of dress that mixed a taste of 1940s zoot-suit flair with vibrant 1970s colors. âTheyâre wearing these knickerbocker pants with the striped socks, marshmallow shoes, applejack hats that would twist on their head while they were dancing, sometimes with suspenders,â Daniel recalls gleefully.
The Lockers were definitely a collection of stars. Toni Basil, born as Antonia Christina Basilotta in Philadelphia, was already a show-business veteran when she hooked up with the Lockers. Back in 1964 she was an assistant choreographer on the legendary concert film The T.A.M.I. Show, which featured classic performances by James Brown, the Rolling Stones, and others. Throughout the 1960s, she made a few poorly received records while her dance career, both as a performer and choreographer, continued to prosper before she became part of the Maverickâs Flat scene.
Basil would become one of the first white faces on Soul Train , which doesnât seem as though it was a big deal for her or the other dancers. In almost all the interviews about whether whites danced on Soul Train , folks donât reference her, perhaps because Basil was part of an otherwise all-black crew. Throughout the 1970s, she had a varied postâ Soul Train career, working with dance-oriented rock groups (codirecting and choreographing two Talking Heads videos), in movies (George Lucasâs American Graffiti ), and in television (mashing up balletâs Swan Lake and street dance on Saturday Night Live ). Her big pop moment came with the 1982 video-driven hit âMickey,â and sheâs rolled on ever since, including organizing a TV Land Soul Train tribute in 2005.
Fred âRerunâ Berryâs light didnât shine as long as Basilâs, but it was blindingly bright at its peak. On Soul Train, Berry stood out by having the biggest body in a crowd of skinny Californians and by developing his own unique take on locking. His move came to be known as the Slo-Mo, in which he broke down the locking moves to their essence, using his large limbs with remarkable grace. It didnât hurt that Berry had a great smile and a knack for including humor in his dance.
So Berry was well positioned in the mid-1970s when the black-cast sitcom became a TV trend. The ribald chitlin circuit comic Redd Foxx broke through with a smash NBC sitcom called Sanford and Son in early 1972. On the same network as Julia, Foxxâs show, while not as raw as his legendarily raunchy stage show, was built around sexual innuendo and impeccable delivery and brought a colloquial urban attitude to American TV, the same way Al Benson had on R&B radio. Throughout the rest of the decade, black folks and laugh tracks were staples on prime-time TV with Good Times , Thatâs My Mama (both debuting in 1974), The Jeffersons (1975), Whatâs Happening!! (1976), Diffârent Strokes (1978), and Benson (1979), all having their share of success.
As Fred âRerunâ Stubbs, Berry was the comic heart of Whatâs Happening!! , a show that ran for three seasons on ABC. Created by Eric Monte, the black writer behind the beloved film comedy Cooley High, this sitcom was set in South Central LA and looked, not very deeply, at the lives of three black male teens. In every episode Berry wore a red beret and suspenders, echoes of his Lockers wardrobe, which became both his trademark and his curse. Though he was reportedly a millionaire by age twenty-nine, his âRerunâ persona and his weight made it hard for him to find acting gigs for the rest of his life.
The résumé for the rest of Berryâs life was dotted with appearances built around his locking and those two red garments. An episode of the 2000s NBC series Scrubs was typical, with Berry in a dance sequence in his beret and suspenders and other cast members, in full comedy mode, dressed and dancing in his style. He died in 2003 of natural causes at fifty-two years old.
Despite the early
The Lockers were definitely a collection of stars. Toni Basil, born as Antonia Christina Basilotta in Philadelphia, was already a show-business veteran when she hooked up with the Lockers. Back in 1964 she was an assistant choreographer on the legendary concert film The T.A.M.I. Show, which featured classic performances by James Brown, the Rolling Stones, and others. Throughout the 1960s, she made a few poorly received records while her dance career, both as a performer and choreographer, continued to prosper before she became part of the Maverickâs Flat scene.
Basil would become one of the first white faces on Soul Train , which doesnât seem as though it was a big deal for her or the other dancers. In almost all the interviews about whether whites danced on Soul Train , folks donât reference her, perhaps because Basil was part of an otherwise all-black crew. Throughout the 1970s, she had a varied postâ Soul Train career, working with dance-oriented rock groups (codirecting and choreographing two Talking Heads videos), in movies (George Lucasâs American Graffiti ), and in television (mashing up balletâs Swan Lake and street dance on Saturday Night Live ). Her big pop moment came with the 1982 video-driven hit âMickey,â and sheâs rolled on ever since, including organizing a TV Land Soul Train tribute in 2005.
Fred âRerunâ Berryâs light didnât shine as long as Basilâs, but it was blindingly bright at its peak. On Soul Train, Berry stood out by having the biggest body in a crowd of skinny Californians and by developing his own unique take on locking. His move came to be known as the Slo-Mo, in which he broke down the locking moves to their essence, using his large limbs with remarkable grace. It didnât hurt that Berry had a great smile and a knack for including humor in his dance.
So Berry was well positioned in the mid-1970s when the black-cast sitcom became a TV trend. The ribald chitlin circuit comic Redd Foxx broke through with a smash NBC sitcom called Sanford and Son in early 1972. On the same network as Julia, Foxxâs show, while not as raw as his legendarily raunchy stage show, was built around sexual innuendo and impeccable delivery and brought a colloquial urban attitude to American TV, the same way Al Benson had on R&B radio. Throughout the rest of the decade, black folks and laugh tracks were staples on prime-time TV with Good Times , Thatâs My Mama (both debuting in 1974), The Jeffersons (1975), Whatâs Happening!! (1976), Diffârent Strokes (1978), and Benson (1979), all having their share of success.
As Fred âRerunâ Stubbs, Berry was the comic heart of Whatâs Happening!! , a show that ran for three seasons on ABC. Created by Eric Monte, the black writer behind the beloved film comedy Cooley High, this sitcom was set in South Central LA and looked, not very deeply, at the lives of three black male teens. In every episode Berry wore a red beret and suspenders, echoes of his Lockers wardrobe, which became both his trademark and his curse. Though he was reportedly a millionaire by age twenty-nine, his âRerunâ persona and his weight made it hard for him to find acting gigs for the rest of his life.
The résumé for the rest of Berryâs life was dotted with appearances built around his locking and those two red garments. An episode of the 2000s NBC series Scrubs was typical, with Berry in a dance sequence in his beret and suspenders and other cast members, in full comedy mode, dressed and dancing in his style. He died in 2003 of natural causes at fifty-two years old.
Despite the early
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