| DECEMBER 2005 GINGER ROGERS |
| REVIEWS Top Hat - 1935 Follow the Fleet - 1936 Swing Time - 1936 Shall We Dance - 1937 Carefree - 1938 Kitty Foyle - 1940 Tom, Dick and Harry - 1941 I'll Be Seeing You - 1944 The Barkleys of Broadway -1949 We're Not Married! - 1952 Monkey Business - 1952 |
Born Virginia Katherine McMath, she was soon to be known to the world as Ginger Rogers, one of
cinema's biggest screen legends and arguably the greatest female film dancer of all time. She was an
icon of American female moxie and innocence all wrapped up in one package. A daughter of a broken
home, Rogers moved with her mother from their home state of Missouri to Forth Worth, Texas in 1920.
Fate intervened for Rogers in 1925, when after learning the trendy dance, the Charleston, from Eddie
Foy's dancing team, she won the Texas Charleston competition.
Soon, Rogers was a featured vaudeville dancer. In 1929, she married a fellow vaudevillian, Jack
Culpepper, but quickly divorced after a few months. A short time later, Rogers' dancing talents led her
to Broadway, where she starred in the Gershwin musical, "Girl Crazy," among many others. Getting
into the movies proved more difficult. Rogers had contracts with Paramount and Pathe in the early
1930s, but kept returning to vaudeville without success.
She finally made a big-screen splash in "42nd Street" and soon after was signed by RKO. An
unexpected need for an actress at the last minute on the set of RKO's "Flying Down to Rio" put Rogers
in her first film with the man whose name has become synonymous with her own, Fred Astaire. Rogers
and Astaire would embark on ten legendary motion pictures together and define cinematic dancing.
cinema's biggest screen legends and arguably the greatest female film dancer of all time. She was an
icon of American female moxie and innocence all wrapped up in one package. A daughter of a broken
home, Rogers moved with her mother from their home state of Missouri to Forth Worth, Texas in 1920.
Fate intervened for Rogers in 1925, when after learning the trendy dance, the Charleston, from Eddie
Foy's dancing team, she won the Texas Charleston competition.
Soon, Rogers was a featured vaudeville dancer. In 1929, she married a fellow vaudevillian, Jack
Culpepper, but quickly divorced after a few months. A short time later, Rogers' dancing talents led her
to Broadway, where she starred in the Gershwin musical, "Girl Crazy," among many others. Getting
into the movies proved more difficult. Rogers had contracts with Paramount and Pathe in the early
1930s, but kept returning to vaudeville without success.
She finally made a big-screen splash in "42nd Street" and soon after was signed by RKO. An
unexpected need for an actress at the last minute on the set of RKO's "Flying Down to Rio" put Rogers
in her first film with the man whose name has become synonymous with her own, Fred Astaire. Rogers
and Astaire would embark on ten legendary motion pictures together and define cinematic dancing.
| ABOVE: Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire meet in "Top Hat." |
After "Flying Down to Rio," Rogers and Astaire teamed up again for "The Gay Divorcee," which would
begin a trend of stories in which Astaire and Rogers suffer the antics of mistaken identity and happen
to sing and dance their way through their worries at the same time. This trend would continue with
one of their most famous films, "Top Hat," in 1935, in which a professional dancer, Astaire, and his
boss get switched through an unfortunate coincidence and Rogers believes Astaire is a philanderer
for her affections.
The two would team again the next year in "Follow the Fleet," the third of five films the pair made with
director Mark Sandrich. That very same year, Astaire and Rogers took their dancing shoes under
another director to make the unparalleled and unequalled musical classic, "Swing Time," directed by
the great George Stevens. In the movie, Astaire plays Lucky, a dancer who really wants to be a
professional gambler and get married to his sweetheart back home, until he meets Rogers. The
toe-tapping con artist gets into her business and then into her heart.
Off screen, despite popular rumors that the duo were romantically involved, no such relationship ever
occurred and it has been said that their behind the scenes working relationship didn't really gel until
their seventh outing in "Carefree," made shortly after their 1937 collaboration, "Shall We Dance." In
"Carefree," Rogers finally got to play the more comedic and interesting role as hypnotherapy patient
Amanda, who tries to use Astaire's therapy services to repair her relationship with her groom-to-be.
Here for once, Astaire is pretty much the straight face and Rogers gets to have all the fun being the
goofy and affected half of the couple. Where before, even in their previous "Shall We Dance," Astaire
was the wisecracking performer, here Rogers got to stretch her legs, so to speak and the result was
darling. Rogers and Astaire's partnership would eventually come to a close in 1949's "The Barkleys of
Broadway."
Between 1938's "Carefree" and their final spin across the dance floor, Rogers found herself in a
period of her career where she was getting more dramatic roles, something she had been striving
towards for quite some time. She dyed her hair dark and the thicker roles started coming in. As early
as 1939, Rogers was starring in films like "5th Ave Girl," in which she played a woman posing as a
married man's mistress in a jealousy ploy.
Rogers' biggest break would come in 1940 with the movie that would not only win her an Academy
Award, but also set a new standard for the way in which women were portrayed on screen. In "Kitty
Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman," Rogers broke down walls and caused a stir too.
begin a trend of stories in which Astaire and Rogers suffer the antics of mistaken identity and happen
to sing and dance their way through their worries at the same time. This trend would continue with
one of their most famous films, "Top Hat," in 1935, in which a professional dancer, Astaire, and his
boss get switched through an unfortunate coincidence and Rogers believes Astaire is a philanderer
for her affections.
