Celebrities Project: Fred Astaire

If I had known what a prolific career Fred Astaire had, I think that I would have devoted two months to studying his work. Interestingly, I didn't feel like there was much to learn about his personal life (especially after coming off of learning about Louis Armstrong, who had such a dramatic and often turbulent life). It seems like Fred can be summed up in a few ways: he liked golf, horses, English fashion; he was a quite cautious person by nature, and he was a perfectionist when it came to his dance routines.

Probably the most interesting thing that I learned this month was that Fred had a long stage career with his older sister Adele (shown above). I read about an interesting biography dedicated to their work together: The Astaires: Fred and Adele by Kathleen Riley. They began taking intensive dance classes when they were children (about four and six years old) and they performed together into adulthood. Adele was really popular with the critics, and it seems like she was considered to be the more talented entertainer out of the brother-sister team. The team ended in 1932, when Adele left the stage to marry Lord Charles Cavendish. More information about Adele is in her obituary, and I posted an interesting anecdote about her on my art history blog. Although we don't have any film recordings of her performing, I do think it's interesting that her singing voice reminds me a little bit of Ginger Rogers's voice.

Fred and Adele Astaire in 1906

Another thing that was interesting to me about Fred Astaire was that he was close friends with George Gershwin. The two worked together so well, especially musically-speaking, that Alexander Woolcott wrote in 1927: "I do not know whether George Gershwin was born into this world to write rhythms for Fred Astaire's feet or whether Fred Astaire was born into this world to show how the Gershwin music should really be danced. But surely they were written in the same key, those two" (New York World, 23 November 1927).

These are the Fred Astaire films and clips that I saw over the past few weeks:

• The Gay Divorcee (1934): This was fun to watch, because I watched it with my Grandma and my sister. It really is quite a funny show, and we found ourselves laughing quite a bit. This was the second show that Fred performed with Ginger Rogers. The Cole Porter song "Night and Day" is in this film, and it's fun to hear Fred sing that.
• Flying Down to Rio (1933): This was the first film that Fred Astaire created with Ginger Rogers. They both had secondary roles in the movie, and honestly, it was a slow-paced film that dragged quite a bit. And only some of the speakers were authentic Brazilians, but I guess that's an unrelated issue...
• Easter Parade (1948): Apparently, Gene Kelly was supposed to do this film, but he broke his foot by stomping after he lost a volleyball game. Gene recommended Fred for the film. I was really impressed with Judy Garland's comedic timing, more than anything. 
• Daddy Long Legs (1955): There is some fun dancing in this film, and I personally like th opening scene when there are a lot of iconically-styled portraits (in the manner of Whistler or Sergeant, for example) created with Fred Astaire's likeness. Fred does seem quite old to be paired opposite such a young actress, but he mostly pulls it off alright.
• I also watched an interview with Ginger Rogers from 1968, in order to get a bit more of an outsider perspective on Fred Astaire. She tells a delightful story about how they spontaneously planned to dance for a moment on stage at the Academy Awards in 1967 (see video clip), which was fun.

All in all, I think that I had a mixed response to Fred Astaire Month. His dance routines were entertaining and fun, but I realized after a few films and video clips that I had a pretty good sense of his style. I didn't feel a compulsion to keep watching his films for enjoyment, but more so out of responsibility to this project. I did enjoy reading about his work with his sister, though, and I feel like I have a fairly good sense of who he was as a person and as a performer.