GREAT STUFF FROM OLD BROADWAY 2: FRED ASTAIRE NOW EVEN MORE pix added- Page 2

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 4:52pm

Thank you very much! This is very informative!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 4:53pm

Here is the Astaires doing a version of “The Runaround”, their most popular dance routine where they, uh, well… they ran around. In an ever decreasing circle. Audiences loved it. They screamed for multiple encores of them… running around.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 4:56pm

With Adele gone, Fred decided to star in his own show. It was Fred, his leading lady, a trio of comics and a chorus of 16 beautiful women. That was the entire cast. The show was called “Gay Divorce” (not “The Gay Divorcee” a title forced on RKO when they adapted it for the screen by the censors who couldn’t stomaching a show about a woman being happy to end her marriage.)

This classic photo of Fred, age 33, is actually from the period of "The Band Wagon" but was used on the cover of "Gay Divorce" for most of the New York run.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:00pm

Even with Fred’s great dance numbers, his amazing tap routines and a swell score by Cole Porter, the show was a disappointment. It stretched out a few hundred performances, then Fred took it to England for a slightly longer run.

Apparently, the big problem was that nobody in the show could really sing. There were swell Porter numbers, but the orchestra drowned out the singers I’m serious.

That was the common criticism in every review.

The leading lady was the beautiful Claire Luce, a former Follies star who did the show both here and in London, where she found great success. She also starred as Curley’s wife in “Of Mice and Men”. Here, she is performing the huge hit number “Night and Day” with Astaire. At the end of the show, which was set almost entirely in a hotel room, Astaire and Luce danced a wild number all over the furniture which was securely bolted to the floor. Apparently, it was an amazing and dangerous stunt they performed nightly – often with spills.

Updated On: 1/21/08 at 05:00 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:07pm

After "Gay Divorce" Fred spent the rest of his career in Hollywood.

Our loss.

Here are a few more images....

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:07pm

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:08pm

The British version of "For Goodness Sake" an early show....

Updated On: 1/21/08 at 05:08 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:11pm

There never ever was, to my knowledge, a souvenir program from the Broadway run of any of their shows. If there was, I've never seen it. However, this amazing touring program popped up exactly once on eBay and sold for more money than I could afford...

What a treasure. I am so jealous.

Updated On: 1/21/08 at 05:11 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:13pm

Top of his game.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:13pm

Bad hair day?

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:15pm

Oh, we're the boys in the chorus
We hope you like our show
We know you're rooting for us
But now we have to goooooooo!

[Misha77]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:15pm

Fred Astaire is one of my greatest inspirations.
Thank you so much for preserving this man's great legacy.

And who knew that he and Bob Hope were in a show together?
The things you learn...

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 5:17pm

Let's leave our little Fred Fest the way I want to remember him. The coolest guy on stage, totally in command of his instrument, tapping the night away, in top hat and tails.

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 6:51pm

He was a phenomenal performer. I love everything I ever saw him in on Television. Too young for his Broadway run. Being able to work with his Sister must have been a real treat!

Thanks for the articles. I have never seen them but he deserves all the credit given to him. I wish we had more Musicals like that and performers who just take your breath away on Stage again.

When Fred went wild it was just too much! How could you not cheer his sheer talent and how much fun he made it all look? I know I couldn't.

[ztJdBrVa]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 9:29pm

This is so great. Thanks!

For the record, he is quoted saying he hated the "top hat, white tie, and tails" getup!

[karen24]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 9:51pm

allofmylife, thanks so much for posting all of these treasures. I have loved Fred Astaire since I first discovered his movies back when I was in high school. I used to stay up late to watch them when I was supposed to be getting a good night's sleep for school (this was before VCRs, DVD players, etc., so if you wanted to see a movie on TV, you had to watch it right then and there!)
You've probably seen these, but I remember a couple of books which have some discussion of Adele Astaire. One came out shortly after Fred's death and was called "Fred Astaire: His Friends Talk." It was really a pretty bad book--just a collection of comments by various people who had known him, with almost no editing involved, so while there were some interesting and thoughtful comments, there were also inane comments like those from his housekeeper about what Fred used to eat for lunch. But it did have a section on Adele which was quite interesting.
The other book, also out of print but probably available somewhere, is better--it's by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, and is called "Bring On The Girls!" It's a reminiscence of their time together as one of the most successful writing teams on Broadway. There's a little bit in there about visiting Adele at her stately British home (Knole?) after her marriage.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:40pm

Thanks Karen. I'm on the road right now (heading to Vancouver from London) and I'm posting from my hard drive. Back in Los Angeles, I have a copy of the galleys of "Fred Astaire: His Friends Talk" and have read it cover-to-cover.

The neat thing about Bolton and Wodehouse was the number of shows they did - 14 I believe - many in London which never made it to New York.

Having lived in England, I am amazed at the rich history of association with the American musical.

In the coming weeks, I'm posting a thread on "On Your Toes" and "Oklahoma", when I can get the time.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 12:05pm

.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 1:59pm

Thanks for doing all that research.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 2:16pm

Six more photos from the 20s.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 2:17pm

At a party in the late 20s

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 2:19pm

Fred as a kid

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 2:21pm

During the London run of "Funny Face" in 1928, the gas main outside the theatre exploded. The show had to close while repairs were made. Fred, Adele and Leslie Henson (in the role Victor Moore played on Broadway) surveyed the damage and, of course, made all the front pages of the evening papers.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 2:23pm

"Leaning on a lamp post at the corner of the street until a certain little lady comes by..."

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 2:24pm

The old "get photographed in a prop from the show" photo