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From: theslumsofsoftfocus
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  • Has anyone else noticed that Fred wears the same gold ring on his right pinky in many of his movies. Just wondering if there is any significance.

  • I read once that it was a gift from royalty or someone from England. it's an english thing and Fred appreciated all those english things.

    His daughter has the ring now i think. :)

  • Ok so I checked twice and it was Adele Astiare who gave him the ring, his younger sister.

    When they were in England she got it for him.

  • Adele is his older sister.

  • sorry yeah i got confused. Older sister.

    There you go.

  • And is he really playing the piano too?

  • Yes, he could play piano,drums ,accordion,trumpet, he even wrote music, that man was all rytm,they called him dancing Mozart or something like that ;)

    And about the dubbing,when you hear Ginger tapping it,s mostly the chroreographer Hermes Pan, Ofcourse Ginger did her own dancing but Pan did her dubbing ;)

  • Thanks for sending me that link to Fred playing drums! That was so fun!!!

  • the same name tell it: ASTAIRE = AS-A-STAR

    A genius

  • Astaire could out C-walk the best Crips if given the chance!

  • Awesome piano playing by Astaire. And Ginger is hilarious. Next to her famous cat fight scene, this is one of her funniest.

  • It would be wonderful to see this in colour. I can only imagine how beautiful ginger looks in that gown. No colour is needed however to see Freddy tearing up the floor, that man was an angel. Dancing on clouds for a living (how else could he be so light on his feet?).

  • I love that look he shoots at 1:04 right after he slides down the piano, like "Yeah, I just did that."

  • si, de esto ya no hay

  • que maravilla de artistas¡¡¡¡

  • Man they don't have entertainers like that anymore, I'll tell you at least that much

  • I like how he scares the guards away with his tapping

  • Can you just imagine... being paid to sit there and WATCH him dance?

  • Class

  • I SO wish I could tap like that!!!!!!!!!!!

  • The guy is brilliant, no doubt about that, but it's nearly all Fred Astaire, hardly any Ginger Rogers.

  • The best of all...

  • what grace! fred is truely amazing!

  • Fred was a helluva piano player and a damn good drummer. Ginger..........she's a babe!!

  • Ginger has hips and curves - WONDERFULL! Sexy yet still elegant.....

  • I love that smirk after he plays the piano. It is as if he is saying "yes I am THAT good!"

    Gene Kelly can't touch him.

  • o hey i saw this movie!

  • 5:17 how does he do that pirouette in slow motion? unbelievable!

  • Especially in tap shoes, too! Ugh, I could only manage sort of fast pirouettes. Slow ones, not even slow motion, are so hard!

  • this is my favorite part of the film! love them!!

  • Damn, it would be nice to see talent like that today...

  • Just brilliant!

  • expressing his refusal to dance with.......... dance. cool concept and an awesome number :)

  • Cool Stuff!

  • Bravo excellent!

    Fred is very, very good! Ginger is too.

  • wow...

    all I can say.......

    wow

  • wow

  • Oui, c'est le roi des claquettes, en plus il arrivait en dernière minutes aux tournages et se lançait comme un chat, infatiguable, et si léger. Un prince de la dance.

  • Je ne sais pas comment on le dit en anglais, mais FRED ASTAIRE était le ROI DES CLAQUETTES.

    AURORA

  • Enthralling!

  • true talent

  • Even Baryshnikov said Astaire was the greatest dancer in the world.

  • I've done this score

  • hahahaha ginger is funny :)

  • what a dress!

  • i want fred!ah sublime

  • SIMPLY AMAZING XD!!!!!!!!1

  • That move when he hits the last note was great.

  • He's SOOOO talented.

  • I'm proud to say that I'm related to Ginger Rogers!! =]

  • whaaaaat? .. you´re lucky:)

  • yeah I wish I could have met her though! my grandpa says I look like her a bit & we have similar singing voices.

  • they'l never be anyone like him

  • Extraordinaria pareja, inolvidables.

  • Extrodinary my friend but wow

  • I love Fred Astaire. GENIUS. With beautiful Ginger they are unforgettable couple.

