Coffee Time — old Hollywood style
Bookworm on Jul 13 2009 at 3:03 pm | Filed under: Hollywood
One of the lesser known gems of MGM’s great musical era is a 1945 Fred Astaire movie called Yolanda and the Thief, with Fred as the thief and Lucille Bremer as Yolanda. (Lesser know, probably, because it was a huge box office bust with end-of-the-war audiences.) The plot is paper thin, but the visuals are glorious. It’s a technicolor wonderland. The songs and dances, although little known, are also delightful. “Coffee time” is one of my particular favorites and I was surprised to learn, through this video, that it’s also got some unique choreography.
Coffee Time – Fred Astaire dancing in 5/4 time – Yolanda and the Thief – Stereo from Mark on Vimeo.
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6 Responses to “Coffee Time — old Hollywood style”
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I was nine years old in 1945 and I remember that as a wonderful movie. It was beautiful and uplifting, that is what we looked for in those days. My sisters and I took the bus into town and the movies on Saturday afternoon. We also took our bag of books we borrowed the previous week and went to the library on the same trip. Great memories.
Watch this one on YouTube. I have the .wmv file but don’t know how to send it so I looked it up and found the YouTube video. Also putting in her some info from Frank Sinatra that came with the .wmv file.
SEEMS AS IF ELEANOR POWELL WAS JUST TOO GOOD FOR FRED ASTAIRE
HE NEVER WANTED TO BE PAIRED WITH HER AGAIN. THEY WERE BOTH GREAT.
Frank Sinatra said we will not see the likes of this again.
Certainly not on Dancing with the Stars.
Eleanor Powell is fully clothed with a dress below her knees.
Sadly a bygone era of civility and grace.
The year: 1940 (69 years ago)
The narrator is Frank Sinatra..
It was filmed in ONE unedited camera shot! Amazing!
It is considered by many as one of the best dance scenes
ever filmed.
Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire Best Tap dancers ever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toDl2hXt8BM
Oh darn this might not work.No matter I’ll just copy the entire thing. I hope.
I don’t think you can talk tap without mentioning Ann Miller. Here in On the Town.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM4L38u5vpE&feature=related
and with Fred Astaire in Easter Parade
I love Ann Miller! Of course, it’s the rare old Hollywood musical I don’t love. As my husband has observed, I’ve seen almost all of them, and I’m a huge wellspring of trivial information about them. I’ll just happily reel off facts about composers, stars, costumes — you name it.
I also like playing a sort of six degrees of separation. I used the DVR the other day to speed through the horrible “Ziegfeld Follies” (one of the rare and true musical bombs), just enjoying recognizing stars who came together successfully in other stories.
So beautiful!
I kept trying to keep time with the orchestra and the dancing and couldn’t do it. Such talent they had!
Deana
P.S. For the past 2 weeks, all we’ve heard is how fabulous a dancer Michael Jackson was. He WAS a good dancer but when I see dancing like this, there just is no comparison. None.
BW,
I’ve never seen this movie (Yolanda and the Thief), and I thought I’d seen them all!
My internet connection is just slow enough, the video keeps getting ahead of the buffer.
Fred Astaire always struck me as graceful without being effeminate.
I wonder how many ladies he danced with? Or should I say, were there any he didn’t dance with?
The most drop dead gorgeous, IMO, Rita Hayworth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASVYhUCYMM&feature=related
How about this video. Baryshnikov. Wow.