1920s
1921 – May – The musical “Shuffle Along” included Charleston dancing, although it was not called the Charleston. The songs were written by Sissle and Blake and choreographed by Ned Wayburn .
1923 – “Lisa” An off-broadway musical by Irving C. Miller introduces the Charleston danced by Rufus Greenlee and Maude Russell.
1923 – October – “Runnin Wild” This Broadway Musical by Miller and Lyles ran from 29 October 1923 through 28 June 1924. The “Charleston” song is by James P. Johnson.
1923 – October – The Charleston is added to the dances sequences in the “Zeigfeld Follies of 1923” – 10 Oct 1923 – 10 May 1924.
1925 – Actress Bessie Love dances the Charleston in the film The King on Main Street.
1926 – The film The Song and Dance Man – Bessie Love performed the Charleston.
1926 – Santos Casani and Josie Lennard performed in a short film The Flat Charleston recorded in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film system, and released in December 1926.
1927 – The March 15, 1927 film footage of Santos Casani and Josie Lennard dancing the Charleston on the roof of a London taxi was one of the era’s notable publicity stunts. The film was shot by Pathé News at Kingsway in London.
1928 – In the film Our Dancing Daughters Joan Crawford dances the Charleston.
1930s – ’50s
1933 – The “Crawl Charleston” is shown in a British Pathe Instructional Short, which has sequences filmed beneath a glass floor to show the dance steps. Demonstrated by Santos Casini and Jean Mence.
1942 – The film Roxie Hart has Ginger Rogers dancing the Charleston.
1946 – The film It’s a Wonderful Life, the dance competition features the Charleston.
1950 – The film Tea for Two – Doris Day and Gordon MacRae perform the dance.
1952 – The film Has Anybody Seen My Gal? – Rock Hudson and Piper Laurie dance the Charleston.
1952 – The film Belles on Their Toes, Ernestine Gilbreth (Jeanne Crain) is shown dancing the Charleston after breaking up with her boyfriend, Al Lynch (Martin Milner).
1952 – The film Come Back, Little Sheba, Lola Delaney (Shirley Booth), dances the Charleston for her husband Doc Delaney (Burt Lancaster).
1954 – The stage musical The Boy Friend, Bobby surprises Maisie and asks her to go with him to a masquerade in the song “Won’t You Charleston With Me?”
1959 – The film Some Like it Hot includes several Charleston quotations including Monroe performing “Runnin Wild”.
1960s & ’70s
1967 – The film Thoroughly Modern Millie – Surprisingly for a musical set in the 1920s there is no actual Charleston sequence although the title song opens with a Charleston beat and another song “Jazz Baby” includes a passage quoting the Charleston.
1971 – The film The Boy Friend by Ken Russell of the 1954 musical. Twiggy and Christopher Gable dance the Charleston in the “Won’t You Charleston With Me?” sequence.
1973 – In the The Brady Bunch the episode, “Never Too Young”, the family dances the Charleston in their living room, wearing 1920s-era costumes and using the original Charleston music.
1974 – The Great Gatsby: People are seen dancing the Charleston by the pool and on the stairs while Gatsby introduces himself to Nick Caraway.
1980s & ’90s
1982 – Doctor Who serial Black Orchid, the Doctor’s companion Nyssa dances the Charleston with her double, Ann Talbot.
1983 – The film Zelig by Woody Allen includes the Charleston.
Part of the late-1980s rap duo Kid ‘n Play’s signature dance move, “The Kid ‘n Play Kickstep,” involves many of the Charleston’s dance steps. The lyrics of the song “Do The Kid ‘n Play Kickstep” from Kid ‘n Play’s 2 Hype LP outlines the Kickstep’s moves and mentions the Charleston by name.
1992 – The Simpsons episode “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie,” news reporter Kent Brockman reports that 1928 “The year when you might have seen Al Capone dancing the Charleston on a flagpole”. A clip (labeled a dramatization) shows “Al Capone” performing the dance on the flagpole and then falling.
1995 – The video game Mortal Kombat 3, a character named Cyrax performs the Charleston.
1997 – The musical The Lion King, Timon performs the Charleston while luring hyenas away from Simba and Nala.
1997 – The Kidsongs Kids and the Biggles perform the Charleston in their Kidsongs video “I Can Dance!”.
1998 – From season 2 of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch in the 1998 Episode “Fear Strikes Up a Conversation” , Zelda under a case of witch-snap from being overworked suggests her a Hilda do the Charleston, which they then perform.
2000s & ’10s
2001 – The film The Cat’s Meow, set in November 1924, features the Charleston prominently.
2009 – In the episode “My Old Kentucky Home” from season three of Mad Men , Pete Campbell and his wife Trudy dance the Charleston at a soiree in 1963.
2009 – In Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars (2009) and Series 7 of Strictly Come Dancing (2009), partner Charleston routines were introduced to the pro/am competition.
2013 – The film The Great Gatsby: People are seen dancing the Charleston by the pool and on the stairs while Gatsby introduces himself to Nick Caraway.