John Franceschina
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199754298
- eISBN:
- 9780199949878
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754298.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Dance, Popular
With The Gay Divorcee, Pan begins a seven-year association with RKO that includes the choreography for every Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical through The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, though he ...
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With The Gay Divorcee, Pan begins a seven-year association with RKO that includes the choreography for every Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical through The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, though he wins the Academy Award for Best Choreography with the “Fun House” number from the non-Astaire-Rogers Damsel in Distress. Throughout his tenure at the studio, Pan also designed dances for non-musical films such as A Dog of Flanders, Stage Door where he worked with Ann Miller and Ginger Rogers, Becky Sharp, and a variety of Katharine Hepburn films including Mary of Scotland and Quality Street.Less
With The Gay Divorcee, Pan begins a seven-year association with RKO that includes the choreography for every Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical through The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, though he wins the Academy Award for Best Choreography with the “Fun House” number from the non-Astaire-Rogers Damsel in Distress. Throughout his tenure at the studio, Pan also designed dances for non-musical films such as A Dog of Flanders, Stage Door where he worked with Ann Miller and Ginger Rogers, Becky Sharp, and a variety of Katharine Hepburn films including Mary of Scotland and Quality Street.
John Franceschina
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199754298
- eISBN:
- 9780199949878
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754298.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance, Popular
This book tells the story of a boy from Tennessee who, armed with only an 8th grade education, an inexhaustible imagination, and an innate talent for dancing becomes the most prolific and popular ...
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This book tells the story of a boy from Tennessee who, armed with only an 8th grade education, an inexhaustible imagination, and an innate talent for dancing becomes the most prolific and popular choreographer of the glory days of the Hollywood musical. As luck would have it, Pan’s movie career began and ended working with Fred Astaire, the most famous dancer on film. The pair made nearly two dozen movies and television shows together and in Astaire, Pan found an artistic soul mate with whom he would develop a symbiotic relationship for the rest of his life. A devout Roman Catholic, Hermes was interested in perfecting the souls as well as the physical technique of his dancers and the book explores the profound effect he had on the lives of stars such as June Haver, Ann Miller, Rita Hayworth, Linda Darnell, Ginger Rogers, and Betty Grable. The book examines each of Pan’s eighty-nine films offering a panoramic view of Pan’s choreography from Flying Down to Rio in 1933 to Aiutami a sognare (Help Me Dream) in 1980 and comments on the development of Pan’s art throughout his fifty-year career. Although Pan lived what many considered a “blessed” life without scandal or controversy as a Catholic, homosexual, Tennessee gentleman living as one of the “A-List” of Hollywood’s elite, the book explores Pan’s personal conflicts and doubts, his uneasiness with the film community, his spiritual vocation as well as his artistic philosophies.Less
This book tells the story of a boy from Tennessee who, armed with only an 8th grade education, an inexhaustible imagination, and an innate talent for dancing becomes the most prolific and popular choreographer of the glory days of the Hollywood musical. As luck would have it, Pan’s movie career began and ended working with Fred Astaire, the most famous dancer on film. The pair made nearly two dozen movies and television shows together and in Astaire, Pan found an artistic soul mate with whom he would develop a symbiotic relationship for the rest of his life. A devout Roman Catholic, Hermes was interested in perfecting the souls as well as the physical technique of his dancers and the book explores the profound effect he had on the lives of stars such as June Haver, Ann Miller, Rita Hayworth, Linda Darnell, Ginger Rogers, and Betty Grable. The book examines each of Pan’s eighty-nine films offering a panoramic view of Pan’s choreography from Flying Down to Rio in 1933 to Aiutami a sognare (Help Me Dream) in 1980 and comments on the development of Pan’s art throughout his fifty-year career. Although Pan lived what many considered a “blessed” life without scandal or controversy as a Catholic, homosexual, Tennessee gentleman living as one of the “A-List” of Hollywood’s elite, the book explores Pan’s personal conflicts and doubts, his uneasiness with the film community, his spiritual vocation as well as his artistic philosophies.
Richard Barrios
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195377347
- eISBN:
- 9780199864577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377347.003.0017
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
The musical resurgence was spearheaded by the election of Franklin Roosevelt and by Warner's 42nd Street, both of which indicated that better times were ahead. Busby Berkeley's dance spectacles ...