  • Fred is the most talented person i ever saw

  • did he even have tap shoes on? o-o

  • the answer is sno. They dubbed in the taps after in the sound stages.

  • He does have on tap shoes. This particular film was recorded on the sound stage (a practice virtually discontinued after 1934).

  • It's absolutely ridiculous to say they dubbed in the tapping sounds. It couldn't be done accurately enough -- and the technology wasn't good enough. They had a fabulous dancer right there, doing the tapping, why go to all the trouble and expense to dub in the sounds?

  • Astaire actually dubbed his own taps. This was pretty common at the time and they certainly had the technology. Like many dancers he was a perfectionist; everything had to sound and look perfect.

  • They did because if you film the sound you don,t hear the tapping good enough. But Fred was so good, when they had to dub the tapsound he,s got it right on every moment,that,s hard to do, make the same moves at the same time to dub it ;)

  • That's absolutely astonishing! I mean, I'm a huge Astaire fan, but even I didn't think anyone could do that!

  • You know what was even more amazing about Astaire dubbing his taps? I read that apparently the recording space was small so he couldn't even dance exactly as he did onscreen but had to just do the taps within a very limited space. And still it sounds perfect. Considering how freaking intricate his steps and syncopation were, that's a jawdropping achievement!

  • Is there anything this guy couldn't do?! They just don't make em like Astaire anymore :)

  • He is wonderful! Such a skilled dancer, singer, and a piano player too! Amazing.

  • tosh2804, where is your evidence that Fred was not designated as being a major star in this film?

  • that's not ginger rodgers, the movie Roberta stars fred astaire and irene dunne who by the way looks nothing like rodgers

    its a good song though...

  • That is Ginger Rodgers- Irene Dunne plays Stephanie, the love interest of Randolph Scott's character. This has to be the best song from the movie. No offense to Irene Dunne, but I don't love her voice.

  • i guess i didn't recognize her, sorry about the mix up

    i agree about irene dunne's voice though...

  • Irene Dunne had a great classical style singing voice. Not really in style now, but she was a great singer. Have you seen the Awful Truth? She could sing in a more pop style as well as she proved in that movie.

  • Actually Fred was not designated as being a major star (in this film)???

  • I love this!!! :) Very talented and sweet!

  • As long as I live and as long as those of us who have lived to see it, the world is a lesser place without yea and those of us whom were alive to see it in person were lacking to appreciate it in the fullest while it was still here and will miss it now its gone................

  • bravo

  • Despite all the hard work it takes to dance in these movies, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers always look like they are having so much fun.

  • A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

  • What you don't see is a second piano player that is playing along with Fred. Read his biography...Still he is fantastic on the piano and singing and dancing and ...everything else! I LOVE Fred Astaire!

  • I think people may have caught on to the second piano player, once they say the second piano.

  • how does he play that fast!!!!!!

  • Rogers & Astaire were so wonderful!!! I do not get tired to watch those movies over & over. They were beyond perfection, I do not know how to explain it, but what a joy and beauty came from both of them. Miss Rogers is my all time favorite performer. What a great lady, so much talent, charisma, beauty, glamour! Showbusiness to the top. Everything was magic about her! Love this couple. Young people should be watching this, it would be a shame to miss these masterpieces.

  • very funny - real

  • è un fenomeno, anzi lo era, purtroppo...

  • *pressed to soon on the button*

    I love it!!!

  • exactly like Richtdude says..Im also young but

  • wow, i'm sooooo interested in these types of things, and i'm still young. alot of people think that kids ages 10-19 like ONLY rock, and the present movies showing. but they're wrong. i'm in between of those numbers, or close to ten, and i LOVE jazz and movies from all the way back then. some are like comedies, romances, MY FAVORITES!!!

    i bet ALOT of people are still watching these things, taking the inner child outta them!

  • what you say is SO true! I mean, I got absolutely obssessed with these old movies when I was 14. And one year later, I STILL adore them. Back then, they used to be entertained by dancing, singing and comedy and romance. Now we're entertained by violence and sex. What happened?

  • i KNOW what happened...i think. probably BEST-SELLERS have porn in them, causing people watching it, and their children watching it too. if any of you guys are these people that do this, please just STOP. watch it at ur OWN convenience, and plus, the kids are too young to know...they should be at least 14-16 to FIRST find out.

