You'll Never Get Rich (Columbia Pictures) is a 1941 Hollywood musical comedy film with a wartime theme starring Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley, Cliff Nazarro, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The film was directed by Sidney Lanfield. The Columbia Pictures logo, used from 1993 to current. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The art of singing and dancing in a prepared fictional play has been a time-honored tradition ranging to the early days of civilization. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... 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 of Austrian and German descent. ... Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (real name Margarita Carmen Cansino) (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was a famous American film star of Spanish and Irish descent during the 1940s who was sometimes called The Love Goddess or The Great American Love Goddess. ... Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 in Worcester, Massachusetts – November 21, 1945) was a humorist, newspaper columnist, film actor, drama editor. ... Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. ...

This was Hayworth's first major role, and while the film was in production Life Magazine put her on its cover, which soon became one of the most widely distributed pin-ups of all time. Hayworth, a talented and sensual dancer of astonishing natural grace and beauty, cooperated enthusiastically with Astaire's intense rehearsal habits, and was later to remark: "I guess the only jewels in my life are the pictures I made with Fred Astaire". The picture was very successful at the box office, turning Hayworth into a major star, and provided a welcome boost to Astaire who felt his career had flagged since breaking with Ginger Rogers. A cover of Life Magazine from 1911 Life has been the name of two notable magazines published in the United States. ... Ginger Rogers (1911–1995) Ginger Rogers, (July 16, 1911 - April 25, 1995), was a legendary American actress and dancer. ...

Key songs/dance routines:

Dance director was Robert Alton, Astaire's second-most-frequent choreographic collaborator after Hermes Pan. As Astaire generally choreographed his own and his partner's routines, Alton concentrated on the choruses. Fred Astaire and Hermes Pan working out a dance routine Hermes Pan (December 10, 1910 as Hermes Pangiotopolous in Nashville, Tennessee – September 19, 1990) was an American dancer and choreographer. ...

• Rehearsal Duet: Short tap number with Astaire and Hayworth.
• Boogie Barcarolle: Innovative Porter number which, not unlike Richard Russell Bennett's Waltz In Swing Time from Swing Time, overlays two very different musical rythms. Astaire leads the chorus which includes Hayworth in an exhilirating and, for Astaire, unusual routine.
• Shootin' The Works For Uncle Sam: Fascinating song and dance number where Astaire and chorus march through a train station. The choreography wittily expresses the notion that Broadway-style dance rehearsals and army camp drills have much in common. The music and dance contrast march and jazz rythms.
• Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye: Haunting and melancholy Porter standard introduced by the Four Tones - an African-American quartet - followed by a short Astaire solo, and all executed in the unrealistic - for its time - setting of an unsegregated guard house.
• March Milastaire (A-Stairable Rag): Another clever Porter number contrasting march and jazz rythms, danced in a "tour de force" tap solo by Astaire, who expresses his sudden joy of being in love by using his taps to make as much noise as possible. The twenty-year-old Chico Hamilton appears on drums.
• So Near And Yet So Far: Porter's beautiful rumba melody is set to awkward lyrics (sung by Astaire), which nonetheless sum up the nature of Hayworth's irresistable allure. Astaire, clearly inspired by Hayworth's sensational Latin dance pedigree, delivers his first on-screen synthesis of Latin-American and Standard Ballroom dance steps in a sublime romantic partnering.
• The Wedding Cake Walk: Liltin' Martha Tilton's rendition of this cheerful song is followed by a forgettable marshmallow of a routine involving Astaire, Hayworth and a large chorus, the former pair ending up dancing on a wedding cake in the shape of a tank. As Mueller remarks: "Does this look like a country about to go to war?. And win?"

Swing Time is a 1936 musical directed by George Stevens, the sixth film featuring the pair-up of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. ... A parade refers to any times soldiers are in formation with restriction of movement. ... March music is a form of classical music or genre of music originally written for and performed by military bands. ... Jazz is a musical art form originally characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... The Great American Songbook is an informal term referring to a period of American popular music songwriting that took place between the 1930s and 1950s. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans, Black Americans, or blacks are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to West and Central Africa. ... Chico Hamilton (born September 21, 1921) is a jazz drummer. ... Rumba is both a family of music rhythms and a dance style that originated in Africa and traveled via the slave trade to Cuba and the New World. ... The term Latin dances in the context of social and ballroom dances may be used in two meanings. ... Ballroom dance is a style of partner dance which originated in the western world and is now enjoyed both socially and competitively around the globe. ... Martha Tilton (born November 14, 1915 in Corpus Christi, Texas) is an American popular singer best-known for her 1939 recording of And the Angels Sing with Benny Goodman. ...

External Links:

• You'll Never Get Rich at the Internet Movie Database

• Photographic celebration of the Astaire Hayworth films

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References

John Mueller: Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films of Fred Astaire, Knopf 1985, ISBN 0394516540.