CLASSIC 1935 FRED ASTAIRE 78 CHEEK TO CHEEK / NO STRINGS UK BRUNSWICK RL 296 V+
£
25
$
33
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Description
A CLASSIC DOUBLE-SIDER FROM FRED ASTAIRE WITH LEO REISMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA FROM "TOP HAT"
CHEEK TO CHEEK
b/w NO STRINGS
TOP HAT is the quintessential Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film--it might be the first of their nine pairings together that I've seen, but already I can tell just what it is that makes 'Fred & Ginger' almost a brand-name everywhere. Neither Fred Astaire nor Ginger Rogers wanted to get too stereotyped as being the other's partner (Rogers especially took roles specifically to get away from being typecast as one half of a dancing team), but watching them dance, you really couldn't imagine their names coming apart in conversation. It will always have to be 'Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers', because their dancing takes your breath away. The fact that it is incredibly technically complicated is itself astounding... what makes it all the better is that they make it look so darn easy and natural.
Astaire plays Jerry Travers, a professional dancer who meets and falls in love with Dale Tremont (Rogers). He tries very hard to woo her, by filling her room with flowers and singing her through a storm (the beautiful "Isn't This A Lovely Day"). Dale, unfortunately, mistakes him for her friend Madge's husband, Horace Hardwick (played with acerbic relish by Edward Everett Horton). The comedy of errors continues for most of the film, since Dale continually mistakes Jerry for Horace (regaling Madge with 'Horace's' attempts at romancing her), and her costume designer Alberto Beddini is therefore convinced that Horace is the one he must 'kill'--so as to avenge Ms. Tremont.
The plotline itself is slightly fantastical, littered with just enough eccentric characters to have you falling off your seat laughing at some of the things they do and say.
Aside from the dancing (which is sublime, and indescribable--'Fred & Ginger' is something you have to see in action for yourself to believe), the score is brilliant. Irving Berlin has penned some of the most beautiful songs ever, and here we have just a small but certainly representative sampling of them, with "Isn't This A Lovely Day", "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails", and, of course, "Cheek To Cheek"... a classic by any standard.
What Fred & Ginger lack in palpable, explosive chemistry (along the lines of that shared by Tracy and Hepburn, or Bogart and Bacall), however, they more than make up for in their perfect synchronicity with each other--they're perfectly in tune through every dance sequence, and that's a delight, and amazing, to see.
DISC DETAILS
UK BRUNSWICK BLUE-PURPLE LABEL RL -296 10" 78rpm SHELLAC 1935
SIDE A:- CHEEK TO CHEEK
SIDE B:- NO STRINGS
CONDITION - V+
SMALL SCRATCHES AND SCUFFS BUT PLAYS GREAT!
A CHANCE TO PICK UP THIS CLASSIC FRED ASTAIRE 78
ONE ONLY AVAILABLE
DON'T MISS OUT - BUY NOW!
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