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The musical resurgence was spearheaded by the election of Franklin Roosevelt and by Warner's 42nd Street, both of which indicated that better times were ahead. Busby Berkeley's dance spectacles became a symbol of the new optimism even as Gold Diggers of 1933 mirrored Depression woes. Backstage films made a comeback as musical genres became more standardized, and at the end of the year Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, in Flying Down to Rio, indicated a new direction for screen dance.Less
The musical resurgence was spearheaded by the election of Franklin Roosevelt and by Warner's 42nd Street, both of which indicated that better times were ahead. Busby Berkeley's dance spectacles became a symbol of the new optimism even as Gold Diggers of 1933 mirrored Depression woes. Backstage films made a comeback as musical genres became more standardized, and at the end of the year Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, in Flying Down to Rio, indicated a new direction for screen dance.
Peter William Evans
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748699926
- eISBN:
- 9781474426749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748699926.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter challenges the conventional notion that the song and dance musicals that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made for MGM in the 1930s epitomized Hollywood escapist fare in the Depression ...
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This chapter challenges the conventional notion that the song and dance musicals that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made for MGM in the 1930s epitomized Hollywood escapist fare in the Depression decade. Through a close reading of one of their movies, Roberta (1935), it shows how this could be seen as romantic nonsense at one level and as a poignant reminder of ordinary people’s wider lived realities in hard times at another. It analyses, in particular, how the dual rendering of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’ in song by the Irene Dunne character and in dance by the Astaire and Rogers characters gives the narrative moments of emotional depth by stressing the potential for loss. This lifts the film beyond the private ordeals of the romantic couples involved in its on-off love plots into the public domain of the Depression audience both on screen in the salon and nightclub sequences and off screen in the case of moviegoers.Less
This chapter challenges the conventional notion that the song and dance musicals that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made for MGM in the 1930s epitomized Hollywood escapist fare in the Depression decade. Through a close reading of one of their movies, Roberta (1935), it shows how this could be seen as romantic nonsense at one level and as a poignant reminder of ordinary people’s wider lived realities in hard times at another. It analyses, in particular, how the dual rendering of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’ in song by the Irene Dunne character and in dance by the Astaire and Rogers characters gives the narrative moments of emotional depth by stressing the potential for loss. This lifts the film beyond the private ordeals of the romantic couples involved in its on-off love plots into the public domain of the Depression audience both on screen in the salon and nightclub sequences and off screen in the case of moviegoers.
Brent Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780813147215
- eISBN:
- 9780813151502
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813147215.003.0012
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter begins with Walters and John Darrow building a house in Malibu Beach, and concisely discusses the development of Malibu Colony. Most of this chapter is devoted to the making of The ...
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This chapter begins with Walters and John Darrow building a house in Malibu Beach, and concisely discusses the development of Malibu Colony. Most of this chapter is devoted to the making of The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), which reunited Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on-screen (after a ten year hiatus) when Judy Garland was removed from the picture. The film co-stars Oscar Levant, with choreography by Hermes Pan and Robert Alton.Less
This chapter begins with Walters and John Darrow building a house in Malibu Beach, and concisely discusses the development of Malibu Colony. Most of this chapter is devoted to the making of The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), which reunited Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on-screen (after a ten year hiatus) when Judy Garland was removed from the picture. The film co-stars Oscar Levant, with choreography by Hermes Pan and Robert Alton.
John Franceschina
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199754298
- eISBN:
- 9780199949878
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754298.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Dance, Popular
The Pan family’s introduction to New York City in the 1920s is luxurious and spectacular but when their money runs out, the members find themselves doing menial labor. Hermes and Vasso earn money by ...
