Added: Aug 15, 2010
From: turinethefool
Duration: 7:53
Jerome Kern, Robert Russell Bennett and Hal Borne combined their talents to produce a jaunty instrumental piece ideally suited to Astaire, who here - while overtly paying tribute to Bill Robinson - actually broadens his tribute to African-American tap dancers by dancing in the style of Astaire's one-time teacher John W. Bubbles, and dressing in the style of the character Sportin' Life, whom Bubbles played the year before in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Dorothy Fields recounts how Astaire managed to inspire the reluctant Kern by visiting his home and singing while dancing on and around his furniture. It is the only number in which Astaire - again bowler-hatted - appears in blackface. The idea of using trick photography to show Astaire dancing with three of his shadows was invented by Hermes Pan, who also choreographed the opening chorus, after which Astaire dances a short opening solo which features poses mimicking, perhaps satirising, Al Jolson - all of which was captured by Stevens in one take. There follows a two-minute solo of Astaire dancing with his shadows which took three days to shoot. Astaire's choreography exercises every limb and makes extensive use of hand-clappers. This routine earned Hermes Pan an Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction.
Channel: Film
Rating: 5.0' max='5' min='1' numRaters='10' rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#overall ( ratings) Views: 3726 Comments: 5
turinethefool Says:
Sep 19, 2010 - Your welcome! Yes this movie is awesome! Not only this song, the other numbers are amazing, so is the acting.
followthefleet1 Says:
Apr 25, 2011 - turinethefool...Turine, you are no fool. That was an excellent description of the dance, with very helpful and insightful supporting narrative information. Thank you. What was the source book for Field's story of Fred dancing in Kern's home?
turinethefool Says:
May 5, 2011 - @followthefleet1 Thanks. I just did a little research, some on AFI, some on wiki, here and there...
mangosonic123 Says:
May 10, 2011 - wow...Fred Astaire is absolutely fantastic. Astaire rocked with Hermes Pan in creating masterpieces!!! no wonder Fred Astaire was Michael Jackson's idol!!!! brilliant!!!!
. . . . . . . because these video appear directly from youtube.com which we cannot control it.)
leeandrew85 Says:
Sep 19, 2010 - Thanks for uploading! Werner Herzog recommends this movie as part of a recent NPR interview