Let's Talk Classic Movies: Classic Movies of Legendary Couple, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Today, let’s talk Classic Movies of Fred Astaire! One half of our legendary screen couple, Fred Astaire, was a very gifted dancer, choreographer, and actor. In the 1920s, he and his sister, Adele, were the “dancing darlings of Broadway”, but when Adele married and retired, Fred went to Hollywood to make his first picture in 1933. That picture, MGM’s Da ncing Lady, with Joan

Crawford and Clark Gable, was not a triumph for any concerned, but Fred Astaire’s foot (or should we say feet?) was firmly in the Hollywood door and he would soon be paired with Ginger Rogers at RKO Pictures. That pairing would indeed be a triumph and the rest, as they say, is history.

Fred Astaire’s screen partnership with Ginger Rogers was, however, only

one phase of his long and successful career. We previously discussed the ten films the team made together, but in today’s post, we’ll share several of Fred’s legendary screen performances minus Ginger. Most of us think only of his illustrious MGM career, but the truth is that after RKO, Astaire worked for many movie studios including MGM. It was there that he made Broadway Melody of 1940 with Eleanor Powell. Although the film received

mixed reviews, the dance with Powell to Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine” on that very shiny floor is one of our favorite Astaire numbers of all time. He worked at Paramount and paired up with Bing Crosby for Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn (1942) which showcased both Astaire’s dancing brilliance with his famous Fourth of July “firecracker” dance and Crosby’s incredible singing with his marvelous rendition of “White Christmas” which was first introduced in

that film. Crosby and Astaire teamed up again in another Berlin musical, Blue Skies (1946) in which Astaire danced his wonderful “Puttin’ on the Ritz” number. Astaire also partnered with gorgeous Rita Hayworth in You’ll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) for Columbia Pictures. Those films sky-rocketed the young pin-up girl to stardom.

When Fred Astaire did begin making the big, splashy musicals of MG

M’s heyday in the late 1940s to early 1950s, another phase of his legendary career began. With his fabulously innovative dance numbers, the movie musical would reach new heights in such screen gems as Ziegfeld Follies (1946), with an all-star cast including the equally innovative Gene Kelly with whom

Fred teams up for a terrific dance number called “The Babbitt and t he Bromide”; Easter Parade (1948), with another screen legend, Judy Garland; Three Little Words (1950), with Red Skelton and Vera-Ellen in a musical biopic of songwriting team, Kalmar and Ruby; Royal Wedding (1951), with Jane Powell in a story of a

brother-sister act that plays London at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s wedding to Prince Phillip (watch for the incredible “ceiling dance” in which Astaire dances all over the walls, floor, and ceiling of a room-people still wonder how he did it); and Silk Stockings (1957), with wonderful Cyd Charisse in a “cold w

ar” musical spoof. He also made the films Daddy Long Legs (1955), with Leslie Caron and Funny Face (1957), with Audrey Hepburn. Both are enjoyable musicals, especially the latter, although Fred Astaire looks rather old beside his very young leading ladies.

The Fred Astaire classic movie in the spotlight today is 1953’s The Band Wagon,

with lovely Cyd Charisse. As an aging movie actor who is set to star in a Broadway musical, Astaire is perfectly cast. He has doubts about his ability to dance with the beautiful, young ballerina (Charisse) who is chosen as his leading lady, but when a famous dramatic director (Jack Buchanan) comes on board and wants to turn the musical comedy into a Faustian nightmare, everyone is ready to quit. With the help of the play’s original writers (comically portrayed by

Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant), Astaire, Charisse, and company take matters into their own hands to create the kind of show the musical play was intended to be. There are lots of wonderful musical numbers in The Band Wagon including the classic Astaire rendition of “By Myself”, the romantic yet simple “Dancing in the Dark” sequence between Astaire and Charisse in Central Park, the “film noir” dance, “A Rag, A Bone, and a Hank of Hair”; and the finale number “That’s Entertainment” sung by the cast at the picture’s end. The selection we enjoy most, however, is “Triplets” with Astaire, Fabray and Buchanan dressed as babies. It really is funny. Take a look at The Band Wagon sometime and see for yourselves.

Fred Astaire went on to appear in several non-musical roles. With the nuclear doomsday classic On The Beach (1959), starring Gregory Peck; the disaster film, The Towering Inferno (1974), with Paul Newman; and the thrilling Ghost Story (1981), with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.,

Fred proved himself to be a fine dramatic actor as well as Musical legend. Several of Astaire’s later films also include a final “unsuccessful” musical, Finian ’s Rainbow (1968), with Petula Clark as well as appearances in the MGM Musical tribute films That’s Entertainment (1974), Tha t’s Entertainment II (1976), and That’s Dancing (1985). Fred As taire died in 1987 at the age of 88. His life had been rich and full of accomplishment. His legacy will live on forever in the Musical genre he helped to pioneer.

**Trivia for Today: Was Fred Astaire ever married and if so, to whom?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: Swing Time (1936) is considered to be the best of the Astaire-Rogers films and was the favorite of Ginger Rogers.