Fred Astaire Part II

 In 1933, Fred tried out in Hollywood.  A previous test had not gone well but he made his first appearance in Dancing lady with Joan Crawford…He then appeared in Flying Down to Rio, with the more experienced Ginger Rogers.    He had fourth billing but they proved a great success.

However although the 2 of them were such a popular pairing - Fred was not keen on being part of a team again...  Yet  their chemistry proved so attractive, together with Fred working on choreography with Hermes Pan, that the couple made 9 films together and they were big money makers.  Ginger was not such a talented dancer but she worked hard and was a good enough actress.  She wanted to go into dramatic acting but continued to make the films with Fred.  She found him a hard taskmaster but they became friends.

He insisted, during the 1930s in doing occasional films apart from Ginger...He had strong ideas about dancing, and he was insistent about these, throughout his career.  He wanted the dances to be integrated into the storyline... to further the plot.  He also insisted that the camera should follow him and have as few cuts as possible.  He did occasional “special effects" dances, like one where he danced on a ceiling but generally he felt that the dances should not be “fantastical” because the viewer would lose interest if the dance seemed  too much  “faked”. with camera trickery....

After several films with Ginger, she moved into more dramatic roles and during the war years, Astaire danced with other partners, including 2 films with Rita Hayworth, (which included using Latin American music and dance), also  a couple with Lucille Bremer and 2 with Bing Crosby.

However in 1946 he became increasingly worried about whether he was still able to dance to the highest quality, and he announced his retirement.   He hated the thought of being less than perfect.  He was interested in racing and he and his socialite wife Phyllis owned several horses.  He concentrated on his business interests but was persuaded back to work (when Gene Kelly hurt his ankle) to star with Judy Garland in Easter Parade….