Fred Astaire Week: Caturday surprise

August 25, 2012 • 12:39 pm

This isn’t what I consider one of Astaire’s greatest pieces, though it’s clever. I’m including it today because there’s a special surprise during the fourth minute when the band plays “Tiger Rag”: you’ll have to watch to see.  The clip does showcase Astaire’s piano-playing skills, and, when this movie was made (it’s from Let’s Dance, 1950), shows that he still had it at the age of 51.

h/t: Latha

15 thoughts on “Fred Astaire Week: Caturday surprise”

  1. Jerry, that’s the fourth minute, not the third. Otherwise, loved the surprise! Note the cut after the surprise: they probably had to have stuff hidden behind the piano during the surprise that required the static shot during the surprise.

    1. O.K., upon reviewing, NOT a static shot, but still one where the camera movement was such as not to show as much of the area behind the piano as in the next shot.

  2. Those did not seem like happy kitties. Was this movie reviewed by the Humane Association?

    1. I don’t think they did that back then. That was when, I think, they used to make horses fall with trip wires. The cats were probably freaked out but unharmed otherwise.

      1. Yeah. My guess is they were locked in a box and then released at the right moment. I’m sure other animals suffered worse.

    1. But wouldn’t that be fun though?- going to a shopping mall restaurant, putting down your boom box and dancing ’round the tables and then tipping a few chairs as you leave…

  4. Always a fan of Astaire’s, I was thrilled as a kid when he guested on one of my favorite shows, Battlestar Galactica. He still had all his charm and flair, even if they didn’t ask him to dance. I never realized that when they made the new Galactica that having Starbuck’s father be a piano player was more than a convenient plot moment–it ends up being a nod to the original character. (I’m sure they had no idea, but I’m going to believe otherwise, darn it!)

    I’ve been loving these clips so much!!

  5. Great clip. I realize they probably took precautions, but I always cringe a bit when he flings himself on top of the piano lid.

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