Hot Nerd Crush #8: Ginger Rogers
Monday, November 30th, 2009
I was never a big tennis fan, but if anyone could persuade me...
Oh man, this one’s been a long time coming. How can you call yourself any type of film nerd and not be in love with Ginger Rogers. Sure, she’s known mostly for being Fred Astaire’s dancing partner. But, if that’s all you know her as, you’re letting some of the best performances ever get past you…and that won’t do, movie nerd! Hot Nerd Crush Ginger Rogers starts now.
So, let’s go ahead and cover all that hoofing she did with master dancer Fred Astaire (Take that, Gene Kelly!) They were in ten movies together, and the best, in my opinion was Swing Time. Just an all out beautiful film, and some of their best dancing ever. Ginger McMath…sorry…Rogers is rocking the platinum look in this one, and it suits her (And me)! Some of the best songs ever recorded are in this movie. The Way You Look Tonight and A Fine Romance have since become standards, as well they should. They’re beautiful songs. I used to sit around waiting for this one on TCM, but my future in-laws gave me the gift that keeps on giving, the Astaire Rogers boxset. Yeah, I know…I win at life.
The Major and the Minor, released just this year on DVD is one of Ginger’s funniest roles, with one small catch. You have to suspend all disbelief that the people around her actually mistake her for a 12 year old girl! Now, you could call Ginger Rogers a lot of things…but girly isn’t really one of them. Plus, this movie gave birth to the line “Why don’t you slip out of that wet coat and into a dry martini.” That alone should mark it as worth watching. Ginger Rogers trying to act like a little girl for a train ticket discount is just icing, really.
I don't really have a caption for this one. Then again, I don't really need one.
In 1940 Ginger won the Academy Award for best actress for her performance as Kitty Foyle. I’m not going to lie to you. The first time I saw it, I hated it. It’s just so damn depressing. I found later that I was looking at things a little wrong. This movie doesn’t really have a happy ending so much as a happy beginning. It also took a look at a woman bearing a child out of wedlock…tough stuff for 1940.
Jimmy Stewart and Ginger were paired in Vivacious Lady, and if you ask me, it’s a highlight in both their careers. (And it might have been a highlight in their lives, if some rumors are to be believed.) Jimmy Stewart has never been funnier or Ginger more…well, Ginger than in this film. As a couple who gets married on the fly and then tries to hide it from his family, the movie is essentially about them trying to consummate the marriage…uh…physically. Jimmy plays a professor who gets drunk in class to piss off his dad, and Ginger plays an ex-showgirl who shows Jimmy’s mother how to dance. Might be a little hard to find, but if you look around you can do it! It also has one of the best catfights in movie history!
There are lot’s of other roles she should be seen in too. There’s Stage Door (What a cast!), there’s Bachelor Mother (Silly title, funny, funny movie.), and there’s Roxie Hart. Yeah…the Roxie Hart from Chicago. That Roxie Hart!
All I have to do is think of these two, and I'm in a better mood.
Well, I hope by now that you don’t just think of Ginger Rogers as a dance partner. She was so much more! It’s like that old quote about her…She did everything Fred did, except backwards and in high heels. (I’m certain Fred Astaire could’ve done it…it just wouldn’t have been anywhere near as sexy.) Gorgeous, talented, outspoken (A little too much for my taste…if you want to do the research, go ahead, but this is an article as to why she’s hot.) you never really could go wrong with one of her movies…except that Dolly Madison movie! Shoo-whee!!! What a piece of shit that was! So, excepting that one, if you’re channel surfing one day and you spy her, stop and look. You won’t be let down.
Posted on November 30th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Cute post. She was quite a vivacious lady and many men had crushes on her (in real life as well as on the a screen). One of them was even George Gershwin. She was certainly more than Astaire’s partner, just as he was much more than her partner. But, boy did they shine as a couple! Two terrific actors with that extra something that deservedly made them stars.
Posted on December 14th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
You ‘ve got your head screwed on right when you call out the many contributions of Ginger Rogers to Hollywood….and the nation. She’s iconic in so many ways. She is part and parcel of the American imagination….and will always be.
Fred’n'Ginger spread joy, light optimism in one of the nation’s darkest periods….and they achieved something that to my knowledge, no other actor or actress can claim. They actually affected society. As Leonard Maltin said: They didn’t invent social dancing, but they made it so attractive, that millions of Americans emulated them. Just imagine the 1930s, with its 25% unemployment…and many feeling depressed and afraid,about their futures…and then imagine the electric excitement when Fred and Ginger danced….in 9, 1930s classic films. It is hard to imagine their just stunning impact today. There was applause in the dark, inside the movie theaters all over America…and the world! It’s no exaggeration to say that , when Fred and Ginger danced together, something magic happened for all audiences, that was like a guided missile to the human heart. And then…amazingly…many of their audiences went dancing themselves…in the dance halls that sprinkled the country.
In one of their greatest dances: “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”, a suicidal couple meet, and literally dance their way out of their despair. This immortal dance partnership led the way for the whole nation. They are a timeless fundamental of Hollywood greatness….and literally, part and parcel of American history itself.
Astaire and Rogers inspired the great composers as well. The music of these films is of a very high quality. Gene Kelly said that all modern American dancing begins with Fred Astaire. They were good friends in real life. And Ginger, according to Hyam, Croce,and Mueller, the world’s three greatest experts of their dancing, was Fred’s greatest dance partner….hands down….though she was not as technically proficient as three or four of his other partners. But it didn’t matter, for she was by far the greatest dramatizer of their dancers….and inspiration for Astaire’s greatest all-original choreography, which he designed for her extraordinary and unique skills.
And I fully agree too, that her individual career was inspiring too. There is not enough time this morning to dwell on this too…but Ginger Rogers, was also one of the finest comedienne’s of her age as well.
I’m glad you have this blog. It’s good to see that there are others who appreciate the extraordinary and timeless achievements of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
Posted on December 14th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
“Let’s Face The Music and Dance” …That’s the one where Ginger was wearing that heavy beaded dress and you actually see it slap Fred in the face, right? I love that one!
Beyond “Waltz in Swing Time”, I’m partial to “I’m Putting All My Eggs In One Basket” simply because when you watch it, you have to understand what it takes for two people to work together so well to try and make it look bad. Even their mismatched steps look better together than almost any other dancers who were getting it right.