In 1928, the Missouri Rockets traveled to New York City to perform in the Broadway show Rain or Shine where the caught the eye of showbiz impresario Roxy Rothafel. In 1930 they appeared in their first film, “ King of Jazz ”—a pre-Code musical revue starring Paul Whiteman ands orchestra. It contained only musical numbers and comedy sketches. King of Jazz  was the nineteenth all-talking motion picture filmed entirely in two-color  Technicolor  rather than simply including colo

Though it was Russell Markert who formed the original Rockettes (The Missouri Rockets) in 1925, the man who formed the first precision dance troupe was an English man named John Tiller. Tiller Girls 1891 In the 1880s, Tiller formed a dance school in Manchester, UK. In 1890 John was asked to present a quartet of children for the pantomime Robinson Crusoe at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Liverpool. He chose four of his best Manchester pupils, all aged about 10 years; Dolly Grey

Russell Markert founded the Missouri Rockets in 1925 and remained the chief choreographer. image-preserver and resident father-figure of the famous troupe until his retirement in 1971. In the era when the Music Hall played to full houses every day of the year, he trained and rehearsed 2,500 Rockettes, young women who had to be 5’5’’ to 5’8’’ tall. Markert began his professional career on Broadway, graduated from the chorus to dance director of the annual revue ‘Early Carroll’

The Missouri Rockets with Russell Markert Russell Market was a chorus dancer at the Missouri Theater. The owner of the theater asked him to come up with a specialty dance troupe so he began auditioning local girls. In 1925 he had formed a group of 16 women between between 5’2″and 5’6 ½”, and called them the “Missouri Rockets.” They made their debut that year in St. Louis performing before feature films at the Missouri Theater on Grand Avenue The Missouri Rockets In 1928, the