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Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers – Never Gonna Dance

An evening pause: We’ve had a lot of 1970s pop songs and dance recently. Here’s an example of one of the greatest movie dance numbers, from the 1936 movie Swing Time. Note how smooth and ballet-like it is, unlike the staccato and gymnastic styles that began to dominate dance after the 1960s.

Note also the remarkable lack of cuts. The dance is performed with only one cut, which means Astaire and Rogers had to get it perfect, the whole way through each of these two shots. It took 47 takes before they succeeded.

Genesis cover

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.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

9 comments

  • Alex Andrite

    Such beauty and skill.
    A remarkable pair.

  • Alton

    Bravo ?

    A perfect performance….

    Photography Fantastic…

    Set design and lighting could not be done better Today as a period set Piece ?.

  • Perhaps underappreciated how much effort goes into film production. 47 takes. Where everyone had to do the exact same thing as well as they could do it; and up to the Director to determine when the effort is ‘Good Enough’. Even my limited experience with the stage makes me appreciate that, yeah, maybe these folks earn their money.

  • Phil Berardelli

    By the time they had reached the 47th take, Ginger Rogers’ feet were bleeding through her shoes. Everyone wanted to quit for the night, but she insisted they try it one more time. She wiped her feet with a towel, got in position at the top of the stairs, and nailed the take — the one you can see in this clip. When the camera stopped rolling, Astaire and the entire crew erupted in prolonged applause and cheers. It’s been said that Rogers did everything Astaire did but backwards and in heels. That’s too mild a compliment. She made the two of them immortal.

    Flash forward three-and-a-half decades, at the Oscars in 1970, and with one simple move the couple proved how they could still electrify an audience. Just listen to that crowd! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y86Thi6-gBU

  • Phil Berardelli

    Sorry — I meant the Oscars in 1967.

  • Phil: That is a wonderful clip. And yes, you can hear the thrill that ran through the audience, which I felt as well, watching these two do a simple dance step together, almost 20 years after their last film together.

  • wayne

    Phil Berardelli—
    Question–
    Was a Mitchell Camera used for this film, and do we know what serial number?

  • wayne

    Astaire Unwound
    The ceiling dance scene from “Royal Wedding” (1951)
    (embedded YT video)
    https://www.bigfott.com/astaire-unwound

    “The hotel room set was constructed inside a huge rotating steel cage, all the furniture was bolted down, and the camera and cameraman were strapped down and traveled around 360 degrees while Astaire danced away, always remaining upright as the room rotated around him.”

  • Phil Berardelli

    Wayne:
    I’m not sure, but because the Mitchell was considered the standard for the industry at the time, it’s a good bet.

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