Media History Digital Library (1944)

J>juud thicuM THERE'S nothing slow about them now. But it was with dragging leet that, as a tow-headed urchin of four, Fred Astaire went reluct¬ antly to dancing school in Omaha, Neb., his nimble sis¬ ter two' jumps and a year and a half ahead of him. Kidlike, he "just tagged along." Dancing meant nothing in his young life, and he wanted none of it. But one day the teacher coaxed him out on the floor to try some steps. Progress was rapid, though by no means smooth. Within a year both Fred and his sis¬ ter Adele were stepping at such a lively gait that their mother, bent on a stage career for her talented offspring, took them to New York. Fred was five when the two of them made their first vaudeville appearance in Paterson, N. J. There were other scattered "dates" in the same region. Fred was eleven when he and Adele made their New York debut, destined to be a de¬ bacle, at Proctor's Fifth Avenue Theater. But there was no keeping good feet down. Practice kept up unflaggingly for six months. Once again the hopeful pair gave it a try, this time with a new "act" of singing and dancing. All went well enough at the old Union Square Theater in Fourteenth street, where Will Rogers first spun jokes with his rope. For six years or more the young people, accompanied by their mother, toured the coun¬ try in vaudeville. Fred had reached the age of seventeen when the Astaires, as they came fondly to be known, made their initial appearance in a Broadway production. It was Over the Top, with Ed Wynn and Justine Johnson. They never returned to vaudeville. By that time they had brought to their in¬ spired dancing a youthful freshness and gaiety. They were the first to let humor slip, almost slyly, into their dances. The Astaires danced together for twentysix years. The magic spell of their dancing was broken when they went to London in The Band Wagon and Adele retired from the stage in 1930 to marry Lord Charles Arthur Cavendish, whose death occurred in March of 1944. Dancing Lady was Astaire's first film. After its preview he returned to Broadway to again appear in The Gay Divorcee on the stage. His next screen venture was Flying Down To Rio. When it was released he was hailed as a new picture star, and was soon back before the cameras again in Hollywood. The screen rights of his stage success The Gay Divorcee were purchased as his next film vehicle, and its phenomenal success launched Astaire in a string of hit pictures, including Roberta, Top Hat, Follow The Fleet, Swingtime, Shall We Dance, Carefree, Damsel In Distress, The Castles and Broadway Melody of 1940. Fred Astaire's dancing partners in motion pictures have included Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers, Eleanor Powell, Rita Hayworth, Paul¬ ette Goddard, Marjorie Reynolds, Joan Leslie, and Lucille Bremer. By this time Astaire was firmly entrenched as the screen's greatest filmusical and dance star. He further clinched this honor with such remembered films as Second Chorus, You 11 Never Get Rich, Holiday Inn. The Sky's The Limit, and gathers new laurels in the greatest of all his film vehicles to date, Zieg feld Follies. Astaire lives in a Beverly Hills home with his wife and three children, Peter, Fred, Jr., and Phyllis Ava. Golf is his chief recreation and he also writes songs, plays the piano, clarinet and accordion. LIFELINES Born, Fred Austerlitz, May 10, in Omaha, Neb.; educated, Highwood Park, N. J., pub¬ lic school and by private tutors; married, 1933, to Phyllis Baker, of Boston; height, 5 feet 91/2 inches; weight, 154 pounds; hair, brown; eyes, blue. Occupations, dancer, actor, composer. Plays: Appeared in vaudeville. Over the Top, Passing Show of 1918, Apple Blos¬ soms, The Love Letter, New York, 1916-20; starred with sister, Adele, in The Bunch and Judy, For Goodness Sake, 1921-23; Stop Flirting, London, 1923-25; Lady Be Good, New York and London, 1926-27; Funny Face, New York and London, 1927-28; The Band Wagon, New York and London, 192930; starred alone in Gay Divorcee, 1932. Pictures: Dancing Lady, Flying Down To Rio, 1933; The Gay Divorcee, Roberta, Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, Swing Time, Shall We Dance, Damsel In Distress, Carefree, Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, 1934-39; Broadway Melody, 1939; Second Chorus You'll Never Get Rich, 1941; Holiday Inn You Were Never Lovelier, 1942; The Sky s the Limit, 1943; Ziegf eld Follies, 1944. [6]