Busby Berkeley

Busby Berkeley (November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976), born Berkeley William Enos, was a Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer.

Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berkeley's works used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances.

Career

Berkeley was born to stage actress Gertrude Berkeley. Among Gertrude's friends, and a performer in Tim Frawly's Stock company run by Busby Berkeley's father Francis Enos (who died when Busby was eight), were actress Amy Busby from which Berkeley gained the appellation "Buzz" or Busby" and actor William Gillette, then only four years away from playing Sherlock Holmes. Whether he was actually christened Busby Berkeley William Enos, or Berkeley William Enos, with "Busby" being a nickname, is a not unanimous – the "Child's names" entry on his birth certificate is blank.

In addition to her stage work, Gertrude played mother roles in silent films while Berkeley was still a child. Berkeley made his stage début at five, acting in the company of his performing family. During World War I, Berkeley served as a field artillery lieutenant. Watching soldiers drill may have inspired his later complex choreography. During the 1920s, Berkeley was a dance director for nearly two dozen Broadway musicals, including such hits as A Connecticut Yankee. As a choreographer, Berkeley was less concerned with the terpsichorean skill of his chorus girls as he was with their ability to form themselves into attractive geometric patterns. His musical numbers were among the largest and best-regimented on Broadway.