Astaire: The Light Fantastic Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lady Be Good!

Fred Astaire first met George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger in Jerome H. Remick's, in 1916 and struck up a close friendship which was to have profound consequences for the subsequent careers of both artists.

Answer: John W. Bubbles

In 1920 Fred Astaire began studying with John W. Bubbles. He considered Bubbles the finest tap dancer of his generation. Bubbles brought in percussive heel stomps and played with the traditional eight-bar phrase, slowing it down to allow for more rhythmic freedom. He thus merged the art of tap dancing with the new improvisatory style of jazz, reinventing the tap art form.

Answer: Cole Porter

"Gay Divorce" was purchased by producer, Pandro Berman, of RKO Radio Pictures as a vehicle for Astaire and Rogers. Due to the Hays code, RKO renamed the movie version, "The Gay Divorcee" based on the logic that a Divorcee could be happy, but a divorce is not. Only one song of the full Cole Porter Broadway score, "Night and Day," was used in the movie adaptation.

Answer: Carefree

The dance was a dream sequence set to the tune "I Used to Be Colorblind." Whether or not Astaire would kiss Rogers became a "running gag" in their films. Some tabloids reported at the time that Astaire's wife Phyllis would not permit Astaire to kiss Rogers.

This was untrue. Astaire never felt comfortably playing what he referred to as "sloppy love scenes." He felt that his romantic pas de dieus were the love scenes.

Answer: drums, accordion, and piano

Astaire's dances are masterful exercises in imaginative musicality and rhythmic complexity. This was probably due in fact that he was primarily a self-taught musician. He learned to play the accordion for the musical revue, "The Band Wagon," on Broadway. And learned to play the piano in his teens while in vaudeville.

It is unclear when Astaire took up the drums, but it is well documented by his various drum dance solos that he could play with the best of them. In fact, he stored one of his personal drum sets in his bathroom.

In "Second Chorus," Astaire's trumpet playing was dubbed and in "Yolanda the Thief," Astaire is "playing" the harp incorrectly.

Answer: I'm Building Up To An Awful Let-Down

Astaire mostly wrote only the music to his songs, but occasionally he would write or collaborate on the lyrics to his tunes. Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics to "I'm Building Up To An Awful Let-Down". The lyrics to "Tappin' the Time" were by British lyricist Gladys Shelly. For "If Swing goes, I go to!" Astaire wrote both and performed it in the MGM movie, "Ziegfeld Follies".

However, this number was cut from the movie before it was released. "No Strings" was written by Irving Berlin.

Answer: Hermes Pan

Astaire also collaborated with the director and cameramen to determine how the camera would be positioned and how the dance would be edited to preserve the integrity of the musical number or dance, and requested all his solo and duet dances must be filmed using full body shots.

Other cinematic innovations include no close up shots of the dancer's feet and reducing the number, if any, reaction shots from an audience. He introduced cuts to an upper body medium shot that would slowly track body to reveal the full body.

Answer: Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical

This was Astaire's first Golden Globe Award. He received his Oscar the previous year. In 1960, the Hollywood Foreign Press awarded him the Cecil B. DeMille award. Astaire received his first Emmy, among several, in 1958 for his first television spectacular, "An Evening with Fred Astaire."

Answer: 6 men from the Jazz at the Philarmonic concert group

These sidemen included such jazz legends as Oscar Peterson, piano; Flip Phillips, tenor sax, Charlie Shavers, trumpet, Barney Kessell, guitar, Ray Brown, Bass, and Alvin Stoller, Drums. Jonah Jones Quartet was featured in two Astaire TV shows, "An Evening with .. " and "Another Evening with ..." . Count Basie and his Band with Joe Williams performed on "Astaire Time".

Answer: Mop

He danced and interacted briefly with a newspaper in the "Jack and the Beanstalk" number from "Let's Dance." He danced with Golf Clubs in "Carefree" and with a "Trench Coat" in "Funny Face." Although Astaire never danced with a mop, Gene Kelly performed a solo with a mop in the musical, "Thousands Cheer."

Answer: Steps in Time

All the titles were possible titles as he indicated in the first chapter of his 328 page book. However, as he concludes the book, he writes that the title was suggested by English actor/author/song writer, Noel Coward. Apparently, Coward was on tour with one of his shows and came by to visit Astaire at his home and quickly came up with the title.

Answer: Chrysler

Astaire produced his TV specials under the banner, Ava Productions, named after his daughter. At the end of the show, Astaire provides a plug to Chrysler. It is unknown whether Astaire owned a Chrysler. However, it is well known that Astaire owned a Rolls Royce, which is in the collection of the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Answer: On The Beach

Astaire portrays an acerbic scientist in this Stanley Kramer epic about the end of the world. Apparently, Kramer's wife saw Astaire on TV and suggested Astaire for the role. "Man on the Bicycle" was a movie that was made for television. "The Pleasure of Your Company" was a delightful comedy movie with Debbie Reynolds that Astaire starred in after "On The Beach." "The Towering Inferno" was released in the 1970s and Astaire received an Oscar nomination, in addition to winning a BAFTA award in the U.K.

Answer: A Family Upside Down

In "A Family Upside Down," Astaire portrayed a retired House Painter, who suffers a stroke and is forced to depend on his wife and children. Astaire co-starred with the great Helen Hayes. Astaire made one request to his agent with regards to dramatic roles.

He never wanted to play a former dancer or choreographer. He would only accept roles that allowed him to stretch his acting chops. Thus, he played a wealth of interesting characters from Santa Claus in "The Man in the Santa Claus Suit" to the "Baltimore Kid" in the TV Western, "The Over the Hill Gang Rides Again." Apparently, he sought out his guest spot in "Battlestar Gallactica" for his grand-kids.

Answer: Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins' choreographed a ballet based on the Astaire and Rita Hayworth duet from "You Were Never Lovelier" for the New York City Ballet. Although Balanchine greatly admired Astaire, his Gershwin ballet "Who Cares" was not directly based on Astaire's work. Nureyev considered Astaire the greatest dancer in American history and staged his ballet, "Romeo and Juliet", in Hollywood as a tribute to Astaire.