Male speaker #1> It's a phenomenon.

It's somethin' that happened... I don't know why it's here and not someplace else.

Female speaker #1> We didn't know they didn't do it all over the United States.

We thought everybody did that.

I couldn't do a whole lot then, cause my mother wouldn't allow me to go like everybody else's parents.

so I had to kind of sneak around and learn how to do it on my own.

Male speaker #2> It was always a good way to meet women.

Male speaker #3> It's controlled wildness.

A self-expression without being vulgar, but just tasty enough to let you know you know what's happenin'.

Male speaker #4> There's no other dance like it.

It's hard to describe what it is.

You'd have to see it.

Narrator> In parts of the Southeastern United States, people still do a popular dance which began in the 1940s.

Somewhat like the jitterbug, this swing-type dance has endured despite many changes in dancing styles and trends.

Folks in the Carolinas know and recognize this dance.

They call it "the shag."

♪ ♪ Hold back the night ♪ ♪ turn on the light ♪ ♪ don't wanna dream ♪ about you, baby ♪ ♪ Hold back the night ♪ ♪ turn on the light ♪ ♪ don't wanna dream ♪ about you, no more ♪ ♪ When you left ♪ it took the sun ♪ ♪ right out of my sky ♪ ♪ Yes, you did ♪ ♪ Wondered why ♪ you went away ♪ ♪ and never ♪ told me why ♪ ♪ When the sun goes down, ♪ and the moon is near.... ♪ Female speaker #2> Well, I don't know why it's lasted so long, except for the fact that the people in the South, especially from this area, developed the shag a long time ago, back in the '40s, when the jitterbug was very popular with the big-band sounds of that particular time.

The people down South moved a little bit slower, so they developed the shag, which is a very slow derivative from the old jitterbug.

Stan> Lindy hop was before the shag.

It goes back to '30.

Hold this a second.

They used to do a shag like this.

This used to be the shag.

Can you go down and shoot feet?

This used to be the shag.

♪ Then it became boogie walk... this kind of stuff.

Narrator> This man, Stan Catron, was a professional dancer in his teens.

He was featured on the cover of "Life" magazine in 1943 as part of a special photo essay on the lindy hop.

A Yankee, he married this woman, Betty Kirkpatrick from North Carolina, she was one of the great early shaggers, and is now a member of The Shag Hall of Fame.

Stan sees similarities between the modern-day shag and other dance styles whose popularity has died.

Old lindy people never die... they just do the shag.

> And now fellow members, it's my pleasure to introduce to you several pupils of Mr.

Arthur Murray, the world-famous dance instructor, who will demonstrate to you the dance sensation which is sweeping the country... the shag!

♪ Arthur > I want you to notice that in all of these intricate steps the count is always the same.

Slow... slow... quick, quick.

Narrator> The exact origins of the shag are unknown.

Some shaggers think their dance evolved from earlier dances.

And there was this dance called the shag in the 1930s.

A variation of the Charleston, popular before the jitterbug, this earlier shag has little in common with the shag that's danced in the Carolinas today.

♪ [fast-paced piano music] ♪ ♪ While shaggers now are mostly White folks, the shag steps undoubtedly developed from dances like the Charleston and the jitterbug, dances heavily influenced by the improvisations of Southern Blacks.

From juke joints to the swankest nightclubs, Black dancers changed the way everyone danced in the 20th century.

♪ In the 1930s in Columbia, South Carolina, the best Black dancers frequented a nightclub called the Big Apple.

A man known as Big Elliot Wright ran the place.

The Big Apple was housed in this building, originally built as a synagogue.

Most dance historians agree that the dance craze known as the Big Apple began here.

Mitch Barkoot, a Columbia businessman, remembers when he and other young White people would come to the Big Apple Nightclub to watch the Black dancers from the balcony.

Mitch> A bunch of us boys used to be in the gallery, which is still here at this club.

We watched this until such time we took over the club and began the Big Apple.

The Big Apple has the same steps as the jitterbug or the shag as they call it today.

I would like to demonstrate the Big Apple as it was done in those days, as it would still be done today if it were bein' done.

I'm gonna step back and show you the Big Apple step.

The Big Apple- excuse me.

