Yes there is one clip on RU-vid slowed down whereby the dress with its weighted sleeve and hemline, the sleeve did clip his face, but like the trooper they were in those days, had to get the take right. Unless it is slowed right down you miss it.
Fred Astaire was a dancing genius compared to the crap we have to look at today this is just pure gold. I appreciate it because my father was in a lot of these old movies in the big bands playing in the background in Hollywood. In fact I just lost my mother who is 101 years old and she worked at Schwab‘s drugstore in Hollywood when my dad was in the studio bands. I grew up with this music
I loved your special story thank you for sharing such a love story. 101 years young wow! Your parents are dancing together again, Watching these movies and moments shield us from today.
When I was a bit younger I dismissed Fred Astaire movies as fluff. Now I look at them in proper perspective and understand that they represent the ultimate in film entertainment. They inspire me to hope and happiness in a scary world.
In those days these movies required the main actors to be dancers, singers and actors. No one does all three anymore. That's why these artists will always be remembered, while present day crowd-pleasers will be soon forgotten - like what's-her-name of the hunger games.
The most awesome pairing of two of Hollywood's best dancers. I often watched footage of them as a young child in the 1950s. I am yet amazed by the they could glide gracefully across a dance floor. I wonder though, how Ginger Rogers could dance so magnificently in heels. Those really were the days.
@Lorraine Cardillo Indeed so Ms. Cardillo, those really were the days! She was quoted as having said that, what he did moving forward that she did moving backwards in heels. Ginger Ginger Ginger 💕! Fait a complit!
Just painfully good. How many things are perfect here? Their elegance. His gentle voice. Her beauty. Her dress, weighted so that it swung around her when she stopped. Irving Berlin. The stage. The poetry of black and white. The sexuality as her shape is shown by the backlight through her dress. Her acting. The development. Her gradual surrender to the music. The understatement of the dance. But then the sudden flashes of emotion and speed. The rhapsodic arrangement. The balletic exit. It feels like America's finest moment.
From a gentler and more elegant time, if you had money. Most people lived in squalor. But the film was a great escape for the huddled masses, and still beautiful today.
Often I think that the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films represent the height of western civilization. They are so effortlessly glamorous and sophisticated, so graceful, so wistfully yet deeply emotional. Let's Face the Music is astonishing, built from just walking, really, stepping to the music. But the simplicity is deceptive. When I am tempted to despair, I just remember Fred and Ginger.
+Erin Matthiessen Fred and Ginger may not be the height of western civilization, but they certainly are one of the summits of Western popular culture. Fred's perfectionism ensured that these dances are absolutely flawless. And the combination of sublime dancing, magnificent productions, and unforgettable music and lyrics redefined the concept of elegance for all time. I agree, watching them dance really is a remedy for despair!
+Erin Matthiessen -- My flat mate and I were quite drawn in by your empowering and dramatic verbal episode, however (I regret to say) we were both equally disappointed with the final line -- it simply plummeted from your literary summit there. We so wished you rhymed your sonnet at the end. I assume I am not alone in stating our high hopes of reading, "When I am tempted to despair, I just remember Fred Astaire!"
This song made me cry. This music is so powerful! The further it goes, the more powerful it becomes. It is pity we do not hear music like this. Unless we go on youtube. I watched the whole movie 'Follow the Fleet'. It is brilliant! Sometimes I wish I lived in the 1930s...
One of the impressive visions is not only the brilliance of the music, lyrics, dancing and song but, the physical appearance of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. They are enchantingly glamorous with a sylph look not discernible much today. That grace of a polite society has been replaced by a vulgarity unimaginable at that period.
I grew up watching these ‘old’ movies in the 60s. I was clearly born way too late because this era had so much charm, beauty, talent, and class.❤. Still love Fred and Ginger.
I recently read that Fred...later in life... credited Ginger with the success of their films. She was a very talented actress...but he was the dance master...with great musical sensibilities.
@@stevenuttley Give Astaire his due, he was the one who first said Ginger did his dancing, but all the steps backwords and in high heels, any dancer will tell you this is a fib, the steps of the opposite partner are 'ALL' the reverse of the other. Also (the story is innocent, but long?) I have worn Heels, and the heels Ginger wore were okay for dancing, see ~Swing Time, Pick yourself up~ I'll leave the link for those who don't know the scene I mean? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-06RlwN0nddQ.html
Astaire was an oppressive cis white male His Toxic Masculinity and oppression of Ginger Rodgers is quite disgusting How do we know that he didn't grape her or emotional /financially @buse her ? Hollywood is today rampant with millionaires (men / women and g@y /straight) who do unspeakable things. This is 2024 #MeToo
Watching this is to be reminded not just how incomparable Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were as a dance partnership but, also, what a fine singer Astaire was. This song is one of the great standards of the American Songbook. Astaire was the first to showcase its brilliance
I'm 61 but I was raised by my beloved Gramma, who has been dead now for 2O years, and she introduced me to Fred and Ginger as they were 'all the rage' in her day. I'm so glad she shared that part of her youth with me. I love Fred and Ginger!
She designed a lot of the gowns she wore. I heard an interview where she said this dress was all glass beads and weight a lot. She smacks Fred in the face with the heavy sleeve in one turn but they kept going. These two were pure class.
Her dress is absolutely perfect. See the way it twirls as she moves around (I'd say it's the bias cut if I'm not mistaken) - the costumographer (I forgot what what was his name) really did and excellent job. Like the dress is not only a gorgeous sartorial addition, but also a piece of the choreography. I love that about Fred & Ginger films - that perfect attention to detail.
