For example: Gene Kelly does the twist in "Singing in the rain" 20 years before Chubby Checker....Stony Jackson taught his cousin Micheal the moonwalk after stealing it from a '30s dancer...and last nite I watched a 1940 Hal Roach comedy where the lead actor had an Asian employee that would sneak up and attack him from behind. I'm guessing that Blake Edwards saw "Turnabout" too.
Here's the Moonwalker from the 30's