Long, long ago I published a reconstruction of the Lambeth Walk, from the musical Me and My Girl, as demonstrated on a 1938 newsreel film by British Pathé. At the time, I mentioned that the newsreel version did not actually match the directions published on the 1937 sheet music (the cover of which is shown at left; click to enlarge) and promised to talk about other versions of the dance at some point. Having just had the chance to teach the Lambeth Walk last weekend for the first time in ages, it seems a good time to get back to it!
Before reading on or trying the dance, I suggest reading my post on the 1938 version and watching the British Pathé video (the Lambeth Walk starts at about :54) to get an idea of the spirit and style and links to some recordings. This is not an elegant dance; it's a meant as a jaunty working-class strut. Oi!
The starting position for the dance is side by side, gentleman on the left and lady on the right. The starting foot is probably the right foot for both dancers, judging from the poor-quality photos accompanying the instructions, but it doesn't actually matter at any point in the dance.
Dancers should start at the lyrics "Anytime you're Lambeth way..."
The Lambeth Walk, 1937
4b Promenade eight steps side by side
4b Link right arms and walk four steps round; switch to left arms and walk four steps back
4b Link inside arms and promenade eight steps, same as at the beginning (see notes below)
2b Partners face each other and back away with three short steps and a close with weight
2b Slap knees "in time to music" (see below); give the Cockney salute and shout "Hoy!" on the final beat
Reconstruction and performance notes1. The instructions on the sheet music do not say to link arms on the second promenade, but the low-quality accompanying photo (at left) does show the dancers linking arms.
2. The dancers back away from each other but don't come back together again -- they start the beginning promenade while still separated. So they should not separate very far! The original instructions specify very short steps.
3. The rhythm of "in time to music" is not specified. The best reference I have is the 1939 film version of the musical (with the original stage star, Lupino Lane, once more in the lead role), in which the dancers slap in a "one-and-a-two...a-three" pattern matched to the lyrics "Doin' the Lambeth Walk". The sequence appears twice, once with the dancers starting with left hands, once with right -- by which I conclude that it doesn't really matter which hand starts -- and slapping their thighs five times before clapping both hands together:
Do first hand slap
'in second hand slap
the first hand slap
Lam second hand slap
beth first hand slap
Walk clap both hands together (each dancer's own hands)
Hoy! Cockney salute
The left-hand-starting version may be seen here, and the right-hand-starting version here. Watching either will help catch the rhythm. Note that in the film the dancers never go all the way through the specific social dance sequence, which predates it. It may have been taken from the stage version, or it may just be a simplified "inspired-by" contrived to be easy and commercially successful.
4. The "Cockney salute" is throwing the right thumb over the shoulder hitchhiker-style, but with more verve, leaning back slightly. It's always the right thumb in the film, regardless of which hand the slapping sequence starts with.
Differences between this version and the newsreel version
1. The linking arms figure is done first by right arms then back by left arms instead of all the way around by left arms.
2. The second promenade is a simple eight steps rather than the step-step-step-rock-rock pattern of the newsreel version.
3. The dancers back away from each other but do not come forward again at the end. Instead of a single thigh-slap, there's the little sequence described above.
4. I've always seen the Cockney salute word spelled as "Oi", but here it's "Hoy", which appears to be the same word without the dropped "h" of Cockney speech; see the discussion here. "Oi" seems more authentically Cockney, but when shouted over music, I doubt anyone will notice the difference.
Which version to dance?
Both are perfectly valid, but I think that the 1938 version probably quickly became the standard one. The rhythm and steps of the 1938 rock-rock version of the second promenade feature prominently in the 1942 "Schichlegruber Doing the Lambeth Walk" anti-Nazi propaganda film, and it is the 1938 version that seems to have been retained by the modern sequence dancing community (here, for example), though elements of the 1937 one (the right and left arm turns) seem to still have some currency among British swing dancers and reenactors. Pick which one you like best!
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