Louis Francis DaPron (February 13, 1913 – July 21, 1987) was an American

dancer Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, choreographer and dance instructor. He worked often with tap dancer Donald O'Connor.

Early days

His parents were Elizabeth Kurtz (b. around 1890) and Louis I DaPron, and the family shows up on the 1930 Federal Census as living in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. Both parents were professional dancers, and at some point in the 1930s they settled in Hollywood to open a dance school.

Professional beginnings

Louis, who had been dancing and teaching dance with his parents since he was a child, was hired by choreographer LeRoy Prinz and actor/choreographer Nick Castle in 1936 to assist with dance direction for films at Paramount. He seems not to have been under contract, but to have worked for various studios for the next few years. By 1941 he was the primary choreographer for Ruby Keeler in

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

' ''Sweetheart of the Campus'', her last musical film.

Universal

In 1941, Universal Studios was assembling a group of the best teenage dancers in the country for a dance group to be marketed as the " Jivin' Jacks and Jills" in musical comedy films, and DaPron was put under contract by Universal to be the choreographer for this group. The Jivin' Jacks and Jills were popular with teen audiences, primarily for the dancing and comedy efforts of Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan, who were frequently teamed together. As O’Connor became increasingly popular, Universal focused on him, and the Jivin’ Jacks and Jills were disbanded after 14 films. DaPron stayed on, as O'Connor's choreographer and as head choreographer at Universal, a role he retained well into the 1950s. He can be seen in small dancing parts in two films from 1948: Are You With It and Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' (as ‘the shadow’ in a dance routine to Al Jolson's Me And My Shadow), illustrating his unique style of movement.

Television

DaPron provided choreography for ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'', again working with Donald O'Connor, and The Louis DaPron dancers were regulars on the popular

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

Show from 1955 to 1960.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dapron, Louis 1913 births 1987 deaths American tap dancers American choreographers Dancers from Indiana American male dancers 20th-century American dancers