First, she sings: a boogie-woogie dance instruction number called “Chicken Shack Shuffle.” And then, because this is a soundie — one of the many short musical films made in the 1940s to be played on ...

“Mable had a way and she cared to teach it,” said tap dancer Michelle Dorrance, the most prominent member of a generation of dancers, younger than Lee by a half century or more, who were strongly and ...