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The Pan family’s introduction to New York City in the 1920s is luxurious and spectacular but when their money runs out, the members find themselves doing menial labor. Hermes and Vasso earn money by dancing in a speakeasy and eventually they find employment performing in the chorus of various Broadway shows, appearing together in a college musical called Happy. He also appears with the Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers performing the famous “Hooray for Captain Spaulding.” Pan’s coworkers note his resemblance to Fred Astaire and Hermes meets Ginger Rogers when they are both cast in Top Speed. Pan’s personal magnetism, sensitivity, and good looks earn him the attention of people of both sexes from all walks of life.Less
The Pan family’s introduction to New York City in the 1920s is luxurious and spectacular but when their money runs out, the members find themselves doing menial labor. Hermes and Vasso earn money by dancing in a speakeasy and eventually they find employment performing in the chorus of various Broadway shows, appearing together in a college musical called Happy. He also appears with the Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers performing the famous “Hooray for Captain Spaulding.” Pan’s coworkers note his resemblance to Fred Astaire and Hermes meets Ginger Rogers when they are both cast in Top Speed. Pan’s personal magnetism, sensitivity, and good looks earn him the attention of people of both sexes from all walks of life.
Maria DiBattista
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300088151
- eISBN:
- 9780300133882
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300088151.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter takes a closer look at the personalities and celebrities that would epitomize and popularize the character of the blonde bombshell, namely: Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, and Ginger ...
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This chapter takes a closer look at the personalities and celebrities that would epitomize and popularize the character of the blonde bombshell, namely: Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, and Ginger Rogers. It looks at, for example, Nothing Sacred (1937) where Hazel Flagg—played by Lombard—carries the banner for modern American womanhood. The fast-talking dame, in a sense, looks towards democratic society's ideology that boasts of endless opportunities for self-advancement and translates this ideology into modern parlance. She speaks of the language of the times as quick and unforgiving, and at the same time she also expresses the fluid, unstable character of American society during a period of drastic change. The chapter thus analyzes and expounds on the character of the fast-talking dame and sees how this incorporates into the blond bombshell persona, further exploring such a dame in the personas of the characters played by Harlow, Lombard, and Rogers.Less
This chapter takes a closer look at the personalities and celebrities that would epitomize and popularize the character of the blonde bombshell, namely: Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, and Ginger Rogers. It looks at, for example, Nothing Sacred (1937) where Hazel Flagg—played by Lombard—carries the banner for modern American womanhood. The fast-talking dame, in a sense, looks towards democratic society's ideology that boasts of endless opportunities for self-advancement and translates this ideology into modern parlance. She speaks of the language of the times as quick and unforgiving, and at the same time she also expresses the fluid, unstable character of American society during a period of drastic change. The chapter thus analyzes and expounds on the character of the fast-talking dame and sees how this incorporates into the blond bombshell persona, further exploring such a dame in the personas of the characters played by Harlow, Lombard, and Rogers.
J. E. Smyth
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190840822
- eISBN:
- 9780190840853
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190840822.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The most significant shift in the wartime and postwar history of the Hollywood producer was the rise of women. Joan Harrison and Virginia Van Upp are best known, but little has been written about the ...
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The most significant shift in the wartime and postwar history of the Hollywood producer was the rise of women. Joan Harrison and Virginia Van Upp are best known, but little has been written about the producing careers of Harriet Parsons, Helen Rathvon, Ruth Herbert, Frances Manson, Ginger and Lela Rogers, Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett, Helen Deutsch, Jane Murfin, Theresa Helburn, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Kay Francis, and Rita Hayworth. Together with Mary Pickford, longtime partner of United Artists Studios, and Ida Lupino, actress turned writer-director-producer, they formed a formidable contingent of women who sought to redefine and re-energize the creative role of the producer. Many of these women combined screenwriting, editing, acting, and producing duties. During the war years, two factors advanced women’s executive roles in Hollywood: women outnumbered men in the United States and public and cross-party support for the Equal Rights Amendment was at its peak.Less
The most significant shift in the wartime and postwar history of the Hollywood producer was the rise of women. Joan Harrison and Virginia Van Upp are best known, but little has been written about the producing careers of Harriet Parsons, Helen Rathvon, Ruth Herbert, Frances Manson, Ginger and Lela Rogers, Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett, Helen Deutsch, Jane Murfin, Theresa Helburn, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Kay Francis, and Rita Hayworth. Together with Mary Pickford, longtime partner of United Artists Studios, and Ida Lupino, actress turned writer-director-producer, they formed a formidable contingent of women who sought to redefine and re-energize the creative role of the producer. Many of these women combined screenwriting, editing, acting, and producing duties. During the war years, two factors advanced women’s executive roles in Hollywood: women outnumbered men in the United States and public and cross-party support for the Equal Rights Amendment was at its peak.
