SHALL We DANCE?

Mr. Ineffably, "I'm looking at you, babe"!... Thanks

Wow! ... Starting any written essay with an interjection seems to be inappropriate, but it was the first word that came to mind after watching one of the ten Astaire-Rogers musical comedy films. Shall We Dance is the title of a remarkable movie, directed by Mark Sandrich, produced by Pandro S. Berman and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures in 1937. We can see how ballet was blended with modern dance and how the Gershwin brothers mixed jazz with classical music. Nevertheless, it is a delight to watch Fred Astaire, who plays Peter P. Peters (Petrov), joined together as dance-actors with Ginger Rogers that plays Linda Keene. All this combined with the Art Deco sceneries, takes us back to the late 30’s in the United States of America, where during 116 minutes we can enjoy some of what today are important American idioms in music, dance and art.
Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz) was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 10th, 1899. His parents enrolled him and his sister, Adele Astaire in a dance studio. At a very early age, the brother-sister partners were taken to New York for professional training. Their success grew gradually until they had to split because Adele decided to get married. Fred Astaire continued in showbiz, inheriting the title of the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. From all the different influences he had contact with, tap and other African-American rhythms seem to be more present in Astaire. There is a scene in the movie that shows his sympathy for African-American culture. It is in the ship, where Peter and Linda Keene are heading to the United States. During the trip, Peter comes across a group of Black engineer workers that are gathered and singing the song, “Slap That Bass.” They make musical tunes with their working tools in an Art-Deco inspired engine room. In my opinion, it is one of the high moments of Shall We Dance, because aside all the great melodies, we can encounter how races start to mix up. In 1930 Fred Astaire went to Hollywood in order to increase his career. He was signed by RKO, where he teamed up with his most famous partner, Ginger Rogers. Although she did everything he did, but backwards and in high heels, they were considered the most famous dancing duo in American cinema history.
Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri, on July 16th, 1911. Her nickname, “Ginger,” originated from her younger cousin Helen, who pronounced “Virginia” as “Ginja.” Ginger was exposed to theatre because her mother wrote scripts for Hollywood, so her interest in being an actress arose while she was still a young girl. Her first contact with Fred was when she was hired to star on Broadway, in Girl Crazy by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin. Rogers signed with RKO after working for some time with Paramount Pictures. Side-by-side with Astaire, she played a role in Flying Down to Rio (1933), their first picture as partners. Since then, they have both achieved fame by becoming stage actors, dancers, and singers, as well as receiving academy awards for their well known American films.
The first portion of the story takes place in Paris, where “Petrov”, an American dancer who has won fame as a Russian ballet star with the help of his impresario, Jeffrey Baird, played by Edward Everett Horton. At the ballet school, while ballet dancers train their steps, Peter is in another room dancing with enthusiasm tap dance. Jeffrey approaches the dancer with irony towards the new forms of dance and music. He calls that jazz thing nonsense and doesn’t understand the modern ways of expression. Peter explains poetically to his manager’s confusion and it is with this scene, right in the beginning, that we feel the combination of the classic and the contemporary world. The story is introduced in an amusing way. During the 30’s the world was changing, new melodies, new tunes and new steps in dance entered the world of entertainment. These innovations provided some distraction for the people, especially for the American population since they had been living through the Great Depression.
The Great Depression also known as the Great Slump was a worldwide economic downturn which hit the States in 1929, when the stock market crashed. At the time, Herbert Hoover was President and was known to be a disaster in America’s government. Furthermore, in 1933 President F. Roosevelt replaced Hoover, who presented shortly the New Deal programs in order to restructure the economy. By the time, Shall We Dance was being released, the New Deal led to the Recession of 1937, the peak of the Great Depression. Although the main economic indicators had regained the levels of the late 1920’s, profits and employment declined widely until most of 1938. We may all agree that these tough moments in the United States were reasons for the growth of the cinema industry. On one hand, it brought distraction to the Americans, for instance who wouldn’t enjoy watching the top hat, white tie and tails of Astaire with the glamorous Rogers co-act comic love stories while they dance and sing. On the other hand, movie-making was a business that kept lots of people on a salary, like actors, directors, writers, stunt men and technicians.