@@orchids959 I think it was in an interview with Parkinson, Fred mentioned he was hit in the face a few times with those sleeves. You can see him having to adjust at 1:39 in the video
Bernard Newman was the designer of this dress and another iconic one for Top Hat, the feathered one for the song "Cheek to Cheek". Like another poster mentioned here, Fred Astaire was not very fond of this dress and he didn't like the Top Hat dress either. Too many feathers, he said. Luckily, he was outvoted and both beautiful and timeless dresses stayed.
When they danced in 1 movie th beautiful dress with the feathers which she designed but when they danced the feathers were everywhere. Had to stop filming. She said she danced morning to nite she had blisters & her feet where bloody. But they continued to dance. She was a perfectionist. Only the strong willed.💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺& They continued. But she said she had a wonderful life❤❤❤❤❤I loved dancing but to dance like her, they were truly blessed. Took a lot of hard work. No other women compared...😢
Irving Berlin could write ANYTHING: Holiday stuff, patriotic stuff, subtle and not-so-subtle love songs, and incredibly hip stuff, like "Cheek to Cheek," and this, one of the hippest tunes ever written... ...including the lyrics.
As perfect as dawn light on a snowflake! These two were mesmerizing. And THAT DRESS!!! how it swirls and twirls and unfurls as she moves! GR's gowns were as stunning as the routines!!! In these uncertain times its so refreshing to watch beauty!
"Soon, we'll be without the moon humming a different tune, and then, there may be teardrops to shed. So while there's moonlight and music and love and romance; Let's face the music and dance." BEAUTIFUL beautiful and sublime lyrics imo
In 2023 we have lyrics such as: "Last night you were in my room. Now my bedsheets smell like you." I'm not kidding. These are actual lyrics I heard while shopping in a store. I have no idea what the song is, but it was so bad it stuck in my head.
These 2 set the bar high and no one will ever begin to match their style,poise,& grace. I have seen other people dance with Fred but that's all it was, 2 people dancing side by side. Fred & Ginger danced as 1. Truly magnificent!!!
Movies and actors and actressess of those days were absolutely beautiful and fabulous.todays movies are not the same its a shame 😢🙁😒😔.rest in peace to fred and ginger 🕺💃🙏🕊🕊🦋🦋🌹🌹🌻🌻🌷🌷🕊🦋🌹AMEN
That music is astonishingly really good. Young people are so ignorant about this kind of music and I’m 21 somebody jokingly said to me one day that old music makes them have nightmares that’s stupid. This kind of music is definitely coming back a 2020s with people like Alex Mendham, and inspiring me to want to be a successful vocalist and musician myself. And nothing like the great Ms. Ginger Rogers and Mr. Fred Astaire.
One of the most perfect duo of all times! Fred and Ginger are so talented, accomplished, they fall in love by Dancing, Eye Contact, Music... it's just Magic!
Fred Astaire choreographed all the routines he did with Ginger. Hermes Pan did the routines for the ensembles. They all enjoyed working together. Fred always designed routines to show off his partner's strengths. Ginger was his best ballroom dance partner, Eleanor Powell, (who choreographed also) was his best tap partner and Cyd Charise was his best formally trained partner, but no one created the chemistry like Ginger.
The most remarkable thing that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse and all of them pulled off...they made it look so EFFORTLESS. To look at them onscreen, you'd never know what kind of hard work goes into the art of dance.
I can’t imagine who would downvote this. FTF is often under appreciated in the Rogers/Astaire canon. It’s probably my second favorite of their RKO films. It’s mostly casual and playful until it arrives at this thoroughly ultra glam scene, which is really a play within a play. Ginger’s heavy beaded gown with those huge bell sleeves, and the sheer skirt which shows off her beautiful legs..is one of her sexiest (right behind the famous gorgeous biased cut gown from Swing Time’s ‘Never Gonna Dance’), but I digress. Movies like this keep me sane in an insane world. I would sell my soul to be able to teleport myself back to 1930s America (Great Depression and all). I’d stay there and live out the rest of my life.
People during the Depression with not enough food in their stomachs and overdue rent they couldn't pay and countless sleepless nights would scrape together enough do-re-mi to see an Astaire/Rogers film. It was their only escape from a relentlessly harsh world.
I’ve watched Fed Astaire and Ginger Rogers Movies every New Years Eve since I was a child. When cable came around in the early ‘80’s by us bringing AMC into my living room…I was overjoyed to continue my love of these classic movies from then on!!
When we can escape to gracefulness, gentleness and beautiful music why would we choose what makes us angry or sad. There is only one life to live and this glittery romance takes us to the best feelings with which to carry on.
I must've watched this clip dozens of times, but I only just thought to look at both their feet. It seems so effortless on top, but I was truly amazed by their footwork. It's far more complicated than I'd imagined and done so expertly. They're truly truly amazing dancers!
Absolutely beautiful. The way her dress twirled around her legs, and the see thru effect only added to the dance, like it took on a life of its own. Would love to know the color of that dress. Thank you for posting.
I fell in love with Music, Dance and lastly Fashion .... I was 10 years old.... Irvin Berlin, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers are American Icons in a level unsurpassed!!
I am one of the many here who consider this Astaire-Rogers number to be the greatest romantic dance duet ever filmed. Watching it again tonight, it occurred to me how much it owes to the brilliant and original orchestration of the great Berlin tune--the work of Robert Russel Bennett, the best orchestrator on of Broadway who was working in Hollywood at the time. Now long after this film, Bennett returned to New York where In later years he arranged most of the Rodger and Hammerstein classic B'way shows, but he left behind his talented assistant, the young Conrad Salinger, who moved from RKO studios to MGM, bringing with him this fully symphonic yet jazzy type of orchestration.The sound of the American musical.
Fred Astaire was one of the best dressed men of all time . His physique , his dancing , he could wear a potato sack and he would make it look as if it were a Saville Row suit .