The Big Apple was done by a group of people- two couples, four couples, six couples, any number of couples that wanted to get out on the floor and do it.

So I'm gonna show you how the dance is done.

[footsteps on dance floor] It's done in this manner.

It's the jitterbug step.

♪ ♪ Say, what's that apple ♪ you're talkin' about?

♪ ♪ It's a new dance ♪ they're all ravin' about ♪ ♪ You truck on down... ♪ ♪ and Suzi-Q ♪ ♪ Then shag a bit... ♪ ♪ and some posin' too ♪ ♪ A lindy hop... ♪ you pant a lot ♪ ♪ Put 'em all together ♪ and what have you got?

♪ ♪ The Big Apple!

♪ Narrator> Harry Fowler was one of these South Carolinians who went to New York City in 1937 to do the Big Apple.

He also feels the roots of the shag are in this dance.

♪ ♪ Hallelujah!

♪ Narrator> When Harry and his wife Margaret dance the shag, today they do a step that Harry considers very close to what he once danced as "the little apple," influenced a bit by the jitterbug.

Like many Carolinians, Harry remembers dancing at the beach.

Harry> I'd be walkin' down the beach, somebody'd holler "the Big Apple!"

Everybody'd come out the water, and get on the beach, and start doin' the Big Apple.

♪ Everybody's learnin' ♪ how to do the Big Apple ♪ ♪ The Big Apple!

♪ Narrator> Many shaggers believe that their dance originated somewhere along the Grand Strand, the 55-mile long stretch of beaches between the North Carolina border and Georgetown, South Carolina.

After World War II, from Georgia to Virginia, summers at the beach became legendary good times, and everyone danced.

♪ ♪ ♪ Narrator> Some people think that Billy Jeffers was the first person who danced what we now know as the shag.

Billy and his wife Wanda are still pretty hot dancers.

Billy> I guess then, I was considered one of the top dancers at the beach, which is no great thing.

It hasn't made me a dime, that I can see but- Wanda Jeffers> Good friends.

Billy> Because you dance for fun.

You get out on the dance floor you didn't know what you were gonna do until the music started.

Wanda> The basic shag step, I think sort of evolved from what they used to call the block step.

And then people just started puttin' the shuffle with it, but the beat of the music is the same beat.

Maybe that's why it's lasted so long even though you do it all sorts of different ways.

The shag is like one, two, three, four... an eight count.

Billy> Jitterbug is a little wide open.

When you got a 10- or 13-piece band behind you, and they're really swingin', you don't have much time to stand there and mess around, unless you have time, which we did most of the time.

Wanda> Billy listens to the music.

When it swells he turns wider, and his steps pick up.

He interprets a piece of music, and I think that's why he's a good dancer.

Billy> I mean, really, I love music!

Like I say, if I got to waste time countin' and all that, I'd rather be home doin' a math problem or somethin'.

I'm not into the counting.

I think when you're dancin', you're thinking strictly about the music, or I am... maybe thinkin' about who you're dancin' with!

[laughing] Narrator> In 1945, when Billy and Wanda sat with a friend here on the steps of Roberts Pavilion at Ocean Drive.

The background music came from a jukebox.

Billy> That's what everyone did.

They had a jukebox along the front of the pavilion.

They had one inside the pavilion.

That's what you did everyday, you went out and talked with the lifeguard and waited for somebody to put a nickel in the jukebox, which sounds ridiculous now, but you could get five pieces for a quarter then.

We'd wait on the tourists to put the money in the jukebox, and then all of us would start dancin'.

Narrator> In the late '40s, people started dancing to rhythm and blues records they found in jukeboxes at Carolina beaches.

These songs became known as "beach music."

> What is called "beach music" was originally called "rhythm and blues" and "race music."

And it was music that was really marketed strictly for the Black audience.

I think the way the term "beach music" came about was the only place you could hear it was down here.

It was not played over the airways.

General> Black music, the rhythm and blues music, was... it was looked down on by the White audience, in fact to the point that White radio didn't play it.

It was called "blue" music.

Narrator> General Johnson is one of the most popular beach music performers in the Carolinas today.

He's lead singer for the group known as the Chairmen of the Board.

♪ Sweet Carolina Girls!

♪ ♪ Carolina girls!

