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Astaire and Rogers: Follow the Fleet — 23 Comments

  1. While Fred Astaire was the master dancer, you correctly point out that Ginger Rogers did a pretty good job of keeping up with him. That movie also had a pretty good songwriter: Irving Berlin. While I had grown up hearing some Irving Berlin songs, such as Easter Parade, I wasn’t aware of him as a songwriter until I was nearly out of high school.

    The first time I become of Irving Berlin as a songwriter was in a high school assembly, where we heard a computer-generated/moog synthesizer [?] version of Berlin’s Blue Skies. This was cutting edge at the time, as I heard this about 6 months before Wendy Carlos’s Switched on Bach was released. I recall my history teacher saying that it was “chilling” to have a computer generate such music. I merely thought that Berlin’s Blue Skies was pretty good music. Even as a teenager, I had to admit that some of the old fogies had made some pretty good music.

  2. Comparing Fred and Ginger to what passes for “talent” these days makes me very sad.

  3. snopercod:

    Well, they were unusually wonderful even for their era.

    But I basically agree with you.

  4. Actually Ginger was the better dancer, she did everything Fred did but backwards and in high heels.

    btw, May I ask if it was you that posted a few years ago a video of Gene Kelly doing a routine of fixing his breakfast?

  5. What a treat! Thanks, Neo.

    Personally, I loved them in these tap routines. I think it’s here that their talents — and especially Mr. Astaire’s — are shown off best. Best by far.

    Among the women, my absolute favorite tap dancer is Eleanor Powell. I do wish every one of her movies had been recorded with today’s technology, but the taste of her own era.

  6. Fred really hated that ostrich-feather dress. Every time she spun, bits of feather would fly into his face, his eyes, his teeth! Ginger had a tough time with the fur-trimmed number, because it was so heavy. But boy, were they a delight to watch.

  7. I was watching Follow The Fleet once, and was startled when I realized the pretty blonde gal, was Lucy!

  8. Harriet Hilliard, later Harriet Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet, was also one of the pretty girls in Follow the Fleet.

  9. She was republican and a “christian scientist” (a belief that sickness is an illusion that can be corrected by prayer alone).

    As an actor I love her most as a comedian (unfortunately she didn’t make many comedies).
    She even succeeded with cringe-worthy scripts like “The Mayor and the Minor” which demanded from her as a 30 year old woman to play a twelve year old girl. The movie wouldn’t work without her stunning charm.

  10. Like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire was a taskmster. I saw an interview of him once talking about his dance partners. He said that at some point they all cried. Except Ginger. He said the even with bleeding feet Ginger Rogers never, ever cried.

  11. To take nothing away from Fred and Ginger, the story has it that Fred Astaire, himself, called the Nicholas brothers dance routine (to Cab Calloway’s Jumpin Jive) the greatest dance number ever recorded on film. Judge for yourself (The Nicholas Brothers appear at 1:30 on the video).

    The link:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8

  12. Actually Ginger was the better dancer, she did everything Fred did but backwards and in high heels. [ligneous]

    You’re not paying attention to the image. This is an urban myth to reinforce the “women can do anything a man can do—but better” meme.

    Watch “Paul in Boston’s” clip. Both dancers, at different points, backstep. When they’re both turning no one is backstepping—they’re moving sideways (rotating).

    They’re both superb dancers and a pleasure to watch.

  13. “When I was a child there were a lot of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies shown on TV. I probably saw all of them (some, many many times), and I loved them.”

    I remember not being able to figure these movies out. While I could recognize the general look, period, and milieu, I kept waiting for the speeding sedan and the tommy gun blasting out the window; and couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long to get to the good part.

    As mentioned before, they are also famous among critics for having “idiot plots” wherein stuff just happens with no real aim or purpose, and the practice of listening to simple explanations and thereby circumventing needless problems is studiously avoided by all of the characters.

    That said, they are of course near works of art to the adult eye, and everyone who appreciates them can recall their own “favorite” scenes. I got a kick out of Astaire playing jazz piano and then smirking, pleased with himself, in some film with Russians in it; and another one where he and she … she for the most part does something energetic with her skirts in Pick Yourself Up.

    And as also mentioned before: That 50’s Astaire move scene with the girl in red in the hepcat bar …

    You have good taste Neo, and good timing when it comes to taking a mental break from it all.

  14. All I had to do to remind myself of the title was go to YouTube and type in “Fred Astaire in hepcat bar scene with dark haired woman”.

    Don’t know about the film overall but that was a “cool scene”. I recall that we could not come up with a specific name for that “style” either.

  15. She dances, and well.

    He dances as if he had liquid bones.

    As to that: watch his hands and their placement at every instant. An additional dance to the main theme.

    …what a great way to spend a couple of hours. Thanks neo (and all).

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