While Astaire and Rogers got the nod in our inaugural Wednesday Watch, the anniversary of his birthday on May 10, 1899, provides a wonderful excuse to celebrate a fair quadruple threat in Roberta‘s “I Won’t Dance” sequence, by turns comedic and virtuoso:
Befitting a renown for technical purity and concern with the absolutely correct, Astaire claimed a focus on dance-first — not expression of feeling, nor abstract vision, but absolutely mastered movement, observing in his 1959 autobiography Steps in Time, “What I think is the really dangerous approach is the ‘let’s be artistic’ attitude. I know that artistry just happens.”
In partnership with older sister Adele, Fred played straightman to her boisterous performer; with Ginger, the “class” to her “sex” as popular comment opines. Whatever the pairing — or solo spot — we have a sense of driven perfectionism and technical understanding to think for a phenomenal body of work and influence.
