Fred Astaire and Hermes Pan working out a dance routine

Hermes Pan (December 10, 1909 – September 19, 1990) was an American dancer and choreographer. His career began with an appearance as a chorus boy in 1928 in the Marx Brothers Broadway production of Animal Crackers, and he also performed in a dance partnership with his sister Vasso who subsequently appeared in the chorus of many of the Astaire-Rogers pictures. Image File history File links HermesPan. ... Image File history File links HermesPan. ... December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ... A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ... Choreography (also known as dance composition) is the art of making structures in which movement occurs, the term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures. ... The Marx Brothers were a team of sibling comedians that appeared in vaudeville, stage plays, film and television. ...

Born Hermes Pangiotopolous in Nashville, Tennessee, he met Fred Astaire, whom he physically resembled, on the set of Flying Down to Rio (1933), in which he worked as an assistant to dance director Dave Gould. After Pan suggested an ingenious solution to a problem Astaire had run into in "The Carioca" number, the two began a lifelong professional collaboration and friendship which included all the RKO Astaire pictures, including A Damsel in Distress (1937) in which Ginger Rogers did not appear, and for which he was awarded the 1937 Academy Award for Best Dance Direction. He had previously received Academy Award nominations for the Top Hat and The Piccolino numbers from Top Hat (1935) and for the Bojangles of Harlem number from Swing Time (1936). Nickname: Music City Official website: http://www. ... Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... Flying Down to Rio is a movie made by RKO and released on December 29, 1933. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... RKO could stand for: RKO Pictures The R.K.O. - finishing manoever (and initials) of WWE professional wrestler Randy Orton. ... A Damsel in Distress (RKO) is a 1937 English-themed Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns and Gracie Allen, with a screenplay by P.G. Plum Wodehouse based on his novel, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, and directed by George Stevens. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was a legendary American actress and dancer. ... Academy Awards The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent film awards in the United States. ... Duke Ellington wearing a top hat. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the film. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Astaire-Pan collaboration is widely accepted as one of the most important forces in dance choreography of 20th century film and television musicals. Astaire called Pan his "ideas man", and while he generally choreographed his own routines, and sometimes worked with other choreographers, he greatly valued the assistance of Pan not just as a source and critic of ideas, but also as a rehearsal partner for the purposes of fine-tuning a routine. Given Astaire's obsessive rehearsal habits, this was no mean task. Pan also performed the essential function of rehearsing Ginger Rogers, whose many other commitments during the filming of the Astaire-Rogers musicals often conflicted with Astaire's rehearsal schedule. In addition, he recorded Ginger's taps in post production. Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was a legendary American actress and dancer. ... Tap dance was born in the United States during the 19th century, and today is popular all around the world. ...

Pan continued to collaborate with Astaire right up until the latter's last musical picture: Finian's Rainbow (1968), which was a disaster on a number of fronts, not least for Pan himself. The young director Francis Ford Coppola had no prior experience of film or stage musicals, and proceeded to ride roughshod over Astaire and Pan's plans for the film's dance routines, reintroducing the style of dancing camera of the early 1930s which Astaire had done so much to banish from the Hollywood musical. Eventually, Coppola fired Pan - who has a small walk-on part in the film - and has since acknowledged his primary responsibility for the film's artistic failure. Petula Clark in the 1968 Warner Brothers film version Finians Rainbow, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, opened on Broadway in 1947, with Ella Logan and David Wayne in the lead roles. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Francis Ford Coppola at Cannes 2001 Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American film director, screenwriter, vintner, magazine publisher, and hotelier, most renowned for directing the highly regarded Godfather trilogy. ... // Events and trends A public speech by Benito Mussolini, founder of the Fascist movement The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ...

Pan's first on-screen appearance is as a clarinetist during the Astaire-Goddard routine I Ain't Hep To That Step But I'll Dig It in Second Chorus (1940), and dressed as The Ghost in the deleted (and only) Astaire-Pan routine Me and the Ghost Upstairs from the same film. He appeared uncredited with Betty Grable in Moon Over Miami (1942) and with Rita Hayworth in My Gal Sal (1942). In both films he had non-speaking dancing roles. Two soprano clarinets: a B♭ clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... Second Chorus is a 1940 Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, Artie Shaw and Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie Hanighen, Hal Borne and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Betty Grable Ruth Elizabeth Betty Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 3, 1973) was an American actress, singer, and pin-up girl whose famous bathing-suit poster was an icon of the World War II era. ... Moon Over Miami is a movie directed by Walter Lang with Betty Grable in one of the leading roles. ... This article is about the year. ... Gilda DVD cover Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987), was an American actress of Spanish and English descent who reached fame during the 1940s as the eras leading sex symbol. ... My Gal Sal was a 1942 20th Century Fox musical starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. ... This article is about the year. ...

When not working with Astaire, Pan was much in demand as a choreographer throughout the golden age of the Hollywood musical, most notably in Lovely To Look At (1952) and Kiss Me Kate (1953). 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Kiss Me, Kate is a stage musical by Samuel and Bella Spewack (book) and Cole Porter (music and lyrics) that ran for 1,077 performances and was first performed in New York on December 30, 1948. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

He won an Emmy Award for the 1958 television special An Evening with Fred Astaire and was recognized with a National Film Award in 1980, and by the Joffrey Ballet in 1986. An Emmy Award. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase on the cover of TV Guide the week of the special An Evening With Fred Astaire was a one-hour television special starring Fred Astaire, broadcast on NBC on October 17, 1958. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He died on September 19, 1990. September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ...

External links

• Hermes Pan at the Internet Movie Database

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) [1] is an online database of information about actors, movies, television shows, television stars and video games. ...

References

• Fred Astaire: Steps in Time, 1959, multiple reprints.
• Garson Kanin: Together Again! The Stories of the Great Hollywood Teams, Doubleday, 1981.
• John Mueller: Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films of Fred Astaire, Knopf 1985, ISBN 0394516540