History Main / BusbyBerkeleyNumber

* In one run of the newscasting game in ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', Ryan Stiles' role is that he's always wanted to star in a Creator/BusbyBerkeley musical. The audience is then treated to a dance inspired by the forecast of "sunny days ahead", which includes an overhead shot of Ryan doing snow-angel and running-in-place motions while lying on the floor.
** Creator/BusbyBerkeley has come up in multiple episodes of both the American and British versions of the show, particularly (of course) during the musical games.

-->I haven't seen you in ages\\

Beautiful Busby Berkeley dreams

* Music/TheMagneticFields' song "Busby Berkeley Dreams"

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTiggerMovie'''s "Round my Family Tree" counts as this, at least its end, complete with synchronized Tigger swimmers that dive in a pool and make a circle.

Creator/BusbyBerkeley was a former theater actor who served in World War I as an artillery lieutenant. There, he learned how to get large groups of people to move in sync. This helped him when he went to Broadway and set up some of the most elaborate dancing numbers in the history of theater, with only Florenz Ziegfeld coming close. When he went to film, he topped even that, thanks to cameras being able to shoot where people couldn't sit, using more ChorusGirls than could ever fit on an ordinary stage. (In 1971 he was once again credited on Broadway for choreographing the revival of ''No, No, Nanette'', but this was InNameOnly.)

All the big, splashy musical numbers with elaborate sets and precise, fancy choreography that are a key memory of UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood came largely from the mind of one man. He basically brought the RuleOfCool to musical theater.

* The 1970 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFnqhefkQJw Great American Soups]] ad by Creator/StanFreberg featured a vaguely Creator/BusbyBerkeley-ish number performed by Ann Miller (a top tap dancer) as a housewife telling her returning husband what kind of soup was at home. The ad proved to be very popular and increased sales of soup, but [[WhatWereTheySellingAgain not Great American Soups]] soup. People bought rival Campbell's Soup instead.

* The 1970 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFnqhefkQJw Great American Soups]] ad featured a vaguely Creator/BusbyBerkeley-ish number performed by Ann Miller (a top tap dancer) as a housewife telling her returning husband what kind of soup was at home. The ad proved to be very popular and increased sales of soup, but [[WhatWereTheySellingAgain not Great American Soups]] soup. People bought rival Campbell's Soup instead.

* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's ''Theatre/{{O}}'', which has a giant pool serving as its stage, features several transitions with Esther Williams-style synchronized swimming.

** Part of "The Inquisition" song from ''History of the World Part 1'' has a swimming number with Nuns and Rabbis.

* The choreography for "Dirty Laundry" from ''Franchise/TheWitchesOfEastwick'' deliberately invoked Berkeley's style.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' episode "Roll 'em", Mickey and Minnie stumble onto the set of a synchronized swimming number at one point.

* The "Miss Piggy" number from ''Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper'', with the titular pig as the lead performer, is a take on the Esther Williams Number.

* There were a few ''Series/SesameStreet'' shorts featuring chorus girls doing Busby Berkeley Numbers while teaching the kids at home about numbers.
** One of them was written to be like a Busby Berkeley number, although the visual elements weren't present. The song was a subtle musical theatre parody called "I Just Adore Four," sung by Big Bird first as a solo, [[SummonBackupDancers but then by the second chorus becomes a splashy showbizzy number with the assistance of the]] [[LargeHam Tarnish Brothers]]. The album "The Count Counts" said it came from TheMusical "Two Plus Two," but in reality it was the splashy opening to a ''Sesame Street'' episode called "The Number Four Show."
** The "Penguins" episode of ''Series/ElmosWorld'' had a short musical swim segment.

* Creator/KennethBranagh's ''Film/LovesLaboursLost'' has several dance sequences, but ''No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)'' stands out as another Esther Williams Number.

* TheMovie of ''Film/ThePiratesOfPenzance'' briefly shows the policemen in one of these near the end of "[[GoYeHeroesGoAndDie Go, Ye Heroes!]]".

There's a subset of Busby Berkeley Numbers that could be called "EstherWilliams Numbers" for their most famous star ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Williams info]] at Wiki/TheOtherWiki): scenes done in pools, featuring wonderful examples of synchronized swimming. Usually with several female swimmers standing in a row on the left side of the screen and jumping in the water sideways to the right. Traditionally the camera then follows them swimming under water and then, in bird perspective forming a huge circle with their floating bodies.

* ''The Gangs All Here''

* Music/TakeThat's music video for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwC1Ctrj6Xk Shine]] is a three minute long homage/parody of his work.

* ''Film/TankGirl'' has a parody version of this. Everyone at the Liquid Silver club breaks out into a CrowdSong (and dance) set to ColePorter's "Let's Do It".

* The last part of the final stanza of "I Just Can't Wait to Be King", from ''Disney/TheLionKing'', is intended to invoke a Busby Berkeley Number, even if the visual elements aren't there.
** Agreed. The "animal tower" especially is reminiscent of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=707VxB-ek4Q#t=7m28s this part of "By A Waterfall"]].

* ''Film/GoldDiggersOf1933'', ''Film/GoldDiggersOf1935'', ''Gold Diggers of 1937''

* ''Film/GoldDiggersOf1933'', ''Gold Diggers of 1935'', ''Gold Diggers of 1937''

There's a subset of Busby Berkeley Numbers that could be called "EstherWilliams Numbers" for their most famous star ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Williams info]] at TheOtherWiki): scenes done in pools, featuring wonderful examples of synchronized swimming. Usually with several female swimmers standing in a row on the left side of the screen and jumping in the water sideways to the right. Traditionally the camera then follows them swimming under water and then, in bird perspective forming a huge circle with their floating bodies.

* The ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''' MusicalEpisode has the songs ''Welcome to Sacred Heart'' and ''Friends Forever''. The first one in particular makes good use of overhead shots.

* The ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''' MusicalEpisode.

* In the ''Film/{{The Wind in the Willows|1983}}'' claymation film, the ducks do this during the "Ducks Ditty" song.

* In the ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'' claymation film, the ducks do this during the "Ducks Ditty" song.