As we both must have been the elite I think it’s right that the Greatest Dancer must have a female and male title. And for that there is really only one choice.
Ginger and Fred
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers partnered each other in a total of ten films starting with the 1933 movie Flying Down to Rio (and that title still makes me shiver with pleasure) to The Barkleys of Broadway in 1949.I don’t want to go over their lives before, during and after their partnership but would like concentrate on the work done to get that look of effortless style that beguiled audiences then and now.The following is from Jim Carroll’s blog:Before rehearsals would begin RKO would surround Astaire and Rogers with a team of talented practitioners across a range of disciplines:
First there was choreographer Hermes Pan, one of the few people Astaire would allow into his creative process.
‘We were always seeking ideas. Fred hated to repeat himself in anything.’
Hermes Pan, Choreographer
By contrast with the set-piece spectaculars of Busby Berkeley musicals, Astaire and Pan designed dance routines that were elegantly integrated with the plotlines of the films.
‘To go from reality to fantasy is a difficult thing. Dialogue is reality. Dance is fantasy, and song. So you have to slide into it before the people are conscious that you are doing it.’
Hal Borne, Accompanist
Writer Allan Scott crafted light comedy dialog to propel the drama gently forward.
‘The thing uppermost in my mind always was sentiment and absurdity. In other words, combine the two with a sort of rippling kind of dialog without too many obvious jokes.’
Allan Scott, Writer
RKO employed a company of seasoned actors to play alongside Astaire and Rogers: including Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick and Erik Rhodes. And the music was composed by America’s greatest songwriters: Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, and Irving Berlin.
Berlin came in one afternoon, and he was a terrible pianist, just awful…He played ‘Cheek to Cheek’ and sang it. Of course he had an awful voice too. ‘Heaven, I’m in heaven…’ When he got through it, we looked at each other and said: ‘Oh yes, very good.’ ‘Is it?’ ‘Must be. He wrote it.’’
Hermes Pan, Choreographer
The set designers adapted the fashionable art deco styles of the day and generally worked in white so as best to show off the dancing. The cinematographers learned to follow Astaire and Rogers’ every move, employing a close-tracking dolly camera.
Finally RKO producers ensured consistency by scheduling the same technicians to work on each new movie.
‘We worked as a team at all times. So when Mark (Sandrich, Director) got ready to do a picture, he said we’re going to go on such-and-such a date, everybody in the studio knew that, every department knew that. When he got ready to go, he had his crew.’
Joseph Biroc, Camera Operator
Top Hat
If It Doesn’t Feel Right, Do It Over'What counts more than luck is determination and perseverance. If the talent is there, it will come through. Don't be too impatient. Stick at it. That's my advice. You have to plug away, keep thinking up new ideas. If one doesn't work, try another.’
Fred Astaire
Astaire was hard working and obsessive, an absolute stickler for detail.
‘Fred Astaire was such a perfectionist, and if a thing didn’t feel right they did it over.’
Maurice Zuberano, Set Designer
Rogers shared Astaire’s uncompromising standards
'The only way to enjoy anything in this life is to earn it first.'
Ginger Rogers
The creative process began with Astaire and Pan working out routines together, and then Rogers was introduced to the steps a few weeks later. The duo had daily rehearsals for five to six weeks until they were ready for principal photography.
‘We would dance all day, every day in a rehearsal hall at RKO Studios. And we had a great deal of fun. There’s something about rehearsals that’s really very exciting. When you actually got to the shooting and doing the scene, the fun has kind of gone out of it to some extent.’
Ginger Rogers
Only when Astaire, Rogers and Pan were entirely confident in a routine would they expose it to the broader team.
‘I never wanted to show numbers that we were doing until we had them pretty well finished, and invited them to come and take a look …. Usually they loved what they saw, because we knew what we were doing by that time.’
Astaire insisted that dance routines be filmed in as few shots as possible, typically with just four to eight cuts, while holding the dancers in full view at all times. This proved incredibly challenging. One sequence in ‘Swing Time’ which required the duo to dance while climbing stairs took 47 takes to perfect. By the end of the shoot, Rogers' feet were bleeding.
‘I can only get the job done if I beat myself to a pulp. You rehearse and get to know it so well, you don’t look as if you’re wondering what the next step is.’
Fred Astaire
There were certainly a few occasions when Rogers’ dramatic costume choices frustrated Astaire. In ‘Top Hat’ the ostrich feathers in her blue gown flew off in all directions when she span, and all over his tuxedo. Astaire argued repeatedly for Rogers to change her costume. But she held her ground. And she was right: the cascading feathers enhance the graceful fluidity of the dance.
‘I guess I couldn’t blame him. But I had designed the dress and I was going to wear it. And I did.’
Ginger Rogers
Astaire and Rogers made one last movie together (their first in colour) when Rogers stepped in for a sick Judy Garland for 1949’s 'The Barkleys of Broadway'. When they filmed the last dance, a large crowd of crew members from productions past and present gathered to bid them farewell.
'I did everything Fred did, only backwards and in high heels.'
Ginger Rogers
Cheek to Cheek
I’m just off to brush down my top hat, white tie and tails so I’ll leave you to sing along with Irving Berlin andCheek to Cheek
Heaven, I'm in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek
Heaven, I'm in heaven
And the cares that hung around me through the week
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek
Oh I love to climb a mountain
And reach the highest peak
But it doesn't thrill me half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek
I love to go out fishing
In a river or a creek
But I don't enjoy it half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek
Come on and dance with me
I want my arm about you
The charm about you
Will carry me through to
Heaven, I'm in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek
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