♪ ♪ Sweet Southern pearls ♪ ♪ sho 'nuff tough ♪ ♪ I can't get enough ♪ ♪ of you sweet ♪ Carolina girls ♪ ♪ I love the way ♪ you walk ♪ ♪ I love the way ♪ you talk ♪ ♪ You're so fine ♪ ♪ You're one of a kind ♪ ♪ Sweet Carolina girls!

♪ General> And they hold their grasp.

That's what I like about it.

If I write a song down here, it lasts for 50 years.

Anywhere else the life span of a song is six months.

Right?

Black people- This is music of another era.

They're doin' other stuff now.

But what goes around comes around in the music industry.

In time they'll be doin' that same dance again.

Narrator> Some of General Johnson's songs, including "Carolina Girls," are now considered beach classics.

Chris> A record becomes a beach classic when it withstands time, if it's on a beach jukebox or is played by a disk jockey for maybe more than one summer.

A lot of times a jukebox at the beach, whether it be at a club or a restaurant, will have 80% of the records stay on there year after year.

Narrator> Chris Beachley, that's his real name- runs a record shop called The Wax Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He specializes in beach music.

Beach music totally relates to the shag.

The shag has always been the thing that made beach music probably survive.

It has turned beach music into a living, breathing lifestyle, where people... party with it, drink to it, dance to it.

The first thing you did was just jump in the car, and you took off for the beach.

That was just a ritual.

♪ ♪ Oh, Green Eyes... ♪ ♪ you're eyes ♪ that promise sweet nights ♪ ♪ Bring to my soul ♪ a longing.... ♪ (fading to different song) ♪ Under the boardwalk, ♪ ♪ down by the sea, yeah ♪ ♪ On a blanket ♪ with my baby ♪ ♪ is where I'll be ♪ ♪ Under the boardwalk.... ♪ (fading to differ net song) ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ♪ Miss Grace, ♪ ♪ satin and perfume ♪ and lace, ♪ ♪ the minute ♪ I saw your face, ♪ ♪ I knew ♪ that I loved you ♪ (fading to different song) ♪ I want to sit there ♪ in the sand, ♪ ♪ watch those golden tans ♪ go walking by ♪ ♪ ♪ I know it isn't fair, ♪ ♪ that you might really care ♪ ♪ But it's ♪ different now ♪ ♪ Summertime's ♪ calling me ♪ Narrator> As the years went by, beach music changed, and in the late '60s there was a time which some called "the dark ages" of the shag.

But in the early '70s there was a shag renaissance.

♪ You...with your ♪ 39-21-40 shape , ♪ ♪ yes, you got me going ♪ ape-ity-ape over you ♪ Narrator> During this renaissance special clubs opened.

And More people than ever were doing the dance.

Shad Alberty in Charlotte helped manage several beach clubs, organized some shagging contests, and started to offer shag lessons.

Shad> Over the years the shag has been made into an art.

Just anybody can't walk out here and do it in fact, nobody can walk out here and do it, unless somebody teaches them.

It's just that type of dance.

Somewhere along the line someone had to teach somebody to get it started to teach someone else.

It's just like the dialects of North Carolina.

Two or three different places, people speak different.

It's the same way in styles of dancing.

They learn to dance one way in one part of North Carolina.

They learn to dance another way in another part of North Carolina.

It's still the same movements, same basics that they use... it's just a little difference in style, the way they do it.

South Carolina's the same way... their style's a little different than North Carolina, but they can still dance together.

Narrator> In these shag classes, Shad teaches the men while his wife Brenda works with the women.

Brenda> The women make the men look real good.

They make 'em look excellent.

The woman has the hard part... she has to follow.

That's not easy to do, because the men sometimes forget to lead 'em.

And a real good female dancer will be where she's supposed to be, even if the man messes up, and make it look right.

♪ Hello, cat, ♪ I just got back, ♪ ♪ and I'm lookin' for ♪ that place ♪ ♪ they call ♪ the Chicken Shack ♪ Narrator> There are an infinite number of variations on the basic step.

Jo-Jo Putnam and his wife Vicky do many steps that have earned them a special reputation among serious shaggers.

Jo-Jo> You dance to that beat.