  • The Astaire and Rogers films filled a huge gap in 1930s entertainment. The Depression was in full swing, and people flocked to the movies to forget what bad shape the economy was in. A movie only cost five cents, and audiences saw about four hours of film for that price. Then, as times changed and censorship lightened, more topics were allowed on the screen - and, we can all see what this has led to. Not that I favor censorship; nor do I favor sex and violence simply to show sex and violence.

  • anyone know where i could watch their movies online? i reli want to but i dont have money so thats my other option!

  • I don't know about online, but you might try your local Library. I can borrow Videos and DVDs from my Library just like I borrow books. Free! Good Luck! IMO, the Musicals from the 30's and 40's are better than anything put out by Hollywood these days.

  • i think if i find a bigger libary or wait til i find some money ill be ok! yeh they used turn out the classics right? u seem to know ur films would u like to join my movie club?

  • "the Musicals from the 30's and 40's are better than anything [else]"

    hear hear!!

  • i wish i could tap like that

  • i think he would be playing at the pearly gates

  • Good God I LOVE this song, and video! Thanks for posting xD

  • WOW...He is REALLY PLAYING THAT PIANO TOO! This guy had more talent in his fingernail than any other entertainer. jmho

  • I was just thinking the same thing myself! He's amazingly talented!! Can you just imagine what a good time they are having in heaven? ;)

  • DUDE!! I saw this on tv the other day!! =D I love Fred, I hadn't realized that was Ginger Rogers though, but wow I love this scene I like at 1:25 ish when they stop playing and all that hahahah

  • Goodness, i ALWAYS have these Fred Astaire songs stuck in my head!=P "I Won't Dance", "Puttin on the Ritz", "Drum Crazy"....They're all SO GOOD!

  • Honestly, these actors and actresses of today are incomparable. Fred & Ginger are (arguably) the most famous on-screen pair ever to hit the silver screen. They had charisma, charm, actual acting skills, and most importantly --- TALENT.

  • so talented his style the way he moves 1 word for the genius CLASS! one of my personal favourite dancers

  • Ginger could express more with her eye and head movements than today's actresses can express with their entire bodies, clothed or not.

  • That's for sure! Today, people wouldn't know talent if it bit them in the butt. It almost makes me sick the way all these stars are just rising up because they look good. People in these movies, like Ginger, had real talent and beauty.

  • SO TRUE!! she had so much emotion in her eyes!!

  • i love these two. im just depressed i wasnt around to ever meet them or get an autograph. i think the little smilt they give eachother at about 2:21 is so cute. it shows how much chemistry the two had together.

  • oh god fred is great!!! i love him:D

  • Pretty as she was who cared how she sang? I just loved everything she did. May God rest her soul.

  • even though Ginger Rogers is today only remembered for these musical films with Astaire, she is more of a drama actress and so was her dream, she was sweet in musicals but people do NOT realize the reason Ginger Rogers did not have the perfection of other musical stars and is critisized wrongly is because most people today do not KNOW her main film career was consisted of acting and dramas NOT musicals, that was her true talent, so you cannot blame her for her performance in musicals

  • This is so fantastic and I love Fred and Ginger!! But, the best thing about this movie is ....Irene Dunne......totally!!!

  • In his later years Fred had a piano in his bedroom and was an accomplished songwriter.

    Ginger was very underrated as part of the Astaire Rogers team.Without her the movies would have been very different.

  • I didn't know Fred could play the piano...I thought he just played the drums.

  • Fred is a man of all trades.

  • genial y el zapateo americano me encanta ,saludos.

  • Oh, and I also adooore Irene Dunne in this movie, the cast is fantastic!

  • Amazing. Fred and Ginger are just lovely in this.

  • NO FLAWS

  • in fact Ginger even described how at the end of their date she was in his car in his arms kissing for minutes or something! but i guess it wasn't meant to be because Fred was really in love with his wife he married before he met up again with Ginger in Hollywood to start doing movies also.

