But Astaire and Nicholas were never allowed to dance together, and now Harold Nicholas is dead.He and his older brother Fayard (his survivor) got many honours and tributes in old age, but one is bound to add that whereas nearly all of you know who Fred Astaire was, the name Harold Nicholas is largely unfamiliar. And it’s because of that ignorance that the Hollywood musical stopped short of its full potential. Of course, in its heyday, people laughed at how little story musicals had. They weren’t about anything – not until you thought of putting Harold Nicholas with Judy Garland, or Lena Horne with Gene Kelly. All of a sudden, that was dangerous.There was a group of black performers, all of whom had something close to the talent of the Nicholas Brothers, but who were allowed on screen in only the most circumscribed ways.

There was Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (1878-1949) – white admirers called him “Bojangles” because the term meant “happy-go-lucky”, which was next to cheerful but feckless, or not quite grown up. A professional dancer from the age of eight and a figure of lazy elegance, he got into movies and earned a unique privilege. He was allowed to dance with a white woman – Shirley Temple.Or take the case of Lena Horne (born 1917). At 20, she was among the most beautiful women on earth, as well as one of the greatest singers.

At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Louis B Mayer was enormously tempted, because Horne had such a very pale colour. He wondered if she could pass, and he tested her to discover that she could act But he lacked the courage of his own feelings for her. He wouldn’t put her in a picture unless it was an all-black movie (like Cabin in the Sky) or unless her songs were so self-contained they could be tidily cut for the Southern market. Lena Horne had set her heart on playing the part of Julie, the half-caste, when MGM came to remake Show Boat She felt the part; she could do the songs.

But the studio played safe – they cast Ava Gardner, no matter that that rather dusky North Carolina girl couldn’t sing the songs for herself.Then there was Dorothy Dandridge (1923-65). When she was four, Dorothy and her sister Vivian did a double act, and she was in movies by her teens. She had tremendous talent and vivacity, and yet it wasn’t until 1954 that Otto Preminger gave her a starring role – in the all-black Carmen Jones. She got a full Oscar nomination for that, the first for a black player. Preminger had an affair with her, and cast her again in Porgy and Bess She was married for a time to Harold Nicholas. He told her to play by the rules, but Dandridge was helplessly ambitious and that worked towards her likely suicide.

In one of her last movies, Island in the Sun (1958), she wasn’t allowed to kiss the white character she was meant to be in love with.Then there were the Nicholases. They were very popular, and much used by Twentieth Century-Fox, but as novelties – as dancers who could jump higher than white guys, or who, in their mysterious way, had the “rhythm” of their race. It wasn’t until 1948 (a few years after he had danced with cartoon character Jerry the Mouse in Anchors Aweigh) that Gene Kelly insisted on doing a dance with them – “Be a Clown” – in The Pirate The fabric of society didn’t crack. But you’d have a hard time searching the American musical for another scene where blacks and whites blend their talent.There’s one movie in which you have the opportunity to see a lot of these frustrated performers at the same time It’s not a good film, or even a full-length work Stormy Weather, made in 1943, runs only 77 minutes. It turns on a silly romance between Lena Horne and Bill Robinson – he was nearly 40 years her senior. Still, regarded as an anthology, Stormy Weather has its merits: the Nicholas Brothers doing the “Jumpin’ Jive” dance number: Fats Waller sings “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (where did all those ‘g’s go?); Cab Calloway and his orchestra back Ada Brown on “That Ain’t Right”; Bill Robinson dances; and Lena Horne sings “Stormy Weather”. There’s also a small performance from Dooley Wilson, otherwise known as Sam in Casablanca.