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The two greatest tap dancers that ever lived-certainly the most beloved dance team in the history of entertainment are Fayard (born 1914) and Harold (born 1921-2000), the famous Nicholas Brothers.
The Nicholas Brothers grew up in Philadelphia, the sons of musicians who played in their own band at the old Standard Theater, their mother at the piano and father on drums. At the age of three, Fayard was always seated in the front row while his parents worked, and by the time he was ten, he had seen most of the great black Vaudeville acts, particularly the dancers, including such notables of the time as Alice Whitman, Willie Bryant and Bill Robinson. He was completely fascinated by them and imitated their acrobatics and clowning for the kids in his neighborhood. Harold watched and imitated Fayard until he was able to dance too, then apparently, he worked his own ideas into mimicry.

It seems that the Nicholas Brothers were immediately successful. Word soon spread through the city about their ingenuity and unique dancing abilities, and they were first hired for a radio program, "The Horn and Hardart Kiddie Hour", and then by local theaters, like the Standard and the Pearl. While at the Pearl Theater, the manager of the famous New York Vaudeville Showcase, The Lafayette, saw them. Overwhelmed by what he saw, he immediately signed them up for his theater.

From the Lafayette, the Nicolas Brothers opened at the Cotton Club in 1932 and astonished their white audiences just as much as the residents of Harlem, slipping into their series of spins, twists, flips, and tap dancing to the jazz tempos of "Bugle Call Rag". It was as if Fayard and his still younger brother had gone dance-crazy and acrobatic. Sometimes, for encores Harold would sing another song, while Fayard, still dancing would mockingly conduct the orchestra in a comic pantomime that was beautifully exaggerated. They performed at the Cotton Club for two years, working with the orchestras of Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Lunceford. During this time they filmed their first movie short, "Pie Pie Blackbird" in 1932, with Eubie Blake and his orchestra.

After this, their career began to gain momentum from the Cotton Club. The Nicholas Brothers then journeyed to Hollywood in 1934 to appear in the films "Kid Millions", "The Big Broadcast" (1936), and "Black Network".

It was their tour of England with a production of "Blackbirds" that gave the Nicholas Brothers an opportunity to see and appreciate several of the great European Ballet companies. Thoroughly impressed, they absorbed much of the techniques, and tried to incorporate certain ballet movements into their jazz dance patterns. In a short film that they made in London during this period, "Calling All Stars", (1937), this interpretative style is quite noticeable and intriguing to observe.

The impression that the Nicholas Brothers made upon Balanchine, the choreographer, was so unforgettable that he invited them to appear in the Rogers and Hart Musical, "Babes in Arms", for the 1937 Broadway season. The considered this a high point in their career because Balanchine was a ballet master and they learned many new stunts. Because of their skill, many people assumed that the Nicholas Brothers were trained ballet dancers.

In1938, the Cotton Club beckoned again, and it was during this engagement that they competed with the Berry Brothers, a black acrobatic dance trio, in a legendary conformation, a sort of dance-fight for supremacy. The event is a part of show business history.
During the 1940's, a long and brilliant association with Hollywood began, notably in a succession of marvelous dance sequences in six 20th Century Fox musical films.

Theater in London, sponsored by the British Institute; at the D.C. Filmfest in Washington, C.C.; and at the JVC Jazz Festival in New York, to name a few. Most recently, the Players presented an evening of Nicholas Brothers films. The Cinematheque de la Danse in France is planning a film retrospective to honor the brothers later this year.

The Nicholas Brothers are the recipients of the 1998 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement in Modern Dance, to be presented in June, and they are the subject of "Brotherhood in Rhythm"; The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers", a 1998 Ph.D dissertation at New York University by Constance Valis Hill.

Filmography

*Harold Nicholas solo

**Fayard Nicholas solo

Night at the Golden Eagle (2002)

Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There(2002)

Night at the Golden Eagle (2001)

**A Night at the Golden Eagle; 2000, Independent. (Adam Rifkin, director, Fayard Nicholas)

*Funny Bones; 1995, Suntrust Films. (Jerry Lewis, Leslie Caron, Oliver Platt, Harold Nicholas)

A&E Special, The Nicholas Brothers: We Sing and We Dance 1992

*The Five Heartbeats; 1990. Twentieth Century Fox .... (Harold Nicholas as...Sarge, Robert Townsend, Diahann Carroll)

*Tap; 1989, Hoofer Films/Tri-Star. (Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis, Jr., Harold Nicholas, et al)

That's Dancing!; 1985, MGM/UA (All-Star cast)

*Disco 9000; 1974 (Harold Nicholas)

That's Entertainment! 1974, MGM. (Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Nicholas Brothers, et al) (archive footage)

*Uptown Saturday Night; 1974, Warner Brothers. (Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Harold Nicholas as....Little Seymour)

**The Liberation of L.B. Jones; 1970, Columbia. (Lee J. Cobb, Roscoe Lee Browne, Lola Falana, Fayard Nicholas)

*L'Empire de la nuit; 1963, UFA-Comacio, French (Eddie Constantine, Harold Nicholas as...Sidekick)

Pathe News Reel; 1948

Botta e Riposta; 1951, Italian.(Louis Armstrong, Nicholas Brothers, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines)

The Pirate; 1948, MGM. (Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Nicholas Brothers)

Dixieland Jamboree; 1946, Vitaphone short subject. (Cab Calloway, Adelaide Hall, Nicholas Brothers)

*Carolina Blues; 1944, Columbia. (Ann Miller, Kay Kyser, Victor Moore, Harold Nicholas, Four Step Brothers.)