  • as a man, Fred Astaire was very reserved and formal, and in his autobiography(Steps in Time)which i read, he left out a lot of personal details about his life, but if you read Ginger Roger's autobiography (Ginger, My Story), she mentions how she and Fred were dating for a while and he asked her out before she moved to California and if she had stayed in New York they could have gotten serious, but when he went to Hollywood later on and met up, she said he had changed and annouced he was married

  • Not only is it real piano playing, those are live taps. Later they were always synced on to enhance their clarity but here, we see Astaire dancing 'live' much as he must have danced in his stage shows.

  • it isn't actually real piano playing. he plays something very similar but I can hear a quick ascending chromatic passage (G to C#) followed by a slower descending one (C#,C,B,Bb) in the left hand which he doesn't play on the video. Might have been an overdub or something.

  • There is another pianist, Hal Borne, playing one of the parts offscreen, but what you are hearing is what you are seeing--all the numbers in this film were recorded on the soundstage.

  • Possibly the most talented man in the history of show business! We've all heard of "triple threat" performers (sing, dance, act) but he was "quadruple threat." To the above add "pianist." And looking at the hand positions and execution, it is obvious he was classically trained. I do so wish there was at least one film of him danceing with his sister. She was supposed to have been very good. She married very high socially, so I suppose that made it impossible for her to perform in public.

  • He also played the drums. :D

  • God how long must it have taken to do the beads on that dress?! It's so beautiful but some poor lady or ladies had to do the beading on that thing. After it was done they were probably like, If I see another bead again I'll die. I'll bet they were hand knotted too. Amazing.

  • Je veux un Fred Astaire ! :(

  • Moi aussi ^^ I love this video thanks a lot ! I'd like to see the film ! He was an amazing pianis (I love also the number in Broadway Melody of 1940)

  • SUPER!5*!

  • For anyone who is interested: there is a new book about Fred coming out in the fall, published by Yale University Press and written by Joseph Epstein. It is titled, appropriately enough, 'Fred Astaire.'

  • I read the preface of Epstein's book on Astaire, and unfortunately,he doesn't like Ginger at all,he is very,very unfair (for him,she'is an hollow actress! she was on the contrary a very good actress) and he finds her "vulgar", and "overstated", he also says that: in her autobiography, her account of her relationship with Astaire is "less than fully appreciative" , which is not so!!! She never says something bad against Astaire

  • Ginger's physical and personal charms were wonderful, but she was a versatile and complete actress. She performed many different types of role, from supporting actress to star, and was convincing and professional at them all.

    As just one proof, did you notice when she left the stage in this clip?

    No? Well, you weren't supposed to ...

  • TRUE AGAIN!!

  • That is unfortunate. Of course, everyone has their opinion -- I personally like Ginger, especially with Freddie.  If Mr. Epstein doesn't like Ginger, oh well. I doubt she cares. From what I can tell, though, he does a very credible job when assessing Fred's work and that's what I'm interested in. But, I agree, Ginger's swell.

  • Reniferze To jest Twój ulubiony film ? :P

  • holly crap

    what can fred not do

  • this is really nice!! i love the beat and i like the classics!

  • omg i did'nt he could play the play like that.fred was from another planet i believe.too much talent.

  • fred and shirley temple are MY idols!

  • i love this song and fred's dance. i also love the way ginger discreetly leaves. i wish i could find this song to put on my ipod by fred and ginger cuz i already have the frank sinatra version!! thanks for the video it was great!!

  • i just love ginger when she comes up and startrs her little cheeky dance at the beginning, she's so funny!!

    and when fred starts dancing, its just hypnotic!!

    i love them!

  • dear orky53.....isn't it interesting that you read about fred astaire's religion...and you found out that HE WASN'T JEWISH...wonderful discovery....DID YOU ALSO FIND OUT THAT ALL HIS GRANDPARENTS AND THEIR RELATIVES AND THEIR RELATIVES WERE ALL JEWISH BUT DUE TO PERSECUTION FRED'S FATHER CONVERTED TO ANY RELIGION OTHER THAN JEWISH? LIFE IS IRONIC, WITH ALL ITS TWISTS AND TURNS, ISN'T IT? WHO KNOWS, MAYBE JESUS CHRIST WASN'T EVEN JEWISH

  • One of the more pointless reaches I've seen, to play a victim card.

