The unique Fred Astaire

Whatever it was that he did, he was the only major movie star of the studio era—perhaps of any era—to have had the career his talent meant him to have, and to have had it as long as he liked.

Dance critic Arlene Croce is the author of the indispensible The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book. Perhaps because she understands dance so well, she understands Fred Astaire. It's not just that she can discuss his style and appreciate what he did, but she can explain why. Astaire was unique. Although he was a child of Vaudeville and Broadway, it was in movies that he found his metier. He invented Fred Astaire as a movie performer:

What Astaire produced was himself, in all his variety—as soloist, as partner, as singer, as actor, as instrumentalist (piano, drums). He choreographed all his own numbers, usually with the assistance of his near double Hermes Pan; he supervised the filming and cutting; and before choreographing a number he worked out its whole musical structure... In short, wherever you looked in the musical as opposed to the scenic and dramatic process, you found Astaire.

Ostensibly in They’re the Top Croce is reviewing two books, one on Fred and one on his career with his sister Adele. She takes the opportunity to dissect the two, and to write an extremely informative piece, even to someone who knows Astaire backwards and forwards. Read it, if you have any interest in the art of film, the art of music, or the art of dance (or in Fred Astaire's case, the art of all three put together).

And here's Fred dancing solo in Flying Down to Rio in 1933: