Customer Reviews

Puttin' On the Ritz: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache, A Biography

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I hate to speak ill of the dead (Levinson) but this has to be the worst book on Fred Astaire that I have ever read and I have collected all the books there are about him over the years. It is full of blinding inaccuracies and worse still is extremely dull.

I am still struggling to finish it and somewhere after the chapter on Ginger Rogers I lost the will to live. I sincerely hope that the author didn't pay his researchers a lot of money as they got basic facts completely wrong. One of the most glaring was saying that Miss Roger's gown in "Top Hat," the feathered dress she fought tooth and nail to wear was pink. Wrong, every Fred and Ginger fan knows that this gown was ice blue. If he can't be bothered to check on little things like that then what can you trust?

My advice would be to not waste your money on this book, there are far better books out there such as the Hannah Hyam book, "Fred and Ginger, the Astaire-Rogers Partnership 1934-1938" Buy this one and you won't be disappointed.

I've read almost all of the books on Astaire and when they fail, they first fail the test of balance...the test of proper weighing. The central mistake is to weigh Astaire's great achievements in solo dance, significantly over his great achievements in paired dance. The duets are typically underrated, as is the evaluation of his early career. In setting out to further iconize Astaire, writers like Levinson, not only give second class status to his greatest dancer partner, Ginger Rogers, (Hyam, Croce, and Mueller), they also, quite mindlessly, give lower status Astaire's COMPLETE achievement...defeating their own stated purposes.

This results in damage to the good reputations of all concerned....even in spite of good intentions. I am sorry to hear of Mr. Levinson's passing, but this book should not have been written. There are better books on Fred than this one. Not only does it fail to weigh the establishment of Astaire's career correctly, it also has more than a few obvious errors on his formative films.

What makes the book additionally disturbing is that Levinson repeats the many false statements about the alleged conflict between Fred and Ginger...false stories that emanated from the RKO publicity department to explain their breakup to the public...when the real reason was their eventual declining box office. This would be understandable in earlier years, but today, it has been refuted by so many sources, that it is just unacceptable, and should be seen as the serious error it is. After ten films, of course, there would have had to have been a few short lived "snits", as Rogers called them. But the steady respect and affection that each had for the other, throughout their entire lives, seems not to have made an impression on critics like Levinson...no matter how many times they have been denied by the accused.

Levinson serves a half-baked souffle. It's disappointing, and honestly I ready to sent the whole dish back to the kitchen.

Astaire's career had several aspects, but his early career was crucial to all his future successes. In this phase, he established his formidable creative process in dance, singing, music, acting, and directing. In this phase, he perfected his integrated approach to all elements of the dance-musical. And in this phase, he established his modus operandi in both the paired and solo dances. Central to this effort was Ginger Rogers.

It is difficult today to recall the absolutely electrifying effect that the Fred and Ginger partnership had on audiences of the 1930s. When they were dancing on screen: quiet prevailed, breathing ceased, and hearts fluttered. Upon their completion, movie audiences burst into spontaneous applause.

It is difficult to recall this today...but it's only mathematics to note that typically, in each of their films, THREE of the FOUR dances were DUETS. Hollywood producers then (as now), were hard boiled money-men...so it's quite safe to say, that this was not just happenstance. It was the PAIRED dances that sparked the imaginations of millions and created the tremendous box office bonanza for RKO. It was the PAIRED dances that established Astaire's career and assured his success and legend.

And what did the often reticent Fred say about his pairing with his greatest dance partner? Here's his rare evaluation: "Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work for her. Actually she made everything very fine for both of us and she deserves MOST of the credit for our success.". Emphasis mine.

By their third film, Ginger was filled with self-confidence under Astaire's and Hermes Pan's coaching. Not every dancer then could have withstood Fred's insistent perfectionism. Rogers, petite, 5-4, 105 pounds, was mentally strong, and highly motivated and determined. She never once cracked. She was the "tough cookie" who just practiced harder. The results in virtuosic performance show an ease and grace that was underlied...unlike Adele...by an extraordinary commitment and unheard of hours of practice.

With Rogers, first among his partners, Astaire was able to achieve greater and greater choreographic and rhythmic complexity, knowing full well that she was capable of handling anything he and Pan could imagine. And in fact, Ginger herself, as Fred and Pan acknowledged, made her own contributions in this sphere as well.

