Fred Astaire died 38 years ago today, on June 22nd 1987. This item is just a blatant excuse to watch Fred Astaire’s best numbers with all three of his great partners. They are all gone now – Ginger Rodgers in 1995, Eleanor Powell in 1982, and Rita Hayworth, in 1987. But definitely not forgotten.
Katharine Hepburn famously said of Rodgers and Astaire, “He gives her class and she gives him sex.” Ginger Rodgers said, “Everything he did, I did too, backwards, in heels”.
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell’s Begin The Beguine from Broadway Melody of 1940 is, simply, “The greatest tap routine ever filmed”.
Look at the ease and effortless synchrony. Of course, you’ve got to wade through the four singing ladies at the beginning to get to it. But it’s worth it.
Fred’s other great partner was Rita Hayworth, the most beautiful of them all and the best actress. She was at least as good a dancer as Ginger Rodgers but Eleanor Powell was a dancer in a class by herself and Hayworth never made the mistake of competing with her feet.
On the other hand, watch Hayworth’s arms and hands, which are infinitely more expressive than either of the others. Astaire’s biographer, Peter Levinson, pointed out that “Rita’s youthful exuberance meshed perfectly with Fred’s maturity and elegance”. Here is So Near and Yet So Far from You’ll Never Get Rich – 1941.
Astaire? Well, Fred was just Fred, the same every time. He just did what he did. Perfectly.
The post Ruth Leon recommends…. Fred Astaire and Partners appeared first on Slippedisc.
