Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell – Begin the Beguine
An evening pause: From Broadway Melody of 1940. This is probably one of the best tap dance duet scenes ever filmed.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
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I think this number by Astaire and Powell, in terms of sheer skill, is the greatest tap number of them all. In the wonderful compilation movie, “That’s Entertainment!” when Frank Sinatra introduces the “Begin the Beguine” number, he says, “You know, you can wait around and hope, but I tell ya, you’ll never see the likes of this again.” Exactly!