A Damsel in Distress Astaire, Fred performer Film 1937-11-19 RKO Director: George Stevens Dance Director: Hermes Pan Choreographer: Fred Astaire The film laces the felicitous fancies of Astaire, cast opposite Joan Fontaine, with the screwball antics of George Burns (self-described as a "sort of right-legged dancer. I could tap with my right foot, but my left foot wanted me to get into some other business") and Gracie Allen. The script, based on the satiric novel by P.G. Wodehouse, is about a successful American composer of popular songs unable to find the ideal woman; he finds her in a cab ride through London where a woman in distress hops in with him, and he shelters her from her pursuer. Astaire's solo, "I Can't Be Bothered Now" is performed with dazzle and wit and contagious exuberance, is a scrabbling little tap dance from side to side while illustrating some of the words of the tune; as song blends into dance, he cavorts amicably in a spread-legged tap figure, and then adds his umbrella to the tap rhythm, shunting it from hand to hand in counterpoint to the rapping of his feet. "Put Me to the Test" sees Astaire, Burns, and Allen in a wonderfully comic dance that combines rhythmic chanting, cocky struts and strolls, and a fanfare of quick and witty tap and softshoe steps, not to mention whisk brooms structuring the sounds of various brushings of the knee, elbow, and backsides into the music's rhythms. Hermes Pan received the 1937 Oscar for best dance direction in a film for the fun-house "Stiff Upper Lip" number sung by Allen and a comic tap dance by Allen and Ray Noble who try happily to promenade on a treadmill which, among other things, allows them to do some traveling tap steps that stay in place. "A Foggy Day" is a softshoe by Astaire who demonstrates how the simplest walk, with shifts in momentum and slight hesitations, is a dance. "Nice Work If You Can Get It" has Astaire tap dancing with parts of a drum kit. Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Frank, Rusty E.: Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and their Stories 1900-1955. New York, William Morrow. (1990). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Fred Astaire (biography) loc.music.tdabio.16 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.2675