Swing Time (RKO) is a 1936 Hollywood musical comedy film set mainly in New York and stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Eric Blore and Georges Metaxa, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The film was directed by George Stevens. Image File history File links Swing_Time_Poster. ... George Stevens examining film from A Place in the Sun. ... Pandro Samuel Berman (28 March 1905 – 13 July 1996), known as Pandro S. Berman, was an American film producer. ... Howard Lindsay (March 29, 1888 - February 11, 1968) was a Broadway producer, playwright, librettist, director and actor, best known for his writing work as part of the collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse, and for his performance, with his wife Dorothy Stickney, in the long-running play Life with Father. ... Allan Scott (May 23, 1906, Arlington, New Jersey, USA - April 13, 1995, Santa Monica, California) was a screenwriter that was nominated for an Academy Award for So Proudly We Hail!. Allan was the father of actor Pippa Scott, and brother of film producer and screenwriter Adrian Scott. ... Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress and singer. ... RKO could stand for: RKO Pictures The R.K.O. - finishing manoever (and initials) of WWE professional wrestler Randy Orton. ... is the 239th day of the year (240th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... RKO could stand for: RKO Pictures The R.K.O. - finishing manoever (and initials) of WWE professional wrestler Randy Orton. ... See also: 1935 in film 1936 1937 in film 1930s in film years in film film // Events January 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon September 28 - The Marx Brothers Harpo Marx marries actress Susan Fleming Top grossing films in North America Red River Valley Academy Awards Best Picture: The Great... The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... This article is about the state. ... Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress and singer. ... Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 – September 25, 1959) was an American film and stage actress known for her comic roles. ... Victor Moore Victor Moore (born February 24, 1876, in Hammonton, NJ; died July 23, 1962, in East Islip, NY) was a star of stage and screen. ... Eric Blore (December 23, 1887 - March 2, 1959) comic actor. ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of popular music. ... Dorothy Fields was immortalised on a USPS postage stamp. ... George Stevens examining film from A Place in the Sun. ...

Swing Time is considered by Croce,^[1] Mueller^[2] and Hyam^[3] to be Astaire and Rogers' best dance musical, featuring four dance routines that are each regarded as masterpieces of their kind. "Never Gonna Dance" is often singled out as the partnership's and collaborator Hermes Pan's most profound achievement in filmed dance, while "The Way You Look Tonight" won the Academy Award for Best Song and went on to become Astaire's most successful hit record, scoring first place in the U.S. charts in 1936. Kern's score, the second of three he composed specially for Astaire, contains three of his most memorable songs.^[4] Arlene Croce (born 1934) was a dance critic for the New Yorker magazine from 1973 to 1998. ... John E. Mueller (born 1937, St. ... Fred Astaire and Hermes Pan working out a dance routine Hermes Pan (December 10, 1909 – September 19, 1990) was an American dancer and choreographer. ... The Way You Look Tonight is a song featured in the film Swing Time, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. ... The Academy Award for Best Song is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are songwriters and composers. ...

But while it is considered to be one of Astaire and Rogers' greatest films, the film's plot has been criticized^[5] as has the performance of Metaxa.^[1][2] On the plus side is a particularly fine acting and dancing performance^[6] from Ginger Rogers who, it is believed,^[2] had an affair with director Stevens during the making of the film. Rogers herself, credited much of the film's success to Stevens: "He gave us a certain quality, I think, that made it stand out above the others."^[2] Swing Time also marked the beginning of a decline in popularity of the Astaire-Rogers partnership among the general public, with box office receipts falling faster than usual, after a successful opening.^[7] The partnership never again quite regained the creative heights scaled in this and previous films.^[8]

Swing Time was one of Entertainment Weekly's top 100 films in 1999, and in 2004 it was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. In the new AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) it has been added at #90. Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with AFIs 100 Years. ...

Synopsis

John "Lucky" Garnett (Fred Astaire) is a gambler and dancer who, after showing up late for his wedding to Margaret (Betty Furness), is told by her father that he must earn $25,000 in order to demonstrate his good intentions. He and his friend "Pop" Cardetti hitche the first freight train to New York, where Lucky meets Penny (Ginger Rogers), a dance school instructor, and immediately falls in love with her. They prove successful together in the casino and on the dance floor. After raising the $25,000, he decides to marry Penny and beats off competition from dance band conductor Ricardo Romero (Georges Metaxa) to secure his bride.

