Shall We Dance (1937 film)
Shall We Dance is the seventh of the ten AstaireRogers musical comedy films. It was released in 1937. The idea for this film originated in the studios desire to exploit the successful formula created by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart with their 1936 Broadway hit On Your Toes, which featured an American dancer getting involved with a touring Russian ballet company, and which featured the famous Slaughter on Tenth Avenue satirical ballet created by the Russian migr choreographer George Balanchine. In a major coup for RKO, Pan Berman managed to attract the Gershwins George Gershwin wrote the symphonic underscore and Ira Gershwin the lyrics to score this, their second Hollywood musical their first had been Delicious.
George Gershwin who had become famous for blending jazz with classical forms wrote each scene in a different style of dance music, and he composed one scene specifically for the ballerina Harriet Hoctor. Ira Gershwin seemed decidedly less excited by the idea none of his lyrics make reference to the notion of blending different styles of dance such as ballet and jazz, and Astaire was also not enthusiastic about the concept. While the film the couples most expensive to date benefits from quality comedy specialists, opulent art direction by Carroll Clark under Van Nest Polglases supervision, and a timeless score which introduces three classic Gershwin songs, the convoluted plot and the curious absence of a romantic partnered duet for Astaire and Rogers a hallmark of their musicals since The Gay Divorcee 1934 contributed to their least profitable picture to date.Astaire was no stranger to the Gershwins, having headlined, with his sister Adele, two Gershwin Broadway shows Lady Be Good in 1924 and Funny Face in 1927. George Gershwin also accompanied the pair on piano in a set of recordings in 1926. Rogers first came to Hollywoods attention when she appeared in the Gershwins 1930 stage musical Girl Crazy. ........
Source: Wikipedia
