Come On With The Rain / I’ve

I Had Been Asked To Open A Nightclub In Atlantic City. They Offered Me A Ridiculous Amount Of Money. They Literally Overpaid Me. So I Did One Show A Night. Then They Asked Me Back By Popular Demand. So I Went Back. Then I Said, "to Hell With This." I Was Only Doing It For The Money, And I Was Doing Easy Routines. It's Just Too Much Work To Get Up Every Day And Practice.

At 14 I Discovered Girls. At That Time Dancing Was The Only Way You Could Put Your Arm Around The Girl. Dancing Was Courtship. Only Later Did I Discover That You Dance Joy. You Dance Love. You Dance Dreams.

It Fit Into My Scheme Of Things For Many Reasons. At The Time It Was True That Male Dancers Were Looked Down Upon, And It Was True That A Lot Of The Male Dancers Were Effeminate. But What I Was Really Trying To Do Was Develop Something That Would Be American.

When They Do Let Them Sustain On Screen From Head To Toe, Though, Then You Know They Must Think The Person Is A Good Dancer.

I Wanted To Invent Some Kind Of American Dance That Was Danced To The Music That I Grew Up On: Cole Porter And Rodgers And Hart And Irving Berlin. So I Evolved A Style That Certainly Didn't Catch On Right Away - But I Had Some Good Mentors In New York Who Encouraged Me.