ST Pre-Code—Shadow Waltz

[Robin Landseadel]

94 “Shadow Waltz”
 
One of the “features” of Shadow Ticket is the way some film references are
buried in the text in such a way as to make them easy to pass over,
like the reference to Jay Gould in CoL49. This comes just before Daphne
shows up, as her friend Lois decides to abandon the scene:

“. . . Chazzy? Sugarcube? Where the hell’d he go?”
 
“Seven-teen’ll getcha twenty, yes,” Sheldon murmuring to the tune of
“Shadow Waltz” “It will . . .”
 
Lois fishing around for her car keys. “See if I can catch up with him,
you mind, Daphne?”

So, this is the moment just before Hicks encounters Daphne for the
very first time, before the two haul off in a highjacked speedboat to
a local Ojibwe reservation, out of the clutches of any local “authorities”.
“Shadow Waltz” was written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin for
“Goldiggers of 1933, so in the time-line of the novel its presence at this
juncture makes it anachronistic by more than a couple of years. But
“Goldiggers of 1933” is (arguably) the quintessential Pre-Code musical.
 
This is the Busby Berkeley choreographed “Shadow Waltz” sequence,
women waltzing in gossamer dresses play neon decorated violins and,
in typical Busby Berkeley fashion, arrange themselves into flower mandalas:

https://youtu.be/TAH0IKUk3aE?si=RztsY6azxlQzFh9v