Now, for #2!
2. Ginger Rogers
Favorite solo: "Let Yourself Go" from Follow the Fleet. Yet again, we come into that frustrating conundrum of few solos for female dancers. Eleanor Powell was one of the few who got multiple memorable ones. And Ginger Rogers, one of the most famous dancers ever, got so few - I honestly can't remember any others. Despite the slim pickings, however, I must say, I like her solo a great deal. I wish she'd done more of them. She has so much personality and class.
Favorite duet: "Pick Yourself Up" from Swing Time. I love this song. I can never get enough of it! And I especially love Ginger in this one. I love how we follow her surprised reaction all the way to the end of the number where it's evident she's thoroughly enjoying herself. She is, apparently, having a blast and she's taking us along for the ride. It's wonderful!
Other favorites: "Hard to Handle" from Roberta, "The Carioca" from Flying Down to Rio, "Night and Day" from The Gay Divorcee. Okay there are tons and tons more. That's for a later post, though, I think. In the meantime, enjoy these marvelous Ginger numbers. Which one is your favorite?
I think one of the most difficult things about Ginger Rogers is that most of the dancing she did was in the form of a duet. And her main dancing partner, almost exclusively, was Fred Astaire. This being the case, we, sadly, don't get to see much of Ginger dancing in anything beyond the Fred-and-Ginger format. She was marvelous with Fred Astaire, of course - his best partner (in my opinion) but how neat would it have been to see her with Gene Kelly? What would it have been like if she'd danced with Danny Kaye? Ricardo Montalban? I've heard that Jimmy Stewart was a wonderful ballroom dancer (according to Ginger) - I wonder what they were like together? It saddens me that she did so few musicals without Fred Astaire. But we can't forget that she was one major half of a major dance team and that is enough to make her tops in my book!
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