Dance Till Dawn

In 1919, an aspiring starlet and a seasoned comedian step into the radiant spotlight, and step off stage into a society swirling in change, each weighing the cost of success against the chance to be seen and remembered.

New York City, 1919. A year of soldiers shipping back from war in victory. A year that women gained the right to vote. A year of heavy drinking, as Prohibition had been passed, but not yet ratified. “Drink up while we all still can.”

In 1919, we were on the verge of both great freedoms and great restrictions, and some were on the verge of making it big, having stars in their eyes all the same. Dance Till Dawn is a long-form music video that glimpses at the lives of performers as they step into the spotlight, and likewise, as they step off stage into a society swirling in change.

Inspired by the saucy world of the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, the characters in Dance Till Dawn echo the lives of the era’s major players: Marion Davies, the starlet; William Randolph Hearst, the millionaire; Bert Williams, famed comedian and the first person of color to be a member of Actors Equity; and of course, Florenz Ziegfeld, the master impresario.

“The Great War, the sea of change, the wars we wage within ourselves…be soft and frolic while the world is pulled apart.” How different is the sea of change today?

While fictional, this project takes the approach of historical accuracy in presenting the world of 1919. For example, Bert Williams, who is the inspiration for the Walker Kingston character, was an African American star that performed at the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic in blackface, and Florenz Ziegfeld, the inspiration for the character Flo, was not only his employer but also a close friend and an early activist when it came to race and civil rights. This project presents these life moments, and similarly the “me too” dressing room scene between Sterling and her suitor, in stride with their era, showing the unsettling alongside the glamorous confection.

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