{"id":1822,"date":"2015-04-20T03:46:51","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T03:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/?p=1822"},"modified":"2015-04-20T03:46:51","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T03:46:51","slug":"fred-astiare-eons-after-he-is-still-top-hat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/blog\/uncategorized\/fred-astiare-eons-after-he-is-still-top-hat\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Astiare: Eons after, he is still top hat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From Fred Astaire InStep:<\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cHe was that greatest of all dancers, male or female, classical or modern, ballet or ballroom, rap or tap, break or flake, highbrow or low.\u201d Joseph Epstein, Fred Astaire <\/i><\/h3>\n

Today, Wayne Brockman told us about a super news article on the amazing Fred Astaire. Wayne is a manager at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Venice, Florida. We thank you, Wayne. We\u2019re posting the link here<\/a> for everyone\u2019s enjoyment and to honor our founder, a man who forever changed dance and film and whose impact was felt by the entire world. You sure were incredible, Mr. Fred Astaire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We\u2019ve also pasted the article below so you can read more<\/strong><\/p>\n

about the talented, one-of-a-kind dancer who founded our company!<\/p>\n

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Fred Astaire Stepped To The Very Top Of Movies<\/h1>\n

By BUCKY FOX<\/a>, INVESTOR\u2019S BUSINESS DAILY<\/p>\n

Eons after his white tie and tails filled the silver screen, Fred Astaire is still top hat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never been anyone to come along like Fred Astaire,\u201d his co-star Janis Paige told IBD.<\/p>\n

\u201cAstaire was one of the greats, the giants,\u201d raves New York stage producer Chip Deffaa.<\/p>\n

He was \u201cthat greatest of all dancers, male or female, classical or modern, ballet or ballroom, rap or tap, break or flake, highbrow or low,\u201d wrote Joseph Epstein in his 2008 biography<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rudolf Nureyev, rated by one site<\/a> as No. 1 in this arena, called Astaire \u201cthe greatest dancer in American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

As did the British critic Luke Jennings in a 2010 Observer piece<\/a>: \u201cYou can freeze-frame a Fred Astaire dance sequence at any point and the image is always perfect. The Astaire hallmarks, evident in the nine RKO pictures he made with Ginger Rogers in the 1930s, were a supreme musicality and poise. He\u2019d glide across the screen with that nonchalant half-smile, in an effortless hailstorm of tap, and make it look so easy you were sure you could do it yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Astaire was more than a dancer: He was the embodiment of an era; defined, like the man himself, in elegant black and white. Those shimmering ballrooms are gone, but the films are ours forever. He was, quite simply, the greatest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Film Institute is equally agog, listing Astaire fifth<\/a> among 20th century male stars, with no dancer close to him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Eight-Decade Run<\/b><\/p>\n

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Astaire (1899-1987) started on stage as a tot \u2014 dancing toward Broadway with sister Adele \u2014 and lasted 76 years in entertainment.<\/p>\n

Among his movies were 31 musicals, including the smash hits \u201cTop Hat\u201d in 1935, \u201cEaster Parade\u201d in 1948 and \u201cSilk Stockings\u201d in 1957.<\/p>\n

He really swept Ginger Rogers off her feet, to the tune of those nine upbeat flicks during the Depression. She reciprocated at the 1950 Academy Awards, handing him an Oscar \u201cfor his unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unique in that Astaire was a three-tool thespian. Besides playing roles and sweating through tap and ballroom routines, he delivered songs for the ages: \u201cNight and Day,\u201d \u201cChange Partners,\u201d \u201cThey Can\u2019t Take That Away From Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irving Berlin, who wrote the bulk of Astaire\u2019s tunes, lauded that voice: \u201cI never would have written \u2018Top Hat, White Tie and Tails\u2019 or \u2018Cheek to Cheek\u2019 or \u2018Isn\u2019t This a Lovely Day?\u2019 if I didn\u2019t have Astaire and Rogers to write to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deffaa, whose \u201cIrving Berlin\u2019s America\u201d<\/a> production is hitting Northeastern stages, said: \u201cBerlin, who knew and worked with the greatest entertainers of the 20th century, always stressed that Astaire was not only a peerless dancer \u2014 the best that Hollywood ever had \u2014 but he was also as effective an interpreter of lyrics as any singer Berlin ever knew, including Sinatra, Jolson, Crosby.<\/p>\n