In the above mentioned movie, we see a sort of contradiction between the rich and poor. On the scene when Linda Keene first appears, we see that she is unsatisfied with all the applauses of fame as well as, a kind of disgust towards all the wealth around her. One of the things she says on screen is: Rich, but money isn’t anything! Not only does this seem ironic because people were urged to set a standard on wealth, but it was also the golden age in Hollywood when the cinemas had great enrichment which targeted a big impact on its audience. The Golden Age began during the late 1920’s, lasting till the 1950’s, inaugurating with the movie, The Jazz Singer (1927). This period put an end with the silent era in American cinema, when theatres like, Warner Brothers, MGM, Paramount, Fox Films and RKO attained huge success. Throughout these years cinema was a part of people’s lives and Hollywood was known by everyone as the city where all the stars were celebrated. Names like Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fey Wray, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are American idiom figures that play a relevant significance in the North American culture.
The way the romance between Peter P. Peters and Linda Keene flourishes proves us that love can be stronger than money. Peter acts like he is very wealthy to impress Miss Keene, but she despises the rich and famous. She seems to just want peace, as well as, someone that looks at her for what she is and not for what she does. Still in Paris, when they first meet in Miss Lin Keene’s hotel room, “Petrov” makes no impression on her. Moreover, he uses a Russian accent that intimidates the dancer. The first contact we see between both is quite funny. Lins's attitude towards the Russian imposter seems peculiar not only because of recent controversies, but also because the 2nd WW was shaping up, causing many to second guess foreigners. When Peter discovers that Linda Keene is going to return to New York, sailing on the Queen Anne, he decides to go along with her. Before he meets his former dance partner, Lady Denise, whom he did not wish to see so, he told Jeffrey to tell her that "Petrov" is married.
The rumour of Peter’s secret marriage outspreads from Denise to the ship newspapers. Since the passengers see Peter with Miss Lin often together, in the Queen Anne, they believe she is the secret wife. Gossip accompanies the journey as if the rumour was a passenger on the ship, arriving like everyone at the Big Apple. Meanwhile, Peter does all he can do to impress Linda Keene. He has the help of Arthur Miller, Linda’s manager, joined at a point with Jeffrey Baird. The couple’s impresarios want to prevent Linda from quitting her dancing career so she can marry Jim Montgomery, played by William Brisbane. The whole relationship between the characters is a hilarious adventure, where each tries to accomplish what they want, how they want it. All the misunderstandings, the pranks and the jokes carried out from Paris till New York, weren’t sufficient for Linda Keene to fall for Peter P. Peters. It is only at the production’s final number that Linda sees how much Peter is in love with her. They had agreed before in dancing together in the Metropolitan, but all the disagreements lead them to split apart. Peter is determined that the show must go on and arranges a special number, in which he sings and dances with a female chorus, each wearing a mask of Linda’s face. Miss Linda Keene is amused with “Petrov’s” idea and with his show, deciding then to finally join him on stage, dissolving herself in the middle of the dancers. This is the biggest moment of Shall We Dance, where we truly feel Broadway’s showbiz life. Peter dances magically, finding his way to unmask Linda and afterwards both dance a short final duet. No doubt that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers impress us in this movie, not only because of the way they act the love story, but likewise how they dance that Jazz thing, as Jeffrey said in the beginning of the picture.
On the whole, as we watch Shall We Dance, we are taken back to the 1930’s North America, when the country was the 3rd largest in population. By that time, people were living through the unpleasant Great Depression which in a certain way, lead to the appreciation of the popular culture. African and European music traditions were joined together originating what is called Jazz music, joining different races that contributed for the melting pot phenomenon. In the movie we have the pleasure to experience George and Ira Gershwin’s music and lyrics. Both are well-known in American musical history. The streets of Broadway and Hollywood turned into musical halls, while tap dance was becoming the modern dance moves. Astaire and Rogers exhibit that experience in Shall We Dance and in their whole movie collection. It was a period where cinema lived the Golden Age. The New Deal proposed by F. Roosevelt, did not help solve the high level of unemployment. Movie-making was a big investment that brought jobs for all sort of professionals. The condition of being poor and rich was lost in sense. People gave more importance to small things in life and tried to distract themselves amongst the country’s crisis. A time when buildings like the Chrysler and the City Hall where giving New York new architectural features. During the whole of the movie, we can admire those features, influence of the French Art Deco. The context that the movie shows is part of the United States History, its culture, its life and what we may consider today, American idioms. Therefore, to finish up this essay with the interjection as the beginning seems to be more appropriate… Wow!