The two would team again the next year in "Follow the Fleet," the third of five films the pair made with
director Mark Sandrich. That very same year, Astaire and Rogers took their dancing shoes under
another director to make the unparalleled and unequalled musical classic, "Swing Time," directed by
the great George Stevens. In the movie, Astaire plays Lucky, a dancer who really wants to be a
professional gambler and get married to his sweetheart back home, until he meets Rogers. The
toe-tapping con artist gets into her business and then into her heart.
Off screen, despite popular rumors that the duo were romantically involved, no such relationship ever
occurred and it has been said that their behind the scenes working relationship didn't really gel until
their seventh outing in "Carefree," made shortly after their 1937 collaboration, "Shall We Dance." In
"Carefree," Rogers finally got to play the more comedic and interesting role as hypnotherapy patient
Amanda, who tries to use Astaire's therapy services to repair her relationship with her groom-to-be.
Here for once, Astaire is pretty much the straight face and Rogers gets to have all the fun being the
goofy and affected half of the couple. Where before, even in their previous "Shall We Dance," Astaire
was the wisecracking performer, here Rogers got to stretch her legs, so to speak and the result was
darling. Rogers and Astaire's partnership would eventually come to a close in 1949's "The Barkleys of
Broadway."
Between 1938's "Carefree" and their final spin across the dance floor, Rogers found herself in a
period of her career where she was getting more dramatic roles, something she had been striving
towards for quite some time. She dyed her hair dark and the thicker roles started coming in. As early
as 1939, Rogers was starring in films like "5th Ave Girl," in which she played a woman posing as a
married man's mistress in a jealousy ploy.
Rogers' biggest break would come in 1940 with the movie that would not only win her an Academy
Award, but also set a new standard for the way in which women were portrayed on screen. In "Kitty
Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman," Rogers broke down walls and caused a stir too.
| ABOVE: Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in one of their most famous dance scenes from "Swing Time." BELOW: Rogers at her zaniest in "Carefree." |
Devoid of dancing and full of emotion, "Kitty Foyle" was a ground-breaking, if somewhat flawed, drama of a woman
who decides to make it on her own in New York City. There, she meets a man named Wyn, the son of money and the
aristocracy. She's his secretary and he seduces her, only to lead her on and on all the while knowing he is betrothed
to another as is the custom of the rich. Rogers proved in this film that she was a serious actress beyond the light
antics of the musical comedies she was known for by audiences. What made it a shocker for its time was the liberal
way in which the film makes it very clear Kitty is sleeping with Wyn out of wedlock, even so far as to bring an
illegitimate pregnancy subplot to a miscarriage conclusion. Just watching Rogers in this role is a powerful and
uncomfortable experience.
Rogers went on to star in the surreal 1941 romantic comedy, "Tom, Dick and Harry," which had Rogers dreaming
about what life would be like marrying three different men. In 1942, she played a woman posing as a 12-year-old in
"The Major and the Minor." Even Rogers girlish looks were a stretch for this one, but she pulled it off with her typical
charisma.
She went on to take more dramatic roles and starred with Joseph Cotten in the 1944 drama, "I'll Be Seeing You," in
which she portrays a convicted felon out on holiday furlough when she meets a serviceman and falls in love with him,
only to have to reveal that she must go back to prison soon. While she stayed mostly in comedies and romances, her
roles varied every now and then for some interesting pictures, most notably 1951's "Storm Warning," a film about a
woman who discovers her sister has married a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The most notable performance of her later career was as Cary Grant's wife in the Howard Hawks comedy, "Monkey
Business," the story of an absent-minded professor who accidentally takes a youth serum, as does his wife, and
havoc ensues.
who decides to make it on her own in New York City. There, she meets a man named Wyn, the son of money and the
aristocracy. She's his secretary and he seduces her, only to lead her on and on all the while knowing he is betrothed
to another as is the custom of the rich. Rogers proved in this film that she was a serious actress beyond the light
antics of the musical comedies she was known for by audiences. What made it a shocker for its time was the liberal
way in which the film makes it very clear Kitty is sleeping with Wyn out of wedlock, even so far as to bring an
illegitimate pregnancy subplot to a miscarriage conclusion. Just watching Rogers in this role is a powerful and
uncomfortable experience.
Rogers went on to star in the surreal 1941 romantic comedy, "Tom, Dick and Harry," which had Rogers dreaming
about what life would be like marrying three different men. In 1942, she played a woman posing as a 12-year-old in
"The Major and the Minor." Even Rogers girlish looks were a stretch for this one, but she pulled it off with her typical
charisma.
She went on to take more dramatic roles and starred with Joseph Cotten in the 1944 drama, "I'll Be Seeing You," in
which she portrays a convicted felon out on holiday furlough when she meets a serviceman and falls in love with him,
only to have to reveal that she must go back to prison soon. While she stayed mostly in comedies and romances, her
roles varied every now and then for some interesting pictures, most notably 1951's "Storm Warning," a film about a
woman who discovers her sister has married a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The most notable performance of her later career was as Cary Grant's wife in the Howard Hawks comedy, "Monkey
Business," the story of an absent-minded professor who accidentally takes a youth serum, as does his wife, and
havoc ensues.
Rogers made a few more comedies into the mid 1950s. By 1957, age had caught up with her and rather than take age-appropriate roles, it seemed she opted to
fade into the background. Her final big screen appearance was in the 1964 film, "The Confession." In it, Rogers plays the madame of a brothel looking for buried
treasure. After a television appearances in 1984, Rogers retired. She died in 1995 of heart failure.
fade into the background. Her final big screen appearance was in the 1964 film, "The Confession." In it, Rogers plays the madame of a brothel looking for buried
treasure. After a television appearances in 1984, Rogers retired. She died in 1995 of heart failure.
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