Principal cast

• Fred Astaire as John "Lucky" Garnett
• Ginger Rogers as Penelope "Penny" Carrol
• Victor Moore as "Pop" Cardetti
• Helen Broderick as Mabel Anderson
• Betty Furness as Margaret Watson
• Georges Metaxa as Ricardo Romero
• Landers Stevens (George Stevens' father) as Judge Watson

Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress and singer. ... Victor Moore Victor Moore (born February 24, 1876, in Hammonton, NJ; died July 23, 1962, in East Islip, NY) was a star of stage and screen. ... Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 – September 25, 1959) was an American film and stage actress known for her comic roles. ... Elizabeth Mary Furness, better known as Betty Furness (January 3, 1916–April 2, 1994) was an American actress, consumer advocate and current affairs commentator. ...

Key songs/dance routines:

Astaire introduces two new elements into his approach to filmed song and dance, both of which represent the abandonment of theatrical staging conventions. First is the use of space, horizontally in "A Fine Romance" and vertically in "Never Gonna Dance", and second is the introduction of trick photography in "Bojangles of Harlem". Partnered hopping steps/spins and the satire of self-conscious elegance feature prominently in the choreography, in which Astaire was assisted by Hermes Pan.

• "Pick Yourself Up": The first of Kern's standards is a charming polka first sung and then danced to by Astaire and Rogers. One of their most joyous and exuberant numbers is also a technical tour-de-force with the basic polka embellished by syncopated rhythms and overlayed with tap decoration. In particular, Rogers recaptures the spontaneity and commitment that she first displayed in the "I'll Be Hard to Handle" number from Roberta (1935).

• "The Way You Look Tonight": Kern's classic Oscar-winning foxtrot is sung by Astaire, seated at a piano, while Ginger is busy washing her hair in a side room. Here, Astaire conveys a sunny yet nostalgic romanticism but later, when the music is danced to as part of "Never Gonna Dance", the pair will create a mood of sombre poignancy. As evidence of its enduring appeal, this song is regularly featured in modern cinema and television: as in Chinatown (1974) for example, and it played a prominent role as the key linking element in the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Astaire and Rogers in the "Waltz in Swing Time"

• "Waltz In Swing Time": Described by one critic as "the finest piece of pure dance music ever written for Astaire", this is the most virtuosic partnered romantic duet Astaire ever committed to film. Kern - always reluctant to compose in the Swing style - provided some themes to Robert Russell Bennett who, with the assistance of Astaire's rehearsal pianist Hal Borne, produced the final score. The dance is a nostalgic celebration of love, in the form of a syncopated waltz with tap overlays - a concept Astaire later reworked in the similarly impressive "Belle of New York" segment of the "Currier and Ives" routine from The Belle of New York (1952). In the midst of this most complex of routines, Astaire and Rogers find time to gently poke fun at notions of elegance, in a delicate reminder of a similar episode in "Pick Yourself Up".

• "A Fine Romance": Kern's third standard, a quickstep to Field's bittersweet lyrics, is sung alternately by Rogers and Astaire, with Rogers providing an object lesson in acting while a bowler-hatted Astaire appears at times to be impersonating Stan Laurel. Never a man to discard a favourite piece of fine clothing, Astaire wears the same coat in the opening scene of Holiday Inn (1941).

• "Bojangles Of Harlem": Once again, Kern, Bennett and Borne combined their talents to produce a jaunty instrumental piece ideally suited to Astaire, who here - while overtly paying tribute to Bill Robinson - actually broadens his tribute to African-American tap dancers by dancing in the style of Astaire's one-time teacher John W. Bubbles, and dressing in the style of the character Sportin' Life, whom Bubbles played the year before in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Dorothy Fields recounts how Astaire managed to inspire the reluctant Kern by visiting his home and singing while dancing on and around his furniture. It is the only number in which Astaire - again bowler-hatted - appears in blackface. The idea of using trick photography to show Astaire dancing with three of his shadows was invented by Hermes Pan, who also choreographed the opening chorus, after which Astaire dances a short opening solo which features poses mimicking, perhaps satirising, Al Jolson - all of which was captured by Stevens in one take. There follows a two-minute solo of Astaire dancing with his shadows which took three days to shoot. Astaire's choreography exercises every limb and makes extensive use of hand-clappers. This routine earned Hermes Pan an Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction.

