Nothing's Impossible

I posted last week about a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance, so I figured I'd try it again.

Previously it was "I'll Be Hard To Handle" from Roberta (1935). This one's a more celebrated song, "Pick Yourself Up," and movie, Swing Time (1936). In recent years, critics have rated this film even above the team's biggest hit, Top Hat (1935). I'm not sure if it deserves such treatment. It may have their most notable director, George Stevens, but I find the story weak, even for an Astaire and Rogers film. Still, the score, by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, stands up to the best provided for the pair, which is saying something. And there's no question the dances are great, with its three duets and one big solo perhaps representing the pinnacle of the series. (Yet the two biggest hits from the movie, "The Way You Look Tonight" and "A Fine Romance," are not danced to.)

Their dance for "Pick Yourself Up" is in the vein of "I'll Be Hard To Handle." They're both about happiness and high spirits, and maybe even a little showing off. But though the theme is similar, Astaire, as always, is careful to develop different steps to express it.

At the beginning of the movie we see Astaire on stage at the tail end of a production number. He's a professional dancer, who's soon penniless and on the road--even if he does wear a top hat, white tie and tails. He meets and falls for Rogers (natch), a dance instructor. He pretends he can't dance (not very convincingly--Astaire is never at his best trying to look awkward) and asks for help. They sing "Pick Yourself Up" (not included below) to help raise Astaire's spirits, but then she sees he's a hopeless case and tells him to save his money--which gets her fired. It's now up to Astaire to convince her boss (and A/R stock company member) Eric Blore that, indeed, she's done wonders as a teacher. I might add at this point we've been waiting about half an hour for the first major dance, and that they didn't go into one during the song was a bit of a tease.

In a lot of their duets, they communicate only with each other. This is one, however, where they're playing to somone else. And a lot of the dance is them demonstrating classy ballroom moves before going into some down and dirty tapping (thus the "Swing" in the title?), and by the end they've integrated the two styles. Also note that Rogers starts out a bit stiff, as she's marveling at Astaire's new-found talent, and also picking up the steps. As it goes along, she fully joins in.

Also on full display here is Fred Astaire's exquisite sense of rhythm. A lot of dancers are too four-square on the beat, and that's how they would have approached this number, which is basically a polka. But Astaire (as always) dances with, against, around and through the beat. In fact, Astaire is a dancer that I imagine even blind people could enjoy.

Just like "I'll Be Hard To Handle," this dance is supposedly improvised, but clearly took many hours of rehearsal. And maybe I'm imagining it, but I think the number reflects the confidence of the duo. This is their sixth film, and by the time they were shooting, they were the hottest team in Hollywood. The dance, in addition to its place in the plot, is a team on top showing the world what they can do.

In 1943, Oklahoma! opened on Broadway, and many feel this was the beginning of the integrated musical, where the story, songs and dances were joined together in a unified whole. But the Astaire/Rogers series, made in the 1930s, had already learned those lessons. Sure, the two often played professional performers, but their songs and dances not only entertain, they often carry the plot.