DEAN COLLINS
by Peter Loggins

Born as Saul Cohen in Columbus, Ohio on May 29th 1917 he grew up in Newark, New Jersey where he began dancing at the age 14 with his two older sisters. Along with many other young Jewish and Italian early teenagers he was soon attracted by the dance styles coming out of Harlem, which inevitably propelled him on his way to the Savoy Ballroom. By then an avid enthusiast he danced everywhere he could in Harlem and especially to the Jimmy Lunceford band, his favourite.

Saul recalled "Young people in those days took their dancing very seriously. They spent a lot of time with their partners, learned the steps, invented new ones. It was more than a hobby; it was a real passion. He must have made rapid progress, for he became the "New Yorker" magazine's dancer of the year in 1935, at the age of 18. It is said that he entered the first and second Harvest Moon Ball competitions, in 1935 and 1936 but no record of his participation has surfaced so far.

Saul's curiosity on the history of swing dancing caused him to explore it roots, thus he moved from NY to New Orleans in 1937 where he said he discovered the fact that this was actually the birthplace of "Swing Dancing." Saul landed a job performing with an Orchestra (at this time it is not clear which orchestra, there have been a couple different ones mentioned) and the job took him to Los Angeles. Apparently Saul thought his Jewish name would limit his ability to find work and when he came across a wallet someone had dropped he used it for his new name, Dean Collins.

Totally broke he moved into the back of a drive-in diner called Simons located on the corner of Wilshire Blvd and La Brea, where he did janitorial duties and hung out. The owner of Simons was Danny Apple who owned a number of Night Clubs and was able to help Dean out with small gigs and such to get by. From here he started venturing out to various ballrooms. The places Dean was remembered for frequenting around Los Angeles were the Diana Ballroom, the Tuesday night hot spot and Casino Gardens, the Sunday night spot for the best dancers.

In 1938 Dean met Johnny Archer who became a life long friend and the two became room mates in Venice Beach on the corners of Venice and Hoover. Also at this time Dean got together with two dancers by the name Jack Maddis and Bill Alcorn, to whom he taught his version of the Shim Sham. He got his first lucky break when RKO called him for an interview. Showing up for what he thought would be an $11 a day extra job. However he was given $100 a day to choreograph the dance sequences in "Let's Make Music," filmed in late 1939 and which came out in 1940. This started his long career dancing in small bit dance scenes, making him one of the most filmed "Lindy Hoppers" on the movie screen.

Dean was most famous dancing with Jewel McGowan, who was the most popular female dancer in Los Angeles. When I've talked to "Old Timers," Jewel's name almost always comes up as the best that ever lived. Dean and Jewel were partners for 11 years, she is can be seen in "Pot o' Gold" (James Stewart, 1941.) Dean's style was different from the other dancers in his era, as in the movie "Hellzapoppin" (1941). While the world famous "Whitey's Lindy Hoppers" performed an awesome routine, earlier in the movie Dean socially dances to "Watch the Birdie," and takes Martha Ray for a spin! Dean had great dance musicality, as seen in "Chool Song" (3/23/42), "Buck Privates" (1941), and many, many others. His air steps were very precise and normally always an 8 count pattern which was unusual for the time. Check out "Ride 'Em Cowboy" (1942), "Springtime In The Rockies" (1942), and "Lets Make Music" (1940).

Dean was also a talented choreographer who did a wonderful job on movies such as "Let's Make Music" (1940) and "Junior Prom" (1945). Dean's personal touch was great to see in the movie "The Powers Girl." Here he dances in the rain with an umbrella to Benny Goodman's Orchestra. He actually leads with the umbrella handle, not touching Jewels hand. Although few people were doing the Lindy Hop in Los Angeles before Dean arrived, it was Dean who brought the formula of the Lindy Hop from the Savoy Ballroom. Dean was without a doubt a technician of dance, who not only had the dance broken down into it's various patterns but was also able to teach it. At a time when Lindy Hop was street dance and the only way to learn was through trial and error practice, Dean Collins was an influencial pioneer in the field of Lindy Hop instruction which started in the 1930's. Mary Collins told me that Dean's love was really in teaching, he had hundreds of students across the country but his more famous students were Shirley Temple, Ronald Coleman, Cesar Romero, Abbot and Costello, Patti Andrews, Joan Crawford and yes . . . he gave private lessons to Arthur Murray!

In closing, most people agree that Dean Collins was a dancers "Dancer" who always gave credit to the dancers like Al Minns as being his main influence in dance. Dean also concluded that the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem was in fact the Home of the Lindy Hop.

To be continued. . ..