Customer Reviews

Fred and Ginger

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Finally and definitely!

In a 1952 interview with Hedda Hopper, Fred Astaire once said about Ginger Rogers: "I think Ginger is the most effective performer I've ever worked with [......] She's quite unique. She's amazing. I expect to see any day where she's knockin''em dead again. "
Unfortunately, these declarations had long been forgotten in favour of cliches and commonplace remarks on Rogers being a second fiddle. On the contrary, the strength of this book is that Rogers `contribution is extremely well analyzed and she receives due credit. To complete the former and thorough reviews written on this website, it is also important to remember that the Fred and Ginger partnership consisted not only of a wonderful chemistry while they danced together, but also of a perfect singing and acting symbiosis. And Hyam`s purpose is to assess all the manifestations of their collaboration. A good example could be when, in Roberta, just before the tap number "I'll Be Hard to Handle", the pair reminisce about the past, and the comedy in this scene is illuminated by their expression of mutual affection and respect. Hannah Hyam describes it vividly:" the teasing, the indignation, the mock violence" [.....] and the "deliciously natural laughter from Rogers and a rare whoop from Astaire, both partners revelling in the sheer joyous fun of dancing together".
Likewise, the descriptions of the singing in the musical numbers appear extremely accurate and well written in the book. Unlike Astaire, whose singing abilities have always been praised, Rogers' renditions have never been thoroughly analysed, and even if Hannah Hyam is not entirely (sometimes quite rightly) enthused by all Ginger's singing solos, the author is right to notice that Rogers could perform songs with freshness, and an effective use of gestures on the lyrics. Another important part of the book focuses also on the dresses worn by Rogers, especially in the romantic duets, and I particularly appreciate Hyam's description of one of my favourite dances "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" when "they leave the stage arm in arm at an ultra-slow walk, eyes glowingly fixed on each other, lost in their private world."
When one reads the banal, dull and boring compilation of Levinson's book or the pathetic and pitiful poverty of Joseph Epstein's attacks on Rogers (to mention the most recent and -really depressing- books written on Fred Astaire), not only does Hannah Hyam's appear as brilliant and original, but also as the most definitive and relevant work ever written on Fred and Ginger. It can be largely considered on an equal footing with Arlene Croce, and contrary to the "dilettante" and rather nightmarish Levinson and Epstein publications, Hyam's book is certainly THE ONE that Astaire and Rogers would have approved of.

If you are a "Fred and Ginger" fan, forget Croce and Mueller, this is the book you have been waiting your whole life to read. I was unable to put it down and in fact have now read it several times.

It has everything you could want from a book on Fred and Ginger. There are many photographs,black and white as fitting, a completely readable text that is not bogged down with technical terms and a wonderful appreciation of the immense part that Ginger played in the partnership.

The book is divided into sections,the introduction introducing the time before Mr Astaire and Miss Rogers became "Fred and Ginger" and then following chapters devoted to the movies, the acting partnership, the musical numbers, the dance duets and I defy anyone to read these wonderfully descriptive words on the dances and not want to rush to the dvd player and check them out.

This book describes the dances, single and duets intimately and shows the love Miss Hyam has for her subjects in many ways. There are snatches of conversation from the movies, just enough to whet the appetite for more and an appreciation of the other characters in the movies, many of whom featured in more than one title.

One of the best things about this book is the unalloyed appreciation of Miss Roger's work. All too often she is relegated as just one of Astaire's partners but in this book Mis Hyam puts them on an equal footing and devotes the same time to both of them and their work together.

If you don't buy another book this year, do go out and buy this one, you won't be disappointed and it will renew your interest in the cinema's greatest dance partnership.

Justice is a simple matter of giving one what's his, or her, due....in the case of Fred and Ginger...his, AND her, due. Books purportedly accurate to the facts of their partnership have rarely yielded the just result...and left knowledgeable readers dissatisfied. The typical author has weighted his/her inquiry towards Astaire's genius...all too often, at the expense of Rogers. Hyam's book puts an emphatic end to this bogus line of thought...and she does it without the least diminishment to Astaire's well earned reputation.

After wandering a critical desert of error, inaccuracy, obtuseness, and occasional outright malevolence...I've finally found the book that tells it like it is. This book is THE ONE.

In any partnering, there exist balances and imbalances...differences between the man's and woman's role. In a great pairing however, two individual dance personalities merge as one...one soul inhabiting two bodies. There is a reciprocity...Hyam (and Croce) calls it complimentariness...that when combined with ingenious choreography, wonderful music, and brilliant execution, yields a result that is much greater than the sum of two parts. To achieve this goal in performance, took extraordinary vision, creativity, and discipline, built upon a foundation of plain hard work. In the case of Astaire and Rogers, their result is, not only so seemingly natural and spontaneous, it realizes an artistic level than can rightly be described as sublime...the "primum mobile" of dance...ephemeral, beautiful, and very rarely attained.

Only, in the case of this great pair, we have it all on film. And it's on the films, that Hyam spends most of her time.

She treats the dances, songs, and plots in a unique and fresh way. Unlike the usual chronological order of the films considered in toto, she organizes them under these separate headings. Under dances for example, she separates the playful duets from the romantic duets. This is an analytic tool that allows the reader to focus and deepen understanding. It's through this approach, that she is able to reach a startling, and very true conclusion, that their artistic level is so very high, one loses the desire to rank one against the other. She's very right in stating that the thirty-two primary A-R duets, ALL rank, in their particular ways, as masterpieces.

In addition, she reveals the essence of the classic A-R plot formulas. She therefore is rightly able to put "Flying Down to Rio", "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle", and "The Barclays of Broadway"...enjoyable as segments of them are...in a category outside the A-R standard repetoire. This is also a contribution to clearer understanding...for the seven remaining films then become the main focus of her efforts.

Next, she takes on the issue of Astaire's other best dance partners. Once again, Hyam does not diminish the reputation of any of the top ladies: from Vera Ellen, to Eleanor Powell, to Rita Hayworth...and especially, to Cyd Charisse. I shall not linger here, for it's up to the reader to evaluate the justice of her claim that Ginger Rogers was...far and away...the greatest of them all.

One quibble: In regard to the plots, I do wish that the wonderful dance critics that Hyam wisely builds upon, in their focus upon dance, like Arlene Croce and John Mueller, would recall the days of their own youth, when seeming implausibility and irrationality, had its place in the ritual that is courtship. (See my review of Croce's book, and of the VHS of "Swing Time".) In fact, the plots, upon close inspection, are not quite as fragile, as they have supposed...for quite powerfully, do they simply thrive on human imperfection in a very upbeat way. And, as a contrast, it is well to note, just how far they are from today's cool and rational "hooking up", accommodations of convenience.

As Roger Ebert stated, correcting Katherine Hepburn's simplistic statement on the A-R pairing: "They both had class and sex was never the point." For as chaste as the A-R formula was, it is positively triumphal, in all its pure fun, humor, vivacity, wisdom and spirit. Croce and Mueller's rather methodical conceptions of courtship, as pure plausibility and rationality, ought to be laughable in themselves! It's well to note the French saying: "Le coeur ha ses raisons, che La Raison ne connait pas.".

For all their high-jinx, there is indeed, a kind of quiet wisdom in these films, that, one day, will bear further exploration. For now, and forever, it is the high art of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that point their universal audiences, towards the mystery and magic that is the underlying "logic" of the human heart...for it is in this context, that these supremely brilliant, rich, and nuanced dances...within these joyful films...will have their immortal appeal.

As a man who discovered them only a year and a half ago, and who has since done a fair amount of reading on Astaire and Rogers...I strongly recommend this book.

This is an enthusiatic book, well written and accurately documented. However, it offers only a few new insights into the Astaire Rogers partnership. For the most part, Ms. Hyam describes the plots and singing/staging but reveals little backstory or interpretive ideas. Halfway through I wanted to just watch the movie rather than read another long description of it. By grouping her chapters thematically, she repeats herself frequently and one feels to have read the same opinion many times (Rogers' performance is too cool and her hairstyle too tight in SHALL WE DANCE, etc.). The last chapter is the best, and she advocates nicely for Rogers' significant contribution to the partnership. Specifically the way her gowns and hairstyles contribute to the distinct feeling of each duet. Arlene Croce's book is still the definitive Fred and Ginger text.

Fred and Ginger are Chemistry 101. They're the original definition of the power of love and the effect it has on the art and work we humans do.