Now add to this, the chemistry, and genuine poignancy, between them...even when not dancing, but when acting...and you begin to see Ginger's central importance to the whole enterprise. Rogers was a quality actress who also danced...and beautifully so. She dramatized every dance, with great technical skill, in a whole range of emotions. Astaire and Rogers were of one mind, and heart, and soul, on the dance floor. They together, were much more than the sum of two parts...and as such, were much more than any other of Astaire's later pairings. They together entered that rarefied realm of the sublime, time and time again....in ten films.

Rather than buying this book, I would recommend John Mueller's "Astaire Dancing", or Hannah Hyam's "Fred and Ginger", and still Arlene Croce's "The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book".

Well needless to say...that in missing all this, Levinsen's book misses much about what is most essential about Fred. The book's major shortcoming...and there are many others...is that it fails, on its own terms, to give an objective view of Astaire's life and career, by failing to properly weigh the key role of Ginger Rogers, in performance, of the greatest of all film partnerships. Fans of Fred Astaire ought to be indignant at such treatment. Fred was.

WAITER! OH, WAITER!

An in depth study of Astaire's life and era. This book uses many of Astaire's
words from his autobio "Steps in Time"......and then fills in a lengthy objective review of his life and career. Mr. Levinson fills in many facts and comments by Astaire's peers and associates not included in Astaire's book. I was especially enlightened by Mr. Levinson's comments on Fred Astaire's jewish roots. For whatever reason Mr. Astaire had for not including that biographical fact in his bio remains a mystery to me. Everyone of us has had some "warts" in our life. Mr. Levinson, while not trying to "damage" Astaire's career, faithfully includes these facts in his book.
I, as a professional pianist, having worked with some of the best choreographers
and dancers in the business, have had much input from many of the people mentioned
in Levinson's book. I have also worked with Ginger Rogers and played many times
under Hal Borne of whom I heard countless stories of the Fred and Ginger years.
Truthfully, I adore Astaire and his fabulous career. What a talent! We'll never
see another one.
Ron Simone

the late peter levinson (1934-2008) has written the most detailed, comprehensive astaire biography i've seen in years. the first thing one will notice is that it is packed with information. levinson covers just about every aspect of this great man's career that you can think of.

from page one levinson hits the ground running... he covers fred's early years thru fred's RKO years with ginger in just over 100 pages!! in 13 chapters, he looks at:

1)fred's early beginnings and his start in vaudeville
2)fred and his sister adele's emergence as stars on broadway
3)fred going solo and moving into film
4)fred and ginger at RKO
5)fred's filmwork from 1940-43
6)fred's filmwork from 1944-53
7)fred' filmwork from 1955-57
8)fred's style and taste in clothes
9)fred's television specials 1957-68 (subtitled 'three hits and a miss')
10) fred as a singer
11) fred as character actor 1957-69
12) fred as legend, 1970's
13) fred's death and it's aftermath

peter levinson is an excellent writer and biographer, and he is my favorite type of writer. levinson does not take center stage and peel fred apart as if he were an onion. fred is not 'dissected' by this author. levinson guides the narrative but generally stays in the backround.

in this book we are not given one perspective, one viewpoint, one lens thru which to see fred and his career.

levinson has been insightful enough...canny enough... to include seemingly hundreds of interviews, each person having his/her own take, his/her own experience of astaire... critics, co-stars, directors, famous stage dancers of that era, dancers from the chorus, bit-players, songwriters, choreographers, tailors, an average fan... on and on. the text is peppered with these different voices and viewpoints. levinson is diplomatic enough to even allow some negative elements in. there are a handful of events related here which are not exactly flattering to fred.

levinson has done his research. he has culled through existing materials on fred (previous books, celebrity memoirs, etc.) and supplemented this with over 100 (perhaps closer to 200) of his own interviews. and ALL these voices together weave a multi-layered complexity into the narrative that i frankly wasn't expecting to find.

this is a solid three- dimensional portrait of fred that i've not quite seen before, and i think i can say now, whole-heartedly, that this is the best book i have on astaire...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

What a delight "Puttin' on the Ritz" is! The late Peter Levinson did his iconic subject proud. With several hundred interviews, Levinson assured readers of a well-researched, well-written account of Astaire's life and career. Anyone who enjoyed Astaire's on-screen (big and small), on-stage, on-record magic will appreciate the book. You get a portrait of a complex individual whose striving for perfection in all he did provided the world with decades of great entertainment.

