- Description
Tap Dance America is a reference work of bibliographic information and does not point to digitized versions of the items described. The Library of Congress may or may not own a copy of a particular film or video. To request additional information Ask a Librarian.
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Broadway Melody of 1940 / Fred Astaire [film]
- Title
- Broadway Melody of 1940 [Film]
- Performers
- Astaire, Fred
- Murphy, George
- Powell, Eleanor
- Connolly, Bobby
- Published/Created
- 1940-02-09
- Genre
- Film
- Note
- MGM
- Abstract
- Prod. Jack Cummings
Dir. Norman Taurog
Chor. Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell. Musical score by Cole Porter. This backstage musical in which Astaire and George Murphy play a couple of struggling song-and-dance men in New York, and which pairs Astaire with the virtuosic acrobatic tap dancer Eleanor Powell, is noted for its terrific tap dance routines, among them "Please Don't Monkey with Broadway" a comedic duet with Murphy that contains oafish hopping and rapid shuffle steps that leads into a dueling tap challenge with canes. "All Ashore (I Am the Captain)" a solo for Powell that shows off her high kicks and multiple spins; and "I've Got My Eyes On You" an Astaire solo as a romantic expression of affection for Powell.
Though there was a major difference in tap dancing styles between the two ("Fred dances on the off-beat, and mostly on the balls of the foot, while I am always on-beat, and get most of my taps from my heel" Powell wrote at the time), their duet in "Jukebox Dance (Italian Cafe Routine)" has the dancers repeating combinations several times while traveling forward over a pattern of rhythmically regular descending notes; as the music adds countermelodies and counter-rhythms, the dancers extend the patterns with handclaps and hops that complicate the rhythm while turns are added to the visual pattern; the phenomenal finale includes slams forward, chases to the side, blistering spins for Powell, and tap pivots in promenade and one emphatic tap blast as the music wraps itself up and vanishes. "Begin the Beguine" which Cole Porter composed using elements of rhumba-like dances he saw performed in Parisian nightclubs performed by natives of Martinique and music he heard on the island of Kalabahai in the East Indies, became an eclectic duet for Astaire and Powell, that begins in the tropics and and adds tap and Spanish dance elements, highlighted by a jazz tap exhibition for the two stars to a swing arrangement of the song; the opening of the duet sees the dancers turning within their own axes while circling each other in a complex series of helix maneuvers, when finally facing each other, they move into a Spanish-style dance, front to front or side by side, with their hands clasped at the small of their back while performing crisp heel-clicks; as the orchestra announces the theme of the music, they deliver a side-by-side tap episode that is cool and controlled yet filled with tantalizing pauses, subtle shifts of weight, and imaginative arm movements; they finally join hands and as the music builds move broadly across the floor, all the while tapping out a brisk yet sensuous Spanish rhythm; the stupendous ending sees them breaking into a throbbing Latin-tinged tap dance as they circle face to face and render sequential tap spins-- Powell turns, then Astaire responds, over and over again until they reach the exit and spin out of view. "I've Got My eyes On You (Reprise)" leads Astaire, Powell and Murphy into the final dance in which they trade steps with each other and, as all conflicts are resolved, link arms and beam happily as they tap away.
1. "Please Don't Monkey With Broadway" Astaire and Murphy
2. "All Ashore" danced by Powell
3. "Between You and Me" vocals by Murphy, danced by Murphy and Powell
4. "I've got My Eyes On You" vocals and dance by Astaire
5. "Jukebox Dance" danced by Astaire and Powell
6. "I Concentrate On You", vocals by McPhail, danced by Astaire and Powell
"Begin the Beguine" vocals by Carmen D'Antonio (dubbed by Lois Hardnett) and the Music Maids, danced by Astaire and Powell - Source
- Frank, Rusty E.: Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and their Stories 1900-1955. New York, William Morrow. (1990).
- Smith, Ernie: The Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection. The Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History: Archives Center ().
Last Updated: 12-16-2015