The High School Hoofer (1931) User Reviews

High School of Performing Arts

[boblipton · 6/10 · 4 July 2011]

Eleanor King is quite charming as the beauty who talks gawky Hal LeRoy into performing at a high school talent competition, but it is LeRoy who is the point of this Vitagraph short subject -- they even use his real name.

Leroy's dance is an eccentric one performed to the tune "Dinah", played to a fast, jazzy beat, and his feet certainly keep up. More than that, while he is dancing, he looks like a John Held Jr. cartoon from the New Yorker, a young sheik who wears clothes in a manner than makes him look like he is posing languidly at an absurd angle, even while he is moving fast. There are a couple of cuts to focus on his feet, and he is very good.

Unhappily, Leroy's career in front of the camera never quite took off. He did very nicely on the stage, though.

Amazing Skill

[Michael_Elliott · 23 May 2016]

The High School Hoofer (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Georgia May (Eleanore King) is trying to recruit people for the upcoming high school talent show but she's not having too much luck. She eventually meets Hal Le Roy and wants him to join the shy but he doesn't have much confidence. She manages to talk him into it but the night of the show his butterflies show up.

Story wise there's certainly nothing ground-breaking to be found in this ten minute short. However, if you're a fan of tap dancing then you're going to be given a big treat because the act that Hal Le Roy puts on is quite remarkable. I've seen a lot of these Vitaphone shorts and tap dancing was always a big part of the shorts. Le Roy's performance here is certainly the film's biggest attraction and I must say that it's probably the best I've ever seen from this era. The story itself is nothing too special but the act isn't the story but the dancing and that there is classic.