Tuesday Tunes!

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

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Today we are featuring….Fred Astaire!

“People think I was born in top hat and tails.”

The son of an Austrian immigrant, Fred Astaire entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in Dancing Lady (1933) before starting work on RKO’s Flying Down to Rio (1933). In the latter film, he began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers, with whom he danced in 10 RKO pictures. During these years, he was also active in recording and radio. On film, Astaire later appeared opposite a number of partners through various studios. After a temporary retirement in 1945-7, during which he opened Fred Astaire Dance Studios, Astaire returned to film to star in more musicals through 1957. He subsequently performed a number of straight dramatic roles in film and TV.

 

A Scene from Swing Time

 

 

The Famous Dance on the Ceiling….yes, you heard me correctly. Dancing on a ceiling.

 

 

A coat rack, weights, parallel bars and Fred Astaire…

 

Facts about Mr. Fred Astaire…

Wore his trademark top hat and tails in his very first movie appearance, Dancing Lady(1933).

He was voted the 19th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Named the #5 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the American Film Institute.

He was voted the 23rd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.

One of the first Kennedy Center Honorees in 1978.

Ranked #73 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list.

Astaire disguised his very large hands by curling his middle two fingers while dancing.

His legs were insured for one million dollars.

While all music and songs were known to be dubbed (recorded before filming), his tap dancing was dubbed also. He “over-dubbed” his taps – recording them live as he danced to the previously recorded taps.

Inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2002 (inaugural class).

In December 2013, he was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.

Interred at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, California, USA, the same cemetery where long-time dancing partner, Ginger Rogers, is located.

Tuesday Tunes!

by Lydia Tuesday Tunes

Screen Shot 2013-07-09 at 12.05.42 PM

 

 Hi Framers! This week’s Tuesday Tunes we are doing a Throw Back Tuesday! Here we are looking at one of the greatest dancers of all time-Gene Kelly. He once said if Fred Astaire was the “Cary Grant” of dance, then he was the “Marlon Brando”. 

 

 

Eugene Curran “Gene” Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer, and choreographer. Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likable characters that he played on-screen.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in Hollywood when Gene Kelly arrived in town in 1941. He came direct from the hit 1940 original Broadway production of “Pal Joey” and planned to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film required by his contract. His first picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was For Me and My Gal (1942) with Judy Garland. What kept Kelly in Hollywood were “the kindred creative spirits” he found behind the scenes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The talent pool was especially large during World War II, when Hollywood was a refuge for many musicians and others in the performing arts of Europe who were forced to flee the Nazis. After the war, a new generation was coming of age.

Those who saw An American in Paris (1951) would try to make real life as romantic as the real life they saw portrayed in that musical, and the first time they saw Paris, they were seeing again in memory the seventeen-minute ballet sequence set to the title song written by George Gershwin and choreographed by Kelly. The sequence cost a half million dollars (U.S.) to make in 1951 dollars. Another Kelly musical of the era, Singin’ in the Rain (1952), was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry. Kelly was in the same league as Fred Astaire, but instead of a top hat and tails Kelly wore work clothes that went with his masculine, athletic dance style. Gene Kelly died at age 83 of complications from two strokes on February 2, 1996 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.

 

The Famous Scene from Singin’ in the Rain

 

Tap Dancing on Roller Skates? Of course! Who can’t do that?

 

Just give him a creaky floor and a newspaper…

 

 

Facts about Mr. Gene Kelly:

 

He was voted the 42nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Was named the #15 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends list by the American Film Institute.

Had a fever of 103 degree while filming the famous rain scene in Singin’ in the Rain (1952).

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1959.

Kennedy Center Honoree, 1982.

Awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

A stage version of “Singin’ in the Rain” was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2001 for Outstanding Musical Production, with choreography by Kelly.

Martial arts stars Jackie Chan and David Carradine both cite him as an influence.

Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna‘s song “Vogue” and was a dance consultant for her 1993 “Girlie Show” tour.