Fred and Ginger would become one of the best-loved of all screen partnerships, their breezy charm and graceful style dominating film musicals throughout the thirties, and the image of them in each other’s arms became one of the cultural icons of the twentieth century.

Although they had previously appeared in Flying Down to Rio, The Gay Divorcee was their first dedicated musical vehicle, and it set the scene for all that was to follow.  However, popular though they were for the next few years, after the splendid Top Hat the recipe started to wear a bit thin, as Halliwell points out…

‘…they paid the price of their own enormous popularity.  The very best they could do seemed merely the same all over again, and no writer who came their way could rise above the required plot contrivances.’

The formula was dropped for their last RKO teaming, the period drama The Story of Vernon and Irene Casle, after which Fred continued with musicals while Ginger…

‘…had acting ambitions, which so startled Hollywood that they gave her an Academy Award for Kitty Foyle.’

Although Fred would have many further successes dancing on screen either solo or with other partners, Ginger herself would never achieve the same popularity on her own, despite carving out a decent second career as a dramatic actress.  Halliwell gave her the following dedication in the Filmgoer’s Companion, with TGD being cited as her most representative work:

‘For being everybody’s favourite working girl of the 30s, and for being so unarguably right with Fred Astaire.’

Year: 1934