Hannah Hyam clearly has great respect and enthusiasm for her subject, and talks about Fred and Ginger unencumbered by the silly rumors and trumped-up tabloid stories people attribute to the Astaire-Rogers partnership. She talks, for once, about the dancing and the relationship between the two stars, and not about the imagined underlying tension between them. I personally love Ms. Hyam's work because it seems to me that there would be no way for Fred and Ginger to produce the kind of art that they did without there being a strong bond and a lot of love. Ms. Hyam understands this idea and it shows.

Highly recommended for Fred and Ginger fans who know a little something about them, recommended even more so for first-timers. Besides Croce's book, Hannah Hyam's dissertation on Astaire and Rogers is positive and respectful, and gives Ginger Rogers her due, something sorely lacking from other publications. She is so terribly neglected by critics and underrated, but there is no way that she could have done what she did without her partnership with Fred being a meeting of equals, and Fred respecting her as such. This is the necessary perspective to have when thinking of Fred and Ginger, and because Ms. Hyam understands this, it's a necessary read for any fan.

This book doesn't just list the films of Astaire & Rogers but gives analysis of the special on-screen relationship of the characters in dialogue, song, & dance. An interesting kind of companion book to the usual books on listings of musicals. Recommended for the Astaire/Rogers fans.

I very much enjoyed Hannah Hyam's lovingly written book, Fred and Ginger, The Astaire-Rogers Partnership 1934-38, especially her focus on the transporting romantic love scenes that Astaire and Rogers acted in their dances. She describes elements of which I was unconsciously aware, but had never given much thought, such as the anti-romantic dialogue and comedy moments that help leaven and keep timeless the intense love stuff, or the importance to each dance of Ginger's costumes.

Also effective is Hyam's use of a new, less chronological or film-by-film approach. Instead, she builds her discussions around concepts from varying points of view--the acting, the singing, the dancing. She is never repetitive about it, only reinforcing, and it's a nice change from the marching-through-the-calendar format. The many photographs in this book are beautiful.

In every book about Astaire that I've ever read--and I think I have read all but the ones that are exclusively in other languages--there are opinions expressed about the quality or importance of one dance/song/scene/partner over another, and those opinions naturally vary. Though both books are at the top of my list, I was glad that Hyam called the author of The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, Arlene Croce, on her near-dismissal of "Cheek to Cheek," for example; and she even expresses a few disagreements with John Mueller (Astaire Dancing) from time to time.

One of Hyam's major contentions is that Ginger Rogers was Fred's best partner. The author gives excellent reasons to build her case, and essentially I agree with them all. In any discussion of Astaire's work, drawing contrasts between partners is unavoidable, but I'm uncomfortable with contrasts that lead to absolute judgments. My feeling about Astaire's interplay with other partners differs somewhat. There is something to be said for nearly every pairing with Astaire on-screen. Magical in its own way, the blend of Astaire and Rita Hayworth is sensual and exciting because Astaire is usually more restrained. That restraint is part of his appeal, to be sure, but it is sweet to see him finally let go just a bit more. Astaire seems almost overwhelmed by Hayworth in their dialogue scenes, but takes complete control in the dances, which makes for an intoxicating juxtaposition.

I disagree as well with Hyam's characterization of Hayworth as lacking warmth; in fact, in her films with Astaire and despite the goddess image, I think her appeal is more earthy than ethereal and that she mixes sweetness and kindness with her sex appeal that blends with Astaire's modest sexiness very well.

I'm also of the opinion that a number Astaire performed with Cyd Charisse, "Dancing in the Dark," is among his greatest works.

At first I was wary of Hyam's decision to exclude Flying Down to Rio, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, and The Barkleys of Broadway from her treatise, but after reading her explanatory introduction, it made good sense to me. She nevertheless has affectionate praise for The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (a personal favorite of mine) and a modicum of appreciation for the other two excluded films.

The introduction carefully explains the author's motivations for decisions of what to include in the book, and may be a little difficult to follow without a familiarity with the films under discussion. For those who know these movies well, this section makes for very interesting reading.

I'm very happy to see this book now available in the U.S. Judging from the sales of the Astaire-Rogers box sets of recent years from Warner Home Video, there should be plenty of readers who would find Hyam's book a wonderful complement for appreciating these movies and all the things--my quarrel or two with this book notwithstanding--that make the Astaire-Rogers partnership indisputably special.

Christine Bamberger
Moderator, "Astaire"
(Yahoo's Discussion Group on Fred Astaire)