the Multi-faceted Mr. Astaire

I just finished watching 16 hours of Fred Astaire movies and I've come to a realization; Fred Astaire is one of Hollywood's most grossly under-appreciated leading men. There is no question as to whether or not people respected his talents but when I think of the list of oft mentioned heart throbs in Hollywood movie history, I can not think of a singular instance where Astaire's name is mentioned.

The Astaire marathon was shown on the Turner Classic Movies channel as part of a celebration of the centennial anniversary of Johnny Mercer's birthdate; 18 November 1909. Mr. Mercer was one of the leading Popular song writers of the twentieth century and Fred Astaire was the original performer of some of the distinguished composer's most famous compositions. The songs performed as part of the movie engagement mainly featured Mercer as a lyricist because of the fact that many of these movies were released early on in the composer's life. At this point he was still a fledgling writer and served an apprentice type of role under many of the great composers of the day. The various composers whom Mercer apprenticed under included Harold Arlen, one of the great songwriters of the past 100 years whose compositions were very influential in melding the European influenced style of early American songbook writing with American styles, such as the Blues. I particularly enjoyed hearing Astaire sing the immortal classics; Isn't This A Lovely Day?, Cheek to Cheek, The Way You Look Tonight, Night And Day and My Shining Hour. I would also like to include an acknowledgement of Irene Dunn's performance of Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach's Smoke Gets In Your Eyes in the wonderfully amusing screenplay Roberta.

In wonderful performances like that of his portrayal of cooky womanizer Jerry Travers in Top Hat, Astaire shows that not only was he a superbly talented dancer and actor, he was also an incredibly beautiful singer. This may not seem like much of a credit to the artistic abilities of Mr. Astaire but during the time, when most leading men were solely handsome, talented actors, those additional talents put Fred Astaire a cut above many of his peers. There was never a question as to why he got the girl. Movie after countless movie, Mr. Astaire clearly distinguishes himself from the other leading men of the day with his whole of abilities. He was an unsurpassed quadruple threat; superb actor, extraordinary dancer, elegant singer and heart melting charmer. With Astaire in possession of all of the aforementioned abilities, I constantly found myself wondering how the opening credits went by without the leading lady of the movie already sharing a passionate embrace with our leading man.

Additionally, I found it quite interesting to see the beautiful chemistry between Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I often found it hard to remove myself from the fantasy world of the movie and to realize that the two were merely acting and not in fact very committedly involved. This false and overwhelmingly convincing assurance of romance only further assures me of Mr. Astaire's geniously constructed and superbly well rounded artistry. He raised the bar in concern to what can be expected of versatility and mastery of craft.