And the beat is the pulse, just as your heart.

And you get your rhythmic values coordinated with the beat of the music, so you're playing right along with the musicians, and you are improvising.

Improv... that's where your self-expression comes out.

If you don't learn a basic step to stay in time, an unvariable basic step- there are many changes- but you get that element of one-two-three-four, you can cook!

And when you do, it's just... you're walking arm in arm with God.

Vicky> It's a dance of individual expression.

And whether you're out there with your partner or if there's 10 other couples on the floor, everybody's doin' their own thing, but hopefully all of them are dancing in time to the music.

Jo-Jo> Well, I was a musician growing up.

And, you know, a drummer or musician never had any problems getting a strange date in a strange town or at a party.

So, I noticed that the better dancer was walking out with my share of the fair hair.

So heck with it, I learned to dance!

Vicky> Around 1960-61, my family started going to the beach, and I'd seen people in Greenville shagging.

I met a guy whose sister had a dance studio, and I said, "Boy, that looks like a fun dance."

So I went to the beach.

I heard the place to go was Ocean Drive... The Pad!

So we all went down there.

We hung out around looking inside the boards.

And we were too young to get in, so we'd keep watching till we thought we had that step.

And we'd go home and practice it.

♪ Oh, thank you, John ♪ ♪ You been a boss ♪ time come ♪ ♪ You ain't nothin' ♪ but a jive ♪ Narrator> The Pad is still open, and it's now, somewhat of a shrine for shaggers.

It's one of several clubs at North Myrtle Beach, the place that used to be called Ocean Drive, or OD.

Since 1980, people have been migrating back to Ocean Drive every year the second week in September for a huge party thrown by a group known as SOS, the Society of Stranders.

The group was founded by an advertising man from Richmond, Virginia, Gene Laughter, whose nickname was Swink when he worked at the beach.

Gene> Well, SOS is mainly, I guess, a state of mind.

Originally it was intended to be a small reunion of a group of us who used to lifeguard and hang out here in the early '50s.

And we thought we might have a hundred people.

There was a problem in reaching this group because everyone went by a nickname.

The gals got married... we didn't know their last name.

So, I went to the media to help me put the group together.

And I came down, tried to organize it, thinking we would have, oh, basically maybe 100 or 150 people.

And the first year at our reunion, oh, I guess we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,000 people showed up.

So it's grown beyond the original intent, and now it's a gathering of people that are interested in beach music, shag dancing, beach partying.

Narrator> At SOS you see many diehard shaggers, including legendary greats who've been inducted into The Shag Hall of Fame, a special honor bestowed on certain individuals every year at the Sand Flea Beach Club in Greenville, South Carolina.

But the shag isn't the only dance these Stranders know.

When the right record comes on, everyone does the Continental.

♪ ♪ ♪ Old man rhythm is... ♪ in my shoes ♪ ♪ It's no use sittin' there ♪ just singin' the blues ♪ ♪ So be my guest... ♪ you got nothin' to lose ♪ ♪ Won't you let me ♪ take you on a sea cruise?

♪ ♪ Oooh-ee... ♪ oooh-ee, baby ♪ ♪ Oooh-ee... ♪ oooh-ee, baby ♪ ♪ Oooh-ee... ♪ oooh-ee, baby ♪ ♪ Won't you let me ♪ take you on a sea cruise?

♪ Narrator> At SOS things never slow down.

The dancing goes on round the clock, often to classic beach music done live by groups like High Tide from Greenville.

♪ ♪ Goin' down to meet ♪ my little bobby sock ♪ ♪ Shove a big ole' nickel ♪ in the music box ♪ ♪ Come across the floor ♪ in my Bermuda shorts ♪ ♪ Then I'm gonna ♪ order us some a la mode ♪ ♪ I'm gonna nip-sip... ♪ every day, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every night, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every day ♪ ♪ I'm just a-nippin' and ♪ a-sippin' my time away ♪ ♪ I'm a rock and a pop ♪ with my sugar lips, ♪ ♪ honey drippin' down ♪ from my fingertips ♪ ♪ Have a Coca-Cola ♪ and a root beer, too, ♪ ♪ a little light spice, ♪ ooh...shooby doo ♪ ♪ Nip-sip... ♪ every day, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every night, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every day, ♪ ♪ I'm just a-nippin' ♪ and a-sippin' my time away ♪ ♪ Going to the party ♪ to get with the bunch, ♪ ♪ I got a dollar ♪ for my nippin' ♪ ♪ and a dime ♪ for my lunch.

