MarshaKatz Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Is the dancer and choreographer Hermes Pan who loyally served Fred Astaire in films such as Damsel In Distress, Top Hat, Swing Time, Follow The Fleet, The Gay Divorcee, Flying Down To Rio, & Shall We Dance? Link to post Share on other sites
Princess of Tap Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hermes Pan is Fred Astaire's choreographer and number one collaborator. BUT--This question is about a man who served as Fred Astaire's Assistant choreographer. In one particular instance he was the choreographer for a very important Fred Astaire musical. And he was the dancer who Fred entrusted his daughter, Ava, to for her personal dance instruction. Hint - - I know this because Ava Astaire said so on a DVD commentary of the musical that this assistant choreographer had the privilege of being the credited choreographer for. Link to post Share on other sites
Princess of Tap Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Hint#2-- This long-time assistant choreographer got to choreograph this Fred Astaire musical that was based on a Mary Pickford film. Link to post Share on other sites
lavenderblue19 Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Had a little help with one, David Robel was Fred's assistant on Daddy Long Legs ?? Link to post Share on other sites
Princess of Tap Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Yes, Lav. I got this one from the horses mouth. Ava Astaire did commentary on daddy long legs and talked about him. And she said she took dance lessons from him. He was her father's choice as dance instructor for his daughter Dave was the assistant choreographer ON blue skies and funny face. He also worked on some of the TV specials. There was so much dancing in Daddy Long Legs that Leslie Caron had her own ballet choreographer there as well, Roland Petit. She was dancing in his company in Paris with Gene Kelly discovered her. What with all that dancing something's gotta give. Lav, it's yours-- Link to post Share on other sites
lavenderblue19 Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Thanks Princess. Love Daddy Long Legs and Somethings Gotta Give is my favorite song in the film and dance routine they do. I LOVE Daddy Long Legs, it's a favorite next This musical number was not in the Broadway show but thank heavens it was included in the film. A very high jump and back flip are just 2 of the very memorable dance moves in this most brilliant dance number to a most brilliant song. Who were the dancers, film, the song, choreographers ???? Link to post Share on other sites
Princess of Tap Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Russ Tamblyn is the one who was always doing those flips. So has to be the dance at the gym from West Side Story, choreographed by Jerome Robbins. But I'm not that familiar with the Broadway show. Rusty did that stuff out on the blues number and/or the jump number In the movie. Riff's partner was Graciela, his girlfriend and they danced with all the Jets. Graciela was Gina Trikonis and Ice, the Jets second in command, was Tucker Smith. I believe Leonard Bernstein wrote all the music to West Side Story. I also know that he wrote some of the lyrics along with Stephen Sondheim. Link to post Share on other sites
lavenderblue19 Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Happy New Year to All in Our Trivia Family. Thanks for all the great info Princess. The film, etc I'm thinking about is another. The routine was not in the show. hint- the choreographer is in this dance routine Link to post Share on other sites
starliteyes Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 From This Moment On was not originally from Kiss Me Kate. I think it might have been from Out of This World, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Anyway, it was interpolated into the movie and proved to be one of the highlights of that film. I know that Bob Fosse choreographed his and Carol Haney's segment, although I don't know if he choreographed the whole number. Hermes Pan was the choreographer for the film. Link to post Share on other sites
lavenderblue19 Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Yes From This Moment On the song and dance routine and Kiss Me Kate are correct. Besides Bob Fosse and Carol Haney, the other dancers in this out of this world dance routine were Tommy Rall, Bobby Van, Ann Miller and Jeanne Coyne to answer the rest of the question. One of my favorite dance routines on film. So glad that this song and dance were used in the film Kiss Me Kate, a truly great musical film imo. Good work star, your thread. Link to post Share on other sites
starliteyes Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 When this dancer learned that one of his dancing partners was nervous about dancing with him, he made it a point to trip and fall in front of her the first day on the set to put her at ease. Who was the dancer, the dancing partner and what was the movie? Link to post Share on other sites
starliteyes Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Hint: Usually this dancer's co-star was also a dancer, but in this film his leading lady most decidedly was not one, although she did do a few steps with him. Instead he was partnered quite well with a couple of supporting players and it was one of these supporting players for whom he fell to put her at ease. Link to post Share on other sites
MarshaKatz Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Is the dancer Fred Astaire, the movie "Damsel In Distress", and the dancing partner Gracie Allen? Link to post Share on other sites
starliteyes Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Yes, yes, and again yes! Excellent, Marsha! Your thread. Link to post Share on other sites
MarshaKatz Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Thanks, Star One of Hollywood's greatest legends starred in a 1930's movie musical in which he often would go over the dance steps with the one and only Fred Astaire before the dances were filmed. Name the 1930's movie musical and this great Hollywood legend. Link to post Share on other sites
starliteyes Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 The first thing that came to my mind was James Cagney in Something to Sing About. Link to post Share on other sites
MarshaKatz Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 The first thing that came to my mind was James Cagney in Something to Sing About. star - you're absolutely correct. I really love this film and love James Cagney's dance numbers which indicate a "prelude" to his marvelous performance as George M. Cohan in "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Star - the thread is yours. Link to post Share on other sites
starliteyes Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 This musical star danced in almost all of her films, and yet she never danced with either Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly. However, she did dance in several films with the choreographer who worked very closely with Fred Astaire on a number of his films. Can you name the star, the choreographer and any of the films in which they danced? 1 Link to post Share on other sites
shutoo Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Betty Grable danced with Hermes Pan in Moon Over Miami..? Link to post Share on other sites
starliteyes Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 That is correct, shutoo! Hermes Pan danced with Betty Grable in the congo number in Moon Over Miami. He also danced with her in Footlight Serenade, Sweet Rosie O'Grady, and Pin Up Girl. He was also in Coney Island, but to the best of my knowledge he did not actually dance with her in that but was a "specialty" dancer. You're up next, shutoo. Link to post Share on other sites
shutoo Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Movie title=title song in this 30's film, and it was sung by a relative newcomer who would become one of the most popular singers of all time. His female co-star wasn't known for her singing..and today is often better remembered for her off-screen lifestyle. Link to post Share on other sites
Princess of Tap Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Shutoo-- I learned this song from That's Entertainment in 1974. I've never seen the movie but this number looks like a lot of fun. Going Hollywood is the name of the song and the name of the movie. It was sung by Bing Crosby and it was written by Arthur Freed And Nacio Herb Brown. Star of the movie was Marion Davies--the mistress of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. The two were seriously satirized in Orson Welles's cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane. Link to post Share on other sites
shutoo Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 You got it Princess...if you've seen this scene of Going Hollywood--everyone in the train station getting in on the number, you've seen the best part of the movie. Your thread! Link to post Share on other sites
Princess of Tap Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Thanx, Shutoo-- Next: This lady was an accomplished film actress and famous for her marriage to a legendary movie star. But that wasn't enough, she's a great tap dancer too. She demonstrated this talent in several Golden Age musicals. She may be the forgotten tap dancer of the golden era. Let's remember her now. Can you name her? Link to post Share on other sites
Princess of Tap Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Hint-- This tap dancer is from Kansas. Link to post Share on other sites
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