You Were Never Lovelier (Columbia Pictures) is a 1943 Hollywood musical comedy film, set in Buenos Aires. It starred Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou and Xavier Cugat, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by William A. Seiter. The Columbia Pictures logo, used from 1993 to current. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... 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. ... Buenos Aires (Good Airs in Spanish, originally meaning Fair Winds) is the capital of Argentina and its largest city and port, as well as one of the largest cities in South America. ... 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. ... February 18, 1890 - October 29, 1963 Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. ... Xavier Cugat (1 January 1900 - 27 October 1990) was a Catalan-Cuban bandleader who many consider to have had more to do with the infusion of Latin music into United States popular music than any other musician. ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American popular composer. ... Johnny Mercer (November 18, 1909 - June 25, 1976) was a pop music composer. ...

This, the second of Astaire’s outings with Hayworth, avoids wartime themes, and benefits from much more lavish production values – a consequence of the box-office success of the earthier You'll Never Get Rich. Add to this the music of Kern, who here created a memorable standard with “I’m Old Fashioned”, and a faultless trio of classic dance routines, and it is easy to see why this film is considered the more appealing of the two. However, it suffers somewhat from occasional lapses into sugary sentimentalism, and rather eccentric art direction. Initially, Kern was unhappy about the selection of Cugat and his orchestra, however, when production was complete, he was so pleased with the band’s performance that he presented him with a silver baton. Although Hayworth possessed a good singing voice, Columbia’s boss Harry Cohn insisted on her singing being dubbed throughout by Nan Wynn. Youll 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 Great American Songbook is an informal term referring to a period of American popular music songwriting that took place between the 1930s and 1950s. ... The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. ... Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891–February 27, 1958) was the founder of Columbia Pictures. ...

Key songs/dance routines:

Dance director was Val Raset, the one and only time he collaborated with Astaire, and his choreographic input into the film is unclear. According to Astaire’s biography, he worked out all the numbers with Hayworth while rehearsing above a funeral parlour. Although the setting is a Latin one, Kern felt unable to compose in this style, but Astaire was determined to continue his exploration of Latin dance, which he did with the help of special arrangements by Cugat and Murphy, and the inspiration provided by the enthusiastic and talented Hayworth. This became an important counterbalance to Kern’s tendency to compose sweet, occasionally saccharine, melodies. Hayworth's performance here establishes her claim as one of Astaire’s foremost dance partners. The term Latin dances in the context of social and ballroom dances may be used in two meanings. ...

• Chiu Chiu: Cugat’s band performs this showpiece samba with music and lyrics by Nicanor Molinare in front of Astaire.

• Dearly Beloved: Kern’s ballad became a major hit for Astaire – who sings it here, and it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Shortly after, Hayworth reprises the song with a brief but erotic dance, alone in her bedroom.

• Audition Dance: Astaire’s first solo routine on the theme of Latin dance is knownn for its comic inventiveness and dexterity. His use of a draped curtain as a matador’s cape was quoted by Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in the famous Moses Supposes routine from Singin' In The Rain. Astaire’s number also inspired Jerome Robbins’ solo Latin dance in the latter’s first ballet Fancy Free, created in 1944.

• I’m Old Fashioned: A Kern melody, with Mercer’s lyrics mimed by Hayworth, inspires Astaire’s second Latin romantic partnered dance, and one of his best known. This dance was chosen by Jerome Robbins as the centerpiece to his ballet of the same name, created by him for the New York City Ballet in 1983, as a tribute to Astaire.

• The Shorty George: A synthesis of American Swing or Jive, and virtuoso tap dancing by Astaire and Hayworth, both in top form and exuding a sense of fun in an arrangement by Lyle "Spud" Murphy. The title refers to a popular dance step of the time, attributed to George "Shorty" Snowdon a champion African-American dancer at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom and reputed inventor of the Lindy Hop or Jitterbug dance styles. Here, as in the Pick Yourself Up and Bojangles of Harlem numbers from Swing Time, Kern belied his claim that he couldn't write in the Swing style.

• Wedding In The Spring: Overly sweet and soppy number performed tongue-in-cheek by Cugat’s band.

• You Were Never Lovelier: A Kern melody, sung by Astaire to Hayworth, with a celebratory dance reprise at the film’s end, initiated by an armour-suited Astaire falling off a horse, and shedding his knight’s armour, only to reveal himself in white tie and tails.

• These Orchids: Cugat’s band provides a orchestral serenade in rumba style to Hayworth outside her bedroom window with this Kern melody.

Samba is the most famous of the various forms of music arising from African roots in Brazil. ... A ballad is a story in song, usually a narrative song or poem. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... Matador Antonio Barrera in the capote de paseo (dress cape) before a bullfight during the 2003 Aste Nagusia festival in Bilbao, Spain A matador (killer) is the main performer in bullfighting events in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. ... Gene Kelly (1912-1996) Eugene Curran Kelly, born on August 23, 1912, and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was an Irish-American dancer, actor, singer, director, and choreographer. ... Donald Danny OConnor (August 28, 1925 - September 27, 2003) was a singer, dancer and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred with Francis, the talking mule. ... Singin in the Rain, a 1952 Gene Kelly musical film, chronicled Hollywoods transition from silent films to talkies. The movie has an extraordinarily intelligent plot, which greatly contributes to the work being systematically classified as the best musical comedy ever. ... Jerome Robbins (October 11, 1918–July 29, 1998) was an American choreographer whose work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater. ... The Waltz of the Snowflakes from Tchaikovskys The Nutcracker Ballet is the name given to a specific dance form and technique. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that solidified as a distinctive style during the 1930s in the United States. ... Look up Jive on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Jive is Swing music, or a type of quick-paced and energetic jazz. ... Tap dance was born in the United States during the 19th century, and today is popular all around the world. ... 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. ... Lindy Hop is a street jazz dance that evolved in Harlem, Manhattan, New York in the late 1920s and early 1930s, that emerged with swing jazz. ... The Jitterbug, which may be the greatest dancing fad ever, is a swing dance, a subset of Lindy hop, with an emphasis on 6-count moves and fast spins. ... Swing Time is a 1936 musical directed by George Stevens, the sixth film featuring the pair-up of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. ... Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that solidified as a distinctive style during the 1930s in the United States. ... 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. ...

External Links:

• You Were Never Lovelier at the Internet Movie Database

• Photographic celebration of the Astaire-Hayworth films

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), owned by Amazon. ...

References

Fred Astaire: Steps in Time, 1959, multiple reprints.

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