Mike Madill
dancer / 1940-1990
Mike Madill was one of the last true vaudeville performers, beginning as a partnered dance act with his twin sister.
Performing in a nightclub at the beginning of WWII, he was taunted by some of the soldiers in the audience.
Not realizing he was only seventeen and working under a forged ID, they called him names for not being in uniform.
Stung by their comments, he went to enlist in the Marines under his fake papers the next day, seeing action in the Pacific.
Returning home, he went back to his career and became one of the Lucky Strike Hit Parade dancers.
He also had an acrobatic song-and-dance act with that took him all over the world. (That's Mike in the air.)
After retirement, he began directing shows, giving Morgan Freeman one of his first jobs in an Oakland production of
West Side Story before being called to California State University - Chico
to begin the first Dance Department. I can personally attest to his amazing teaching skills.