I've been hanging out on youtube.com recently, enjoying some of the great days of singing and dancing numbers from the old movies. You can, too, and it's very easy to do. One caution: you can spend a lot of time there, so bring some coffee or tea and lots of popcorn.

If you are not familiar with this site, simply put "www.youtube.com" into your browser and then type whatever you are looking for into the search box. Then be prepared to spend the next few hours (days?) enjoying all those old clips.

This past Wednesday, I discovered a perfectly delightful song and dance piece by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Perhaps best known as Jack Benny's butler, he certainly did good by himself in a piece which seems to have been named, "With a Belt in the Back." I have never heard of it, but already watched it twice. He is showing off his Zoot Suit to his neighbors and eventually enlists in the military; a great piece and is simply indexed under "Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson."

The piece is from the 1942 film, "Star Spangled Rhythm." "Buddy Ebsen Dances" is a wonderful piece on a warship from 1936's "Born to Dance." He's loose, moves well around the set and you would never recognize him if all you saw was his later television work.

Then there is another clip, almost five minutes long, titled: "Born to Dance - Original Trailer 1936." Eleanor Powell is in this one, along with James Stewart and Buddy Ebsen and a cast of hundreds. It's a delightful introduction to the show and, unlike some of the trailers you might see on television, there is some continuity to it and not just a bunch of flashy scenes.

In other words, they just don't make them like this anymore. And there aren't any commercials before the show starts. "I've Got You Under My Skin, 1936 'Born To Dance,'" is another gem of ballroom dancing. The image is not that clear, so I can't make out who the dancers are; Eleanor Powell is a very good guess and the other moves like Fred Astaire

Then, of course, a very funny and delicately done version of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm - Spike Jones." This is his usual style of interlacing sound effects with a different kind of farm. Funny for children, funny for adults. Check it out.

There may be many of us, same as your humble scribe, who never knew much about navigating YouTube. But it's fun and easy. Don't have a computer? Remind your children how much they bugged you and it's pay-back time: bring them this column.