J. E. Smyth
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190840822
- eISBN:
- 9780190840853
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190840822.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Today, when the media puts studio-era Hollywood and feminism together, the answer is usually Katharine Hepburn. But during her career at RKO and MGM, she did not discuss women’s issues regarding ...
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Today, when the media puts studio-era Hollywood and feminism together, the answer is usually Katharine Hepburn. But during her career at RKO and MGM, she did not discuss women’s issues regarding equal pay, career opportunities, or political equality. However, she did state flatly in 1933, “I intend to speak my mind when I please, despite movie traditions,” setting her independence against the Hollywood establishment. She remained uninterested in working with other Hollywood women on-screen or in recognizing the advantages of promoting women’s careers through publicity networks off the set. Katharine Hepburn endures as a product of American myths about pioneering individualism, the Hollywood star system, and the studio-era film industry’s ambivalent investment in strong women. But if, as historian Nancy Cott has argued, “Pure individualism negates feminism because it removes the basis for women’s collective self-understanding or action,” then Hepburn was no feminist. This chapter unravels her myth.Less
Today, when the media puts studio-era Hollywood and feminism together, the answer is usually Katharine Hepburn. But during her career at RKO and MGM, she did not discuss women’s issues regarding equal pay, career opportunities, or political equality. However, she did state flatly in 1933, “I intend to speak my mind when I please, despite movie traditions,” setting her independence against the Hollywood establishment. She remained uninterested in working with other Hollywood women on-screen or in recognizing the advantages of promoting women’s careers through publicity networks off the set. Katharine Hepburn endures as a product of American myths about pioneering individualism, the Hollywood star system, and the studio-era film industry’s ambivalent investment in strong women. But if, as historian Nancy Cott has argued, “Pure individualism negates feminism because it removes the basis for women’s collective self-understanding or action,” then Hepburn was no feminist. This chapter unravels her myth.
Ethan Mordden
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190651794
- eISBN:
- 9780190860929
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190651794.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, History, Western
In 1975, the Broadway musical Chicago brought together a host of memes and myths, the gleefully subversive character of American musical comedy, the reckless glamor of the big-city newspaper, the mad ...
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In 1975, the Broadway musical Chicago brought together a host of memes and myths, the gleefully subversive character of American musical comedy, the reckless glamor of the big-city newspaper, the mad decade of the 1920s, the work of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon—two of the greatest talents in the musical’s history—and the Wild West gangsterville that was the city of Chicago itself. The tale of a young woman who murders her departing lover and then tricks the jury into letting her off, Chicago seemed too blunt and cynical at first. Everyone agreed it was show biz at its brilliant best, yet the public still preferred A Chorus Line, with its cast of innocents and sentimental feeling. Nevertheless, the 1996 Chicago revival is now the longest-running American musical in history, and the movie version won the Best Picture Oscar. As this text looks back at Chicago’s various moving parts, including the original 1926 play that started it all, a sexy silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, a talkie remake with Ginger Rogers, the musical itself, and at last the movie of the musical, we see how the American theatre serves as a kind of alternative news medium, a town crier warning the public about the racy, devious interior contradictions of American society.Less
In 1975, the Broadway musical Chicago brought together a host of memes and myths, the gleefully subversive character of American musical comedy, the reckless glamor of the big-city newspaper, the mad decade of the 1920s, the work of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon—two of the greatest talents in the musical’s history—and the Wild West gangsterville that was the city of Chicago itself. The tale of a young woman who murders her departing lover and then tricks the jury into letting her off, Chicago seemed too blunt and cynical at first. Everyone agreed it was show biz at its brilliant best, yet the public still preferred A Chorus Line, with its cast of innocents and sentimental feeling. Nevertheless, the 1996 Chicago revival is now the longest-running American musical in history, and the movie version won the Best Picture Oscar. As this text looks back at Chicago’s various moving parts, including the original 1926 play that started it all, a sexy silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, a talkie remake with Ginger Rogers, the musical itself, and at last the movie of the musical, we see how the American theatre serves as a kind of alternative news medium, a town crier warning the public about the racy, devious interior contradictions of American society.
