Jack Donohue started as a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies, continued as a dancer, dance director and dance teacher for tap dance (most prominent pupil: Eleanor Powell) in New York and in London (he starred in the British film Rhythm in the Air (1936) with his wife Tutta Rolf). He began working in Hollywood in 1933 as a choreographer and dance director, and was president of the Dance Directors Guild from 1945-46. He also worked as a director, mainly for MGM, directing musicals and comedies.