PaleyArchive ColorBars TopBanner2

FRED ASTAIRE SALUTES THE FOX MUSICALS (TV)

Summary

This televised special features Fred Astaire presenting the 20th Century Fox Company's classic musicals. The program begins as Astaire chats about his experiences in the talking pictures, followed by a clip of Ethel Merman singing "There's No Business Like Show Business" from "Annie Get Your Gun." In a clip from "Daddy Long Legs" (1955), Astaire drums and dances in the song "History of the Beat," and he discusses American musicals as the quintessential Hollywood art form, revered for their variety. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell sing "Two Little Girls From Little Rock" in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953), followed by Betty Grable singing "No-Talent Joe" from "Meet Me After the Show" (1951). A clip is shown from behind the scenes of the 1960 film "Can-Can" in which the cast and crew celebrate star Maurice Chevalier's birthday, also joined by Nikita Khrushchev. Next is a dance sequence from "Just Imagine" (1930), followed by a scene from "Folies Bergère de Paris" (1935), for which Dave Gould won an Oscar for dance direction, and Astaire explains how Agnes de Mille used the term "choreographer" to replace "dance director" as she worked on "Oklahoma!", and it stuck. The "Sluefoot" scene from "Daddy Long Legs" is next, followed by a scene from "The Gang's All Here" (1943), directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley and starring Carmen Miranda. Astaire talks about the "headache" of casting film adaptations of musicals, noting that directors often opt to keep the original stage stars, like in "Call Me Madam" (1953), which starred Donald O'Connor and Ethel Merman, who perform "You're Just In Love" in a clip. Next are scenes from "Carmen Jones" (1954) starring Pearl Bailey, "Hello, Dolly!" (1969) featuring Barbra Streisand and Louis Armstrong, "One in a Million" (1936) with Sonja Henie, and "Pigskin Parade" (1936), starring Judy Garland in her film debut.

Child stars Shirley Temple and Jane Withers duke it out in a scene from "Bright Eyes" (1934), followed by a clip from "Rascals" (1938), also starring Withers, and the classic dance scene from "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1938) with Temple and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell duet in "Sunny Side Up" (1929), followed by a scene from "Thanks For Everything" (1938), and "On the Avenue" (1937), starring the Ritz Brothers comedy team. Chevalier appears in another clip from "Folies Bergère de Paris," and in "Stormy Weather" (1943), Lena Horne sings about her troubles and Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers show off their dancing talents. Astaire talks about the film's release in the middle of WWII, noting that it was "sheer entertainment" during a troubled time, reflected in such other films as "With a Song in my Heart" (1952), which tells the true story of singer Jane Froman. A clip is scene from a Navy Relief Show, in which celebrities like Boris Karloff, Eve Arden, Danny Kaye and others appear and perform to raise money for the war effort. Next are clips from "Four Jills in a Jeep" (1944), starring Martha Raye and Dick Haymes, and "Pin Up Girl" (1944). Conductor Alfred Newman is seen accepting one of his record-setting nine Academy Awards for the title song from "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" (1955), and several other nominees and winners of the Academy Award for Best Original Song are then explored, including "I Can't Begin to Tell You" from "The Dolly Sisters" (1945), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head" from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), "You'll Never Know" from "Hello Frisco, Hello" (1943), "It Might As Well Be Spring" from "State Fair" (1945) and "Talk to the Animals" from "Doctor Doolittle" (1967). Astaire then mentions some of the screen's memorable romantic "twosomes," including Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature in "My Gal Sal" (1942), and Leslie Caron and Astaire himself in "Daddy Long Legs," in which they dance to the song "Something's Gotta Give." Astaire praises his talented co-star, and then introduces the final clip, which is the title song from "The Sound of Music" (1965), starring Julie Andrews. He then offers closing remarks and ends the evening with a dance. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: ABC
  • DATE: October 24, 1974 11:30 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:06:10
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:54065
  • GENRE: Specials
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Specials; Music; Movies
  • SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 1974
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Alan P. Sloan … Producer
  • Preston Fischer … Co-Producer
  • Jeralyn Badgley … Associate Producer
  • Susan I. Smith … Associate Producer
  • Marc Breaux … Director
  • Draper Lewis … Writer
  • Richard LaSalle … Music by
  • Fred Astaire … Host
  • Julie Andrews
  • Eve Arden
  • Louis Armstrong
  • Pearl Bailey
  • Busby Berkeley
  • Cab Calloway
  • Leslie Caron
  • Maurice Chevalier
  • Agnes de Mille
  • Charles Farrell
  • Jane Froman
  • Judy Garland
  • Janet Gaynor
  • Dave Gould
  • Betty Grable
  • Dick Haymes
  • Rita Hayworth
  • Sonja Henie
  • Lena Horne
  • Boris Karloff
  • Danny Kaye
  • Nikita Khrushchev
  • Victor Mature
  • Ethel Merman
  • Carmen Miranda
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Alfred Newman
  • The Nicholas Brothers
  • Donald O'Connor
  • Martha Raye
  • The Ritz Brothers
  • Bill Robinson
  • Jane Russell
  • Barbra Streisand
  • Shirley Temple
  • Jane Withers