Larry Ceplair and Christopher Trumbo
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780813146805
- eISBN:
- 9780813154770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813146805.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The quality of assignments and size of his salary climbed steadily. His major breakthrough was Kitty Foyle, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He wrote his third novel, The Remarkable ...
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The quality of assignments and size of his salary climbed steadily. His major breakthrough was Kitty Foyle, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He wrote his third novel, The Remarkable Andrew, an antiwar satire, and adapted it for the screen.Less
The quality of assignments and size of his salary climbed steadily. His major breakthrough was Kitty Foyle, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He wrote his third novel, The Remarkable Andrew, an antiwar satire, and adapted it for the screen.
Peter J. Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167190
- eISBN:
- 9780813167862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167190.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
These films are considered together in this chapter not only because they are two of Allen’s greatest cinematic accomplishments, but because they share so many elements in common—including their very ...
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These films are considered together in this chapter not only because they are two of Allen’s greatest cinematic accomplishments, but because they share so many elements in common—including their very hedged conclusions affirming the value of art. In Purple Rose, Cecilia’s Depression era infatuation with Hollywood movies provides her with the only consolation her grim working-class existence affords; Kleinman, the Kafkaesque protagonist of Shadows and Fog, escapes the murderous political atmosphere of his European town to sign on with the circus as assistant to the Great Irmstedt, the circus magician. Cecilia ultimately chooses the actor who plays Tom Baxter in Purple Rose rather than the character, since she concludes that she must side with reality over illusion; reality proves unreliable when the actor flees back to Hollywood, betraying all the romantic promises he had made to her. Kleinman’s commitment to magic (Allen’s favorite shorthand for art) is compromised when Irmstedt’s craft fails to capture the killer who has been terrorizing the town, a roustabout affirming that “everyone loves his illusions,” even though they are nothing but illusions that fail to alter the realities of the human condition.Less
These films are considered together in this chapter not only because they are two of Allen’s greatest cinematic accomplishments, but because they share so many elements in common—including their very hedged conclusions affirming the value of art. In Purple Rose, Cecilia’s Depression era infatuation with Hollywood movies provides her with the only consolation her grim working-class existence affords; Kleinman, the Kafkaesque protagonist of Shadows and Fog, escapes the murderous political atmosphere of his European town to sign on with the circus as assistant to the Great Irmstedt, the circus magician. Cecilia ultimately chooses the actor who plays Tom Baxter in Purple Rose rather than the character, since she concludes that she must side with reality over illusion; reality proves unreliable when the actor flees back to Hollywood, betraying all the romantic promises he had made to her. Kleinman’s commitment to magic (Allen’s favorite shorthand for art) is compromised when Irmstedt’s craft fails to capture the killer who has been terrorizing the town, a roustabout affirming that “everyone loves his illusions,” even though they are nothing but illusions that fail to alter the realities of the human condition.
Andy Propst
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190630935
- eISBN:
- 9780190630966
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190630935.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
Betty Comden and Adolph Green, after finishing work on the screenplay for Good News, began work on their third Broadway musical. It became Bonanza Bound, and the tuner, a comedy set in the 1890s in ...
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Betty Comden and Adolph Green, after finishing work on the screenplay for Good News, began work on their third Broadway musical. It became Bonanza Bound, and the tuner, a comedy set in the 1890s in Alaska, closed during its tryout engagement in Philadelphia. Though critics were chilly toward this show, there were warm notices for the film. It prompted MGM to offer them work on two more movies, and Comden and Green returned to Hollywood to work on the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers picture The Barkleys of Broadway and Take Me Out to the Ball Game, which starred Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.Less
Betty Comden and Adolph Green, after finishing work on the screenplay for Good News, began work on their third Broadway musical. It became Bonanza Bound, and the tuner, a comedy set in the 1890s in Alaska, closed during its tryout engagement in Philadelphia. Though critics were chilly toward this show, there were warm notices for the film. It prompted MGM to offer them work on two more movies, and Comden and Green returned to Hollywood to work on the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers picture The Barkleys of Broadway and Take Me Out to the Ball Game, which starred Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.