\u201cAstaire introduced and popularized many songs that became standards. He did not have a big voice, but it was warm and endearing, and true. He had a superb sense of rhythm \u2014 which served him well as a singer, no less than as a dancer. And he had personality. Berlin loved Astaire\u2019s singing, loved tailoring songs to his voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bing Crosby said of Astaire, \u201cHe has a remarkable ear for intonation, a great sense of rhythm and, what is more important, he has great style \u2014 style in my way of thinking is a matter of delivery, phrasing, pace, emphasis and, most of all, presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jazz critic Steve Schwartz noted in Epstein\u2019s book: \u201cAlmost every great male icon of the art (of singing) \u2014 Crosby, Sinatra, Torme, Bennett \u2014 takes from Astaire. The male pop singer B.F. (before Fred) sounded something like an Irish tenor. \u2026 The limitations of Astaire\u2019s voice forced him to find another way \u2014 deceptively casual, never oversold and at home with the American vernacular. Astaire moved the scene of the singer from the center of the great hall to just across the table, in effect replacing the Minstrel Boy with Ordinary Guy, U.S. version.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simply, said the composer Alec Wilder, Astaire \u201cmade listeners think lots of songs sound better than they really were.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the Astaire stamp was dance. His athletic moves with Rogers<\/a>, Eleanor Powell<\/a> and Paige<\/a> made him rich, as Epstein notes, with his early film salary reaching $100,000 \u2014 worth almost $2 million today.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Astaire,\u201d wrote Graham Greene in a review, \u201cis the nearest approach we are ever likely to have to a human Mickey Mouse; he might have been drawn by Mr. Walt Disney, with his quick physical wit, his incredible agility.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And Durability<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cTo dance as long as he did was extraordinary,\u201d said Deffaa. \u201cUsually when dancers hit their 40s, they\u2019re already in another career. In \u2018Easter Parade\u2019 he was 49, and he had a decade to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That last major musical step was \u201cSilk Stockings,\u201d and 90-year-old Paige still sounds thrilled with the experience. She recalls watching him in Tacoma, Wash., movie theaters during the 1930s \u2014 and \u201cif I knew that one day I would dance with Fred Astaire, I would have just died.\u201d<\/p>\n

That chance came in the mid-1950s, sparked by Paige\u2019s nightclub act at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles. The producer Arthur Freed was in the audience and waved her over after the curtain fell, saying: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a film I want you to be in, and you\u2019re going to have a musical number with Fred Astaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige: \u201cBut I\u2019m not a dancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freed: \u201cThe studio will teach you until you\u2019re great.\u201d<\/p>\n

It helped that Astaire was on the team. He was notorious for training six weeks up to a dance shoot.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerfection is what he constantly strived for, and it became his norm,\u201d wrote Peter Levinson in \u201cPuttin\u2019 on the Ritz.\u201d<\/a> \u201cThe results were staggering and enabled him to become America\u2019s most popular and stylish dancer and a major film star.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Fred Formula<\/b><\/p>\n

Rogers once said, \u201cHow do you think those routines were accomplished? With mirrors? Well, I thought I knew what concentrated work was before I met Fred, but he\u2019s the limit. Never satisfied until every detail is right, and he will not compromise. No sir! What\u2019s more, if he thinks of something better after you\u2019ve finished a routine, you do it over.\u201dThe novelist John O\u2019Hara noted: \u201cHe takes a job, he works and works on it until he is ready, and then he delivers. And then he goes home. That is the magic formula, and anybody can do the same, provided he is endowed with the physical equipment of a decathlon champion, the imagination of an artist, the perseverance of an expert in dressage, the determination of a gyrene drill sergeant, the self-confidence of a lion tamer, the self-criticism of a neophyte in holy orders, the pride of a man who has created his own tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Paige from her Southern California home: \u201cHe was a gentleman from the old school. He was soft-spoken and very hard working. He didn\u2019t praise himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a worrier. During the shooting of \u2018Silk Stockings,\u2019 we once did 15 takes for a scene. Each time he would look at the footage, turn around and say, \u2018Was that OK? You sure that was OK?\u2019 I said, \u2018Perfect.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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Astaire had two wives. His first, Phyllis, with whom he had two children, died in 1954. Twenty-six years later he married Robyn Smith, a jockey who had graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.<\/p>\n

Those were hardly the only women hooked on Fred. \u201cI guess,\u201d said Rita Hayworth, who swayed with him in 1941\u2019s \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Get Rich\u201d and 1942\u2019s \u201cYou Were Never Lovelier,\u201d \u201cthe only jewels of my life were the pictures I made with Fred Astaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deffaa can see why: \u201cAstaire had good looks, charm and elegance.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Paige, she\u2019s writing a book these days about the Astaire era.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to know about this man,\u201d she said. \u201cHe worked his tail off and had a great imagination. He and Hermes Pan worked together with choreography the likes of which I\u2019d never seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her bottom line: \u201cHe was one of a kind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Looking for more info about Fred Astaire?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Fred Astaire InStep: \u201cHe was that greatest of all dancers, male or female, classical or modern, ballet or ballroom, rap or tap, break or flake, highbrow or low.\u201d Joseph Epstein, Fred Astaire Today, Wayne Brockman told us about a super news article on the amazing Fred Astaire. Wayne is a manager at the Fred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/morristown\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}