“Day-O”/”Shake Señora”: Beetlejuice’s crazy dances

Let yourself be enchanted by Tim Burton and Harry Belafonte.

Released in 1988 in theaters, Beetlejuiceof Tim Burtonwill soon have a sequel: see you at the cinema from September 11th to find the most bizarre of bio-exorcists!

In the meantime, Max is welcoming the original film to its platform from Wednesday, August 14. An original comedy that has become a classic for all fans of the American filmmaker’s gothic cinema. Particularly thanks to its particularly memorable musical scenes.

Thirty-six years ago, Burton called on Danny Elfman – who he would work with very often afterwards – to compose the music, and he also integrated some pieces by Harry Belafonte into the Beetlejuice universe: “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”,”Man Smart, Woman Smarter”, “Sweetheart from Venezuela” And “Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)”. The first and last songs punctuate two crazy dance scenes: the one at dinner, where Delia and Charles Deetz’s guests (Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones) are suddenly seized by an irresistible urge to shake their hips, and the one at the end, with Lydia (Winona Ryder) flying through the air while ghosts wiggle down the stairs. Two sequences that have become cult classics, but which almost turned out to be very different.

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“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”

In 2018, on the occasion of the film’s 30th anniversary, magician Dick Cavey, who appears at the dinner, revealed that Tim Burton had encountered quite a few difficulties in designing this sequence. In the original script, it was not danceable, the guests being tied to their chairs by evil spirits. The music was to be taken from an album by The Ink Spots, a group of singers who were precursors of doo-woop and who had great success in the 1930s.

It was Catherine O’Hara who suggested the idea of a calypso, and the production eventually acquired the rights to several Harry Belafonte songs. Once on set, this sequence alone took three days of work, because in addition to the actors’ specific choreography – the characters are spellbound by the music and seem to have lost control of their bodies – Tim Burton had to find a way to achieve his fall: during the tests, the hands coming out of the plates to grab the guests’ faces rarely landed correctly. The animators hidden under the table couldn’t see anything and kept missing their targets! Cavey explains that he submitted the idea of shooting this sequence in reverse, with the actors starting the scene with their heads buried in one hand, then moving back while dancing: “I was considered a genius, but I’m sure other people on set had thought of that!”

Once completed, Tim Burton was unsure of the relevance of this sequence, which he did not find as funny as expected, but test screenings reassured him, it was kept and became cult upon the release of the film. It is also adored by the cast, to the point that Glenn Shadix, who plays Otto, asked for the piece to be played on the day of his funeral. A wish respected upon his death in 2010.

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Met to talk about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice In No. 553 of First (currently on newsstands), Catherine O’Hara remembers very well from the filming of this particular scene.

“Tim loves music, so do I, Danny (Elfman) was once again very inspired, the interpreter of Lydia Deetz tells us. They imagined this wink to ‘Day-O’, sung by a children’s choir at the beginning of the second film, in the cemetery. It’s a way of echoing Beetlejuicewhile playing with his dark themes. With his very particular humor, too. Then with Jenna (Ortega)we share a never-before-seen dance scene in this sequel. We had so much fun rehearsing this weird choreography! I really like how Tim plays with his own universe, and I’m glad our reunion was musical, it made sense.

Personally, I love to sing. Tim has offered me vocal roles in Frankenweenie And The Nightmare Before Christmasbecause he knows I like to play with my voice.

‘Day-O’at the time, it was such a bizarre scene. I remember that it took several days to shoot: imagine us doing all these ridiculous movements around this table, several times in a row, until we were perfectly in sync… it was really crazy! (laughs) Now, I’m dancing with Jenna, for a different choreography, of course, but which is reminiscent of this one in a way.”

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“Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)”
The film’s other memorable dance comes at the very end, after Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) is stuck in the afterlife waiting room and the ghost couple (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) have learned to coexist peacefully with the human family. Overjoyed by this happy ending, young Lydia takes to the air, swaying to the catchy rhythm of the calypso.

This sequence also required a lot of special effects, especially to include the team of recently deceased American football players starting to dance in the background, on the stairs. The result is particularly joyful and catchy. However, here too, the original script planned for a darker passage: in order to live in peace with her new friends, Lydia was supposed to die! An ending deemed too “dark” by the production which asked Warren Skaaren (Beverly Hills Cop 2, Batman) to review Michael McDowell’s script (The Nightmare Before Christmas) to soften it up a bit.