    Personally, I haven't found any documentation that Mr. Astaire's grandparents as Jewish at all, much less that they were persecuted. If you insist, and can, by all means cite valid references (I do hope you won't feel it necessary to use so many caps).

    Again personally, the only things important to me about Mr. Astaire are that he was a fine dancer, a fine popular pianist .... and actually held Ginger Rogers in his arms.

  • Fred is MINT! its a shame anyone who has talent these days gets exploited by cunts.

  • ???

  • Ah, but you forget the Great Depression. Racism, homophobia and the hope of getting to kill someone were all that made those times bearable. I mean, apart from fabulous Ginger whom I virtually adored, even as a pup.

  • problebly heard this but I am In LOVE with him... if only I could dance and were 60 years older.... Heaven...

  • i know right? a man that can play the piano and dance like that? sadly, they don't make them quite like fred anymore.

  • My love for Fred increased now that I know he could play the piano like that.

  • watching this has made my day - it is lovely! where are all the modern day freds?

  • merçi a youtube voilà du tres bon cinema de danse

  • noooooooooooooooooo incredible Freeeeeeed!!!!

  • those were the good old days...sigh

  • Type in "I Won't Dance" on Wiki.... for interesting info about Kern's song! By the way, Baryshnikov and Nureyev both said that if Astaire had gone into ballet, he would've been the finest ballet dancer of the century. --- Paul Miller

  • Amazing man and according to the quote cited below (moonlightorchid99), a humble one also. I like him EVEN MORE than I did before I read that and saw this.  Great clip! Thank you!

  • The greatest dancer ever

  • Where are the men in my life who can dance even a little bit like Fred? (sigh)

  • This is, quite simply, wonderful.

  • They just don't make many men like Fred Astaire anymore...

    What a GREAT Song!

    :]

  • omg, even though during Fred Astaires time he was completely considered NOT handsome and was quoted at the beginnig of his career that he "Couldn't sing, couldn't act and could only dance a little", he is phenomenal and i consider him very fresh looks, not bad, and if you think he's adorable, you HAVE to see him singing 'The Way you Lok Tonight' in Swing Time and 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' in Shall We Dance, NOT the re-made one in Barkelys of Boardway, i PROMISE they're GOOD!!!

  • Could Fred Astaire BE any more talented? Outlandishly amazing piano-playing, singing, dancing...this man is incredible.

  • Holy shait!! That legwork in 5:12 - 5:17... It's just awesome!

  • I'd like to see this movie, i havent seen any with ginger and fred :-( please if you have it, write me to icq 294637201 - thanks .-))

  • Oh yes!! I've just seen "Roberta" - thank you so much TCM!- and it's wonderful!! I never really appreciated it years ago, but now - WOW! Fred zings and bounces throughout the whole movie, he fairly crackles with electric energy. BTW, another really sexy bit of Fred's "feelthy piano" playing can be seen in "Follow the Fleet, "Puttin' all my eggs in one basket" - with bare forearms! *sigh*

  • omg i love this song

    Fred is my favorite dancer

    i love him

  • When he sings "if I hold you in my arms...I won't dance!",(at 3.07) it's pretty clear what he would do! What a sexy voice, and this is one of his best dance solos too - what an amazing and inspiring man! That cheeky grin when he finishes playing the piano on such a flourish - oh my, indeed!

  • Fred is so incredibly amazing!

  • Fred was the best ever, so graceful,light on his feet,effortless and likeable.

    By the way Hebrew Rage his parents were Lutheran and Catholic.

  • soooo???????????

  • Aw, Fred Astaire is the best EVER. I love him!

  • Of coarse he was playing, he's a proper musician unlike most in entertainment today

  • Fred was a better piano player than most piano players - and he wasn't even known for being a musician! Just goes to show how truly talented the man was. Let's see the shvartzas compete with this!

  • Fred Astaire: truly great!

  • It must have been so frustrating for Ginger to stand and watch him dancing all on his lonesome (and so brilliantly!!) when all her little feet wanted to do was dance by his side!! Those two were born to dance together! This is a great fun clip :)