Astaire and Rogers [Hardcover]

Edward Gallafent (Author)

Book Description

Series: Film and Culture Series | Publication Date: March 15, 2002

This is the first book to pay tribute to the genuine cinematic contribution of these magnificent performers. Gallafent traces the development of Astaire and Rogers' star personas both together and apart and how the narratives of their films were designed around those personas.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gallafent (Clint Eastwood) offers here a dry, densely meticulous closeup of the careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The first third covers nine black-and-white RKO musicals, from 1933's Flying Down to Rio through 1939's The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. Gallafent claims that the pair's dazzling dance routines obscured the artistic value of the films themselves. If music is his standard, judging from scores created for the series by Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and George Gershwin, there's some validity to this premise. Similar attempts to elevate the farcical, often foolish plot lines only accentuate how lightweight they are. Portions discussing Rogers's solo dramatic career are more incisive, particularly treatments of Kitty Foyle (for which she won an Oscar), Roxie Hart and The Major and the Minor. Gallafent analyzes Astaire's post-Rogers pictures, too, including Second Chorus, two barely remembered vehicles with Rita Hayworth (You'll Never Get Rich and You Were Never Lovelier) and his triumphant Easter Parade with Judy Garland. Coverage of 1949's The Barkleys of Broadway, the only Astaire-Rogers musical in color, knowledgeably points out parallels between the film's plot and the actors' own real-life breakup. But this examination misses the Astaire-Rogers essence: Fred and Ginger weren't serious, remote icons they were light, playful and funny figures that brought joy to millions of Depression-weary moviegoers. Gallafent's detail-laden work rarely captures these soaring qualities. This volume will be of moderate interest to devoted fans, but others, seeking familiarity with their movies, will be discouraged by the book's inflated, ponderously academic tone. (Mar.)Forecast: Diehard devotees of Astaire and Rogers may want to add this book to their collection, but even they will be disappointed by the lack of clarity, wit and warmth.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Gallafent contends that the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were more than merely vehicles for their stars' extraordinary talents; in fact, they constitute a cycle worthy of critique. The first part of his book looks at films made by the couple at RKO in 1933-39. The second (and more hefty) part which less successfully propels the thesis examines some of the films that Rogers and Astaire made separately before reuniting in their last film, The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). These interim films depended on the personas of their stars as developed in their previous work together, building on Rogers's democratic appeal as working-class heroine and Astaire's cavalierism. Gallafent, a lecturer in film studies, provides close readings of the films and shows that a critique of even "frothy" products of popular culture is possible. Although this method of analysis occasionally proves pedestrian, his book nevertheless helps enhance our appreciation of the work of two relatively overlooked stars. Recommended for film studies collections. Jayne Plymale, Univ. of Georgia, Athens
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (March 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231126263
• ISBN-13: 978-0231126267
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,770,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars AN IRREPLACEABLE TEAM, April 21, 2002

By 

MOVIE MAVEN (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Astaire and Rogers (Hardcover)

When I first moved to New York City, there was a theatre in the West 80's (now demolished, alas) called The New Yorker which was a revival house, pure and simple. To my knowledge, no new movies were ever shown at The New Yorker. I saw my first Depression age films there. Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Henry Fonda, Dick Powell, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert and Preston Sturges were some of my heroes. But it was after a retrospective of all the black and white musicals that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers did from 1933 ("Flying Down To Rio") til 1939 ("The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle") that I was hooked. I couldn't get enough of Astaire and Rogers.

I think I saw "Top Hat" ten times over a period of that many years. It is still one of my favorite movies, as is "Follow the Fleet" in which Rogers, surprisingly, sings one of her only two solos in all of their films...Irving Berlin's delightful "Let Yourself Go." I always laugh when I see "Shall We Dance" and, to this day, I don't really understand the plot of "Carefree." Nor do I care.

There have been many wonderful books about this dancing, singing, sweetly romantic & comic couple who were obviously a big antidote to the sad, penny-pinching days in the 1930's when most women could not afford a gown seemingly made entirely of feathers nor did most men walk around in tails each night. Floors in most homes were not black and white shellacked diamonds, nor did most people pilot their private airplanes in order to dance the night away in Venice. Astaire and Rogers brought glamour and happiness and sexiness to their public. And they were fun.

Edward Gallefent's relatively brief but thoroughly researched book does not so much put emphasis on the miraculous musical numbers written by the best in the business (besides Berlin, there were scores written by the Gershwins and Jerome Kern and Cole Porter.)nor the choreography by Astaire and his collaborator, Hermes Pan, which has, in my mind, never been bettered.

Instead of concentrating on these numbers, Gellefent has written a scholarly, academic book about the "hidden" symbolic meanings in the gestures, character names, dance steps, etc. which, in his mind, makes this irreplaceable team, "important." Well, they already were "important" before Gellefent examined their every minute move. They were important because they were two of the best entertainers movie nuts like me ever saw and, luckily, we can still see them on videotape and DVD's and, hopefully one day, in a new or renovated theatre devoted to movies of the first half of the twentieth century.

If you are looking for books on Astaire and Rogers, I suggest you try ASTAIRE DANCING by John Mueller or STARRING FRED ASTAIRE by Stanley Green and Burt Goldblatt or, best of all, Arlene Croce's THE FRED ASTAIRE AND GINGER ROGERS BOOK which comes complete with one of those clever "flip-the-pages-quickly-and-watch-them-DANCE." Their like will never pass this way again.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dead Astaire and Ginger, February 7, 2004

By 

Meriam Matthews (Lake Toxaway, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Astaire and Rogers (Hardcover)

I adore Fred Astaire and his artful genius. Nobody does it better. Ginger is his best dance-partner, for certain. But this book is the dryest, most boring recitation of dead data that I have ever read. It is almost worthless, even for the most avid Astaire devotee. These two vibrant stars deserve better than this dismal book. And they get it; if you can find, "Astaire Dancing" by John Mueller, the ultimate Astaire/Rogers book, (pricey but spectacular) buy it. It is everything the Astaire/Rogers fan could possibly want.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a waste, December 29, 2002

By 

W. Newsham (Boston, Ma) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Astaire and Rogers (Hardcover)

As a huge Astaire/Rogers fan I found this book to be nothing more than a collection of over analyzed run-off with a few interesting tidbits thrown in. There's very little entertainment in the reading. One get's the impression this book was authored by Sigmund Freud. Different maybe, but yuck.