Before PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ came along (Spring 2009), there was STEPS IN TIME, an autobiography by Fred Astaire. Unfortunately STEPS snaps off in 1960 leaving the last three decades of Astaire's life documented. What's worse, in STEPS Fred reveals almost none of the inner man, what he felt during his vaudeville childhood, movie stardom (he and Ginger Rogers were no. 1 box office in the mid-1930's) and personal life. As a result, STEPS has for years left baffled the many people who read it hoping for some insight into the inner Fred Astaire.

Fortunately, we now have PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ by Peter J. Levinon. Here we have it all soup to nuts: background, childhood, Broadway fame, Hollywood superstardom, a succession of "the last great musical" musicals, straight acting, and Fred's life in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Because they were so much of the man's image, author Peter J. Levinson even devotes a chapter each to Fred's "elaborately casual" wardrobe and elegant singing, both of which influenced other show-biz professionals as well as the public.

In his work, Levinson had at his disposal an armada of earlier works, all kinds of research material, from gossipy as-told-to's to serious film studies to interviews with the (now deceased) Hollywood royalty like Ginger Rogers, and contemporary stars like Robert Wagner. For non-lovers of vintage musical films, much of Astaire's life may come as a surprise, including his 1920s vaudeville career with sister Adele, his fighting off grief from first wife Phyllis's death in 1954, and, the author alleges, the ongoing refusal of his widow, Robin, to license showings of Astaire's film work except for charity or for steep royalties.

Levinson gives us a more rounded treatment of the man, but even he can't make defininitive judgments about what made Astaire tick. Usually Astaire comes off as people took him, a very humble star with no grandiosity, a simple family man, and a very, very hard worker. (It was not unusual for him to practice for three months for one of his signature movie duets.) But read PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ and you'll come out better informed (and, given Levinson's lively writing, more entertained) than even fans who remember him from the 1960s and before. I can wholeheartedly recommend the book for its comprehensiveness, empathy, great evidence, and careful writing. The endnotes are voluminous and the index first-rate. The lack of a comprehensive filmography is a pity, though.

Sadly, Peter J. Levinson died in 2008, but at least we have this book and others to recommend him, including biographies of Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, and SEPTEMBER IN THE RAIN, a bio of Nelson Riddle. I haven't read any of those efforts, but intend to based on the sheer quality of PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ.

Generally, I liked this book. However there were a few factual errors in it (the book needed more fact checking or checking for typos). One was calling George Stevens the Director of Top Hat in one part of the book (the director was Mark Sandrich). Also, the correct name of the horse ridden by Astaire's second wife Robyn Smith was Exciting Devorcee (not Exciting Divorce). I was also disappointed in the rather limited space given to Fred Astaire's first wife Phyllis (less than a page was given to her illness and untimely death). I also hoped more background would have been given to Barrie Chase, his dance partner in the fifties and sixties.

The book explores all the films of Fred Astaire from Dancing Lady to latter works including Ghost Story. Described are plots from most of the movies and dancing styles of Fred Astaire and his various partners including sister Adele Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Joan Leslie, Barrie Chase, Leslie Caron among others.

For serious Astaire fans, read Steps in Time his autobiography, The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, and Ginger Roger's own autobiography.

Levinson seems to have talked to everyone who is still alive that either worked, or knew, Astaire (with the exception of the money-grubbing final Mrs. Astaire - Robyn Smith) to produce one of the finest celebrity biographies that I have ever read. Fans of fine, classic clothes even have a chapter devoted to what Astaire wore and how he dressed.

Very good book, just what I was looking for, lots of interesting stuff on Fred and family along with a birth to death look at his life, recommend it. Also bought from a vendor in Mass, service was first class, 5 star.

I am an avid Astaire fan and, besides owning a library of movies and books on this revered man, I have read his autobiography "Steps in Time." I felt Fred downplayed many important aspects of his life and his great talent because of his sincere humility. "Puttin' on the Ritz" is a much more detail-oriented and straight forward story of his life. While at times the chapters start to drag given the wordy and insignificant details of certain aspects of events, Fred Astaire's early life and rise to stardom along with his famous sister, Adele, is written with the intention of grabbing the interest of every reader who has ever had even the slightest desire to learn of the golden age of Hollywood musicals. This book will give every Fred fan a very deep satisfaction and understanding of this amazing dance icon and his 70+ years in vaudeville, movies, radio and television.