*The Reckless Age; 1944, Universal. (Gloria Jean, Henry Stephenson, Harold Nicholas, Delta Rhythm Boys.)

Take It or Leave It; 1944, Twentieth Century Fox. (Phil Baker, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Nicholas Brothers.)

Stormy Weather; 1943

Orchestra Wives; 1942, Twentieth Century Fox. (George Montgomery, Glenn Miller, Jackie Gleason, Cesar Romero, Nicholas Brothers.)

Sun Valley Serenade; 1941, Twentieth Century Fox. Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller, Milton Berle, Nicholas Brothers, Dorothy Dandridge, Nicholas Brothers.)

The Great American Broadcast; 1941, Twentieth Century Fox. Alice Faye, John Payne, Jack Oakie, Nicholas Brothers, Ink Spots.)

Tin Pan Alley; 1940, Twentieth Century Fox. (Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, Nicholas Brothers)

Down Argentine Way; 1940, Twentieth Century Fox. (Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, Nicholas Brothers.)

Calling All Stars; 1937, British Lion. (Larry Adler, Ambrose & His Orchestra, Elisabeth Welch, Buck & Bubbles, Nicholas Brothers.)

My American Wife; 1936 MGM. (Francis Lederer, Ann Sothern, Billie Burke, Nicholas Brothers.)

The Black Network; 1936, Vitaphone short subject. (Nina Mae McKinney, Nicholas Brothers, Amanda Randolph.)

Coronado; 1936, MGM. (Eddie Cuchin & His Orchestra, Jack Haley, Andy Devine, Leon Errol, Nicholas Brothers.)

The Big Broadcast of 1936; 1935, Paramount. (Bing Crosby, Burns & Allen, Cab Calloway, Jackie Oakie, Nicholas Brothers, et al.)

The All-Colored Vaudeville Show; 1935, Vitaphone short subject. (Adelaide Hall, Nicholas Brothers.)

Kid Millions; 1934, Samuel Goldwyn. (Eddie Cantor, George Murphy, Ann Sothern, Ethel Merman, Nicholas Brothers.)

*Syncopancy; 1933, Max Fleisher / Paramount short subject. (Stoopnagie & Bud, Harold Nicholas)

*The Emperor Jones; 1933, United Artists. (Paul Roberson, Fredi Washington, Dudley Digges, Harold Nicholas.)

Pie, Pie Blackbird; 1932, Vitaphone short subject. (Eubie Blake & his band, Nina May McKinney, Nicholas Brothers.)

*Harold Nicholas solo

**Fayard Nicholas solo

*If These Shoes Could Talk; 1993, Milwaukee, WI.

* My One and Only; 1992, Fayetteville, N.C.

*Sophisticated Ladies; 1992, Dallas, TX.

*Sophisticated Ladies; 1992, Houston, TX.

*Sweet 'n' Hot in Harlem, 1991, (choreography), Buffalo, N.Y.

*Sophisticated Ladies; 1991, Sacramento, CA.

*The Nutcracker; 1990, San Diego, CA.

*Sophisticated Ladies; 1989, Long Beach, CA.

*My One and Only; 1989, San Diego, CA.

*My One and Only; 1989, San Bernadino, CA.

**Black and Blue, 1989, (co-choreography), Broadway.

The Tap Dance Kid; 1985 & 1986, National Tour.

*Waltz of the Storch Boogie; 1984, Off-Broadway.

*Sophisticated Ladies; Las Vegas, NV.

*Stompin' at the Savoy; 1981, San Francisco, CA.

*Evolution of the Blues; 1978, San Francisco, CA.

Sammy on Broadway; 1974, Broadway.

*Free and Easy; 1960, Paris, France.

*Free and Easy; 1959, Amsterdam, Holland.

St. Louis Woman; 1946, Broadway.

Babe in Arms; 1937, Broadway.

Lew Leslie's Blackbirds; 1936, London, England.

Ziegfeld Follies; 1936, Broadway.

Dance Magazine Award; 1995

Gypsy Award presented by the Professional Dancers Society; 1994

Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame; 1994

Flo-Bert Award; 1992

The National Black Media Coalition Lifetime Achievement Award; 1992

Kennedy Center Honors; 1991

Harbor Performing Arts Center Lifetime Achievement Award to Harold; 1991

Tony Award to Fayard for choreography of "Black and Blue"; 1989

DEA Award presented to Harold by the Dance Educators of America; 1988

"Ebony" Lifetime Achievement Award; 1987

Apollo Theater's Hall of Fame, First Class Inductees; 1986

Ellie Award presented by the National Film Society; 1984

Bay Area Theaters Critics Circle Award to Harold for Best Principal Performance in "Stompin' at the Savoy"; 1981

Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; 1978