Word: !kung
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Back in 1844, social critics condemned the polka as a menace to life, limb and morality. They should have lived long enough to see the Kung Fu, the latest dance fad karateing the country. Inspired by the Oriental hand-to-hand combat form (via the weekly TV series of the same name) and a best-selling spin-off record called Kung Fu Fighting, the dance resembles a samurai samba...
...Kung Fu is essentially an Oriental successor to the Bump, which in turn was preceded on the dance floor by the Philly-Dog, the Boston Monkey, the Boogaloo, the Frug, the Roach, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, Jack-the-Ripper, the Fly, La Pachanga, the Dish Rag, the Slop, the Hully Gully, the Horse, the Twist and the Madison (renamed the Stomp). And before that, as exhumed by late-night World War II movies, there was Frank Sinatra jitterbugging...
...cult flourished while he lived. Now it has been strengthened by his death. Bruce Lee, the Galahad of the Orient, died last year at age 32, having made a string of Kung Fu epics on the cheap in Hong Kong. At first, the Lee movies were intended for local consumption only. But a few found their way to the U.S., a TV series called Kung Fu caught on, and the martial-arts imports have grossed some $12 million at U.S. box offices...
...Barry Hillenbrand reports that he was snapping pictures of government agents scuffling with Buddhists at a demonstration protesting South Viet Nam's harsh press laws, when suddenly one of the plainclothesmen rushed up and punched him on the back of the head, then followed with "one of those Kung Fu kicks to the stomach" before quickly retreating...
...with a burst of pent-up one-liners. "This is a minority show," he announced. "The next minority to get its own show will probably be the Eskimos-Let's Make a Seal." Then he laid into the Chinese: "I'm really afraid of them. Take this Kung Fu, for example. They say that Bruce Lee died of an overdose of marijuana. What really happened was he smoked a great joint, got a great high-and beat himself up." The difference between whites and blacks? "If you go up to a Midwest WASP and ask the time...