographer unknown. Box 1, Folder 21, Ann Murphy Collection on the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall, Music Division, Library of Congress.

Radio City’s entertainment during its first decades showcased a first-run feature film accompanied by a live thematic variety show performed by the Radio City resident music, theater, and dance artists. Most frequent themes followed a seasonal holiday calendar, augmented by special guests from popular culture or national events such as the space program.

A typical Radio City Music Hall program from 1959, this one with a Halloween theme, with live variety-show events and the screening of a recent major motion picture. Box 1, folder 2, Ann Murphy Collection on the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall, Music Division, Library of Congress.

Ann Murphy’s career followed the path that many a youngster in dance dreamed of in the 1950s and 1960s. Initially, she was selected to tour cities in the United States and Canada in Rockettes-sponsored tap dance performances. That opportunity developed into full-time employment as a Rockette until her retirement and departure from New York City in the early 1980s.

Wooden soldier Rockettes partner members of the Radio City Music Hall ballet company dressed in costumes decorated like ribbon candy in one of the annual holiday shows, 1960s. Photographer unknown. Box 1, Folder 9, Ann Murphy Collection on the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall, Music Division, Library of Congress.

The celebrated precision-tap troupe established by entrepreneur Russell Markert as the “Missouri Rockets” in the 1930s now nears its 90th birthday in New York City. As announced in Dance Teacher magazine on December 13, 2012, Dance Heritage Coalition recognized the ongoing impact of this iconic tap ensemble by naming the Rockettes to its list of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures. Although entertainment and tourist tastes have changed since Markert’s vision for the troupe, the variety-show tradition does live on at Radio City Music Hall, particularly during the winter holidays from Thanksgiving through the New Year, when families still enjoy the famous Wooden Soldier routine that climaxes with the collapse of their row like a set of dominoes.

Find out more about the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall by checking out the Ann Murphy Collection finding aid.

Comments

  1. My Friend’s mother was a rockette

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *