Unusual Fred Astaire Dance Routines

It is taking me longer to go through Fred Astaire material than I thought! I didn't realize how many films Fred Astaire made during his prolific career: he created around 35 movies during his career, and this is surprising considering that he really entered Hollywood when he was around 34 years of age.

In Fred Astaire's obituary in the NY Times, I found a list of some of the more unusual dances that Fred did during his career. I think that these are really fun to watch because they show off his dancing ability and also his ability as an entertainer.

Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in "You're All the World to Me" from Royal Wedding (1951):

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced on roller skates in "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" from Shall We Dance (1937). I think it's especially fun to hear this song, since Fred and Ginger also sing this song, which was written by the Gershwin brothers.



Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth dance on top of a wedding cake in "You'll Never Get Rich":




And Fred Astaire dancing while hitting golf balls off of a tee in "Carefree":



And, although this isn't an unusual set or premise for a dance routine, I thought I would include this clip of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dancing together (from "The Babbit and the Bromide"), since you don't always see these two mega-star male dancers appearing side-by-side. It's interesting to see them dancing together and notice how differently their bodies are formed: Fred seems lanky and tall next to Gene Kelly (which is funny because Fred was only 5'9" tall).