♪ ♪ I'm gonna dance the mambo ♪ to every set ♪ ♪ That's when I'm gonna get ♪ my whistle wet ♪ ♪ I'm gonna nip-sip... ♪ every day, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every night, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every day ♪ ♪ I'm just a-nippin' ♪ and a-sippin' my time away ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Goin' to the party ♪ to get with the bunch, ♪ ♪ I got a dollar ♪ for my nippin' ♪ ♪ and a dime ♪ for my lunch ♪ ♪ I'm gonna dance the mambo ♪ to every set, ♪ ♪ and then I'm gonna ♪ get my whistle wet ♪ ♪ I'm gonna nip-sip... ♪ every day, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every night, ♪ ♪ nip-sip... ♪ every day ♪ ♪ I'm just a-nippin' ♪ and a-sippin' my time away ♪ ♪ I'm gonna nip-sip... ♪ every day, nip-sip.... ♪ Narrator> While these people are dancing up a storm along the Grand Strand, not far away, near the small town of Hemingway, John Snow is inspecting his tobacco crop.

Better known as "Bubber," he is the state representative for this part of South Carolina.

And his dancing talents have been legendary since he was a young man.

On their front porch he and his twin sister used to practice the dance that they still do today as the shag.

John> It looks good, it feels good, and I just feel like it's the type dance that dignifies our state, and we've had many dances to come out of South Carolina... the Charleston, the Big Apple.

And I just feel the shag is what those of us that think we are dancers do the best.

It just seems appropriate that that should be our state dance.

And, being in the House of Representatives, I went around and talked with every House member to see if they objected to it.

Of course, the procedure is not difficult because we have so many state things... state bird, state everything.

Washington State, I think, is the only other state that has a state dance.

So, actually, the drafting of the legislation just says that the shag will be the official dance of South Carolina.

And of course, it has to receive six readings- three in the House and three in the Senate- and then be signed into law by the governor.

Narrator> Even "The New York Times" took notice when South Carolina cared enough to recognize the importance of some popular culture.

For Bubber and his sister, and many Carolinians, shagging is more than just dancing.

It's remembering good times when you used to show off take the floor at a beach pavilion and sometimes even dance on the beach.

John> We danced on the beach, but we didn't do it seriously, and I would think that most dancers would always take a dance partner out for the early part of the evening, and then there was always a phenomenon that we called "late dating."

It was always popular during this era, when I was there, to have two dates.

You'd take your dancer and dance with her, and then you'd go have a late date.

Of course, the late date may not be a good dancer.

Her talents may be somewhere else.

Narrator> Memories of romance and cuddling on the beach often seem like part of the basic step of the shag.

Those long-ago days of sand and sunburn may have been some of the best times of your life.

For many Carolinians, getting out on the dance floor and becoming part of an old beach song is a tonic that can't be beat.

Moving your feet in time with the music brings back those great times.

And now that it's officially sanctioned as the state dance of South Carolina, the shag seems certain to last for at least several more generations.

For as long as people go to Carolina beaches, and as long as there's one old copy of "Sixty Minute Man" on a jukebox somewhere, there's going to be someone who will want to pull you out on a dance floor, and before you know it, you'll be shagging... ♪ ...all night long ♪ ♪ I'm a 60 minute man ♪ ♪ There'll be ♪ 15 minutes of kissin'... ♪ ♪ Then you'll holla' ♪ please don't stop ♪ ♪ ...there'll be 15 minutes ♪ of teasin' ♪ ♪ ...and 15 minutes ♪ of squeezin' ♪ ♪ and 15 minutes ♪ of blowin' my top!

♪ ♪ If your old man ♪ ain't treatin' you right, ♪ ♪ come up ♪ and see your Dan ♪ ♪ I'll rock 'em, ♪ roll 'em all night long ♪ ♪ I'm a 60 minute man, ♪ oh, yeah.

♪ ♪ Sixty minute man ♪