• "Never Gonna Dance": After Astaire sings Field's memorable closing line: "la belle, la perfectly swell romance" of Kern's haunting ballad, they begin the acknowledgement phase of the dance - possibly their greatest - replete with a poignant nostalgia for their now-doomed affair, where music changes to "The Way You Look Tonight" and they dance slowly in a manner reminiscent of the opening part of "Let's Face The Music And Dance" from Follow the Fleet. At the end of this episode, Astaire adopts a crestfallen, helpless pose. They now begin the denial phase, and again the music changes and speeds up, this time to the "Waltz In Swing Time" while the dancers separate to twirl their way up their respective staircases, escaping to the platform at the top of the Silver Sandal Set - one of the most beautiful Art Deco-influenced Hollywood Moderne creations of Carroll Clark and John Harkrider. Here the music switches again to a frantic, fast-paced, recapitulation of "Never Gonna Dance" as the pair dance a last, desperate, and virtuosic routine before Ginger flees and Astaire repeats his pose of dejection, in a final acceptance of the affair's end. This final routine was shot forty-seven times in one day before Astaire was satisfied, with Rogers' feet left bruised and bleeding by the time they finished.

Pick Yourself Up is a popular song composed in 1936 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Dorothy Fields. ... Street musicians in Prague playing a polka Polka is a type of dance, and also a genre of dance music. ... Ill Be Hard to Handle is a 1942 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Bernard Dougall. ... Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Smoke Gets In Your Eyes from Roberta (1935): RKO publicity still Roberta is a 1935 musical film by RKO starring Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Randolph Scott. ... The Way You Look Tonight is a song featured in the film Swing Time, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. ... This article is about the dance. ... Chinatown is a 1974 film directed by Roman Polanski featuring many elements of the film noir genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama. ... Space station Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (ST:DS9 or STDS9 or DS9 for short) is a science fiction television series produced by Paramount and set in the Star Trek universe. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Astaire-Rogers-Waltz_in_Swing_Time. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Astaire-Rogers-Waltz_in_Swing_Time. ... For other men named Robert Bennett, see Robert Bennett (disambiguation). ... The Belle Of New York (MGM) is a 1952 Hollywood musical comedy film set in New York circa 1900 and stars Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Alice Pearce, Marjorie Main and Keenan Wynn, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. ... A Fine Romance is a popular song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. ... Quickstep is an International Style ballroom dance that follows a 2/4 or 4/4 time beat, similar to a fast Foxtrot. ... Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer and director, famous as part of the comedy double act Laurel and Hardy, whose career stretched from the silent films of the early 20th Century until post-World War II. // Stan Laurel... Holiday Inn is a 1942 film starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, which featured the music of Irving Berlin. ... Bill Bojangles Robinson (May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949) was a pioneer and pre-eminent African-American tap dance performer. ... John W. Bubbles - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... The cast of Porgy and Bess during the Boston try-out prior to the Broadway opening. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... Al Jolson was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian and actor of Jewish heritage whose career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... Never Gonna Dance is a song performed by Fred Astaire and danced with Ginger Rogers in their movie Swing Time. ... Follow the Fleet (RKO) is a 1936 Hollywood musical comedy film with a nautical theme and stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott, Harriet Hilliard, Lucille Ball, and Betty Grable, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. ... Asheville City Hall. ...

Contemporary reviews

• American Dancer, November 1936: "Astaire's dancing can no longer be classified as mere tap, because it is such a perfect blend of tap, modern and ballet, with a generous share of Astaire's personality and good humor...Rogers is vastly improved...but she cannot, as yet, vie with Astaire's amazing agility, superb grace and sophisticated charm. With Astaire one feels, with each succeeding picture, that surely his dancing has reached perfection and marks the end of invention of new steps: and yet he seems to go forward with ease and apparent nonchalence."^[9]
• Dance Magazine, November 1936, Joseph Arnold Kaye: "Much has been written about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Swing Time except, perhaps, one thing: Astaire and Rogers are the picture; everything else seems to have been put in to fill the time between swings. Dance routines are fresh and interesting, dance is superb. When Hollywood will learn to make a dance picture as good as the dancing, we cannot even guess."^[9]
• Variety, 2nd September, 1936, Abel: "Perhaps a shade under previous par, but it's another box-office and personal winner from the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers combo...Film's 103 minutes running time could have been pared to advantage but Swing Time will swing 'em past the wickets in above-average tempo."^[9]

Dance Magazine is a major American trade publication for dance. ... Variety is a daily newspaper for the entertainment industry. ...

DVD releases

Region 1

Since 2005, a digitally restored version of Swing Time is available separately and as part of The Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol.1 from Warner Home Video. These releases feature a commentary by John Mueller, author of Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... John E. Mueller (born 1937, St. ...

Region 2

Since 2003, a digitally restored version of Swing Time (not the same as the US restoration) is available separately, and as part of The Fred and Ginger Collection, Vol. 1 from Universal Studios, who control the rights to the RKO Astaire-Rogers pictures in Europe. These releases feature an introduction by Astaire's daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie. This article is about the American media conglomerate. ...

External links

• Swing Time at the Internet Movie Database
• Swing Time at Rotten Tomatoes
• [1]

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Notes and references