Sanding (dance) the box of rosin before matches to improve his grip. Sims' popularity as a tap dancer and career at the Apollo certainly made him one of the most if not the most influential sand-dancer of all time. Sand dancing was also used by the popular comedic vaudeville trio, Wilson, Keppel and Betty. They spread sand over the stage in one of their most well-known numbers, "Sand Dance". In their performance, there was no allusion to African American heritage; rather to the sandy environs of Egypt, a clear inspiration for their number. In spite of this deviation from the African American
The 20th Century Fox Mambo Noel Murray of The AV Club says "sfter Karen gives her big dance audition to “The 20th Century Fox Mambo”...the Marilyn creative team indicates that she nailed it". Scott Brown of Vulture says "the conceit of the song is: Norma J's, in for a Fox screen test in the mid-forties, has been asked to foxtrot, but she breaks into a mambo instead". Brown notes that the song is "the only totally realized original this episode", and theorised that "the weekly pattern's looking like this: one fleshed-out original song, one partly realized original song or reprise, and two big covers". JJ