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Documentary honors multitalented McFadden Brothers
Names such as the Nicholas Brothers and Fred Astaire were synonymous with tap dancing and hoofing. Their amazing steps are memories left to film.
Fortunately, their tradition was handed down a generation. Contemporary tap dancers and hoofers such as Lonnie and Ronald McFadden remind us of what was so popular about the art form when it was at its zenith.
Reel Images Productions and The Video Group are set to release a documentary about the McFadden Brothers. The film, “Sons of a Hoofer — The McFadden Brothers,” will premiere at 7 p.m. April 26 at the Gem Theater. The 60-minute documentary is the work of local filmmaker Rodney M. Thompson. Tickets, which are $20, are available at the American Jazz Museum.
The film delves into the lives and careers of the brothers, who carry on Kansas City’s jazz tradition by singing, playing instruments and, last but not least, tap dancing. In the film, the two entertainers pay homage and give credit to their late father, James “Pops” McFadden, a legendary hoofer.
Thompson said the idea for the documentary emerged while he was filming a previous documentary on two-stepping.
“The McFadden Brothers are so tremendously talented,” Thompson said. “In the past, we allowed our musicians to become old before they were recognized. I wanted to make a film about these brothers while they were still viable entertainers and relatively young men.”
The film traces the McFadden Brothers’ development as entertainers from childhood through the years as they struggled to make it in the music world. During their careers, the two have traveled the globe, performing with the likes of Wayne Newton and Sammy Davis Jr.
“Each time I’d see them perform, I was struck at how multitalented they are and how they can do so many things at such a high level,” Thompson said.
While it may not have been unusual for someone in their father’s day to play an instrument, sing and tap dance, Thompson noted that it’s quite unusual today.
“I can’t think of another act that does that and performs as well as they do,” Thompson said. “When you see them, you see a pure joy on their faces. They’re very passionate as performers.”
Stinson McClendon, the co-producer of the movie, said the challenge came in trying to document an artistic genre that’s less popular today.
“Hopefully, we were documenting an artistic piece that future generations of Americans will be able to see and understand what it was like in the 1930s and 1940s,” McClendon said. “The McFaddens kept alive an art form that’s not very much in use today.”
Lonnie McFadden hasn’t seen the movie. But he feels honored that the filmmakers chose him and his brother as their subjects.
“That’s a very humbling thing,” Lonnie said. “I plan on bringing plenty of tissue.”
James McFadden, their father, died at 69 in 1985.
“I owe him so much,” Lonnie McFadden said Tuesday. “Pops started us out tap dancing before I realized I was even running. I didn’t want to be a tap dancer. I wanted to hang out on the corner with everybody else. But my father wasn’t having any of that.
“ … And if I was doing any less than what I’m doing now, it would be a dishonor to my father and the way I was brought up. He was a wonderful guy.”
Sometimes we wait for someone else like a critic or an out-of-state expert to declare special what we already know to be special. Thompson and McClendon didn’t wait for some diamond expert to tell them how to spot a gem. They’ve seen how bright the McFadden Brothers can shine.
And they recognize a true Kansas City treasure when they see one.