Astaire vs. Kelly
Let’s have a happier discussion.
In this thread, I was asked to give my opinion on Fred Astaire versus Gene Kelly. So here it is.
Kelly was excellent. Astaire was transcendent.
Kelly was a strong and very good dancer. Astaire was the personification of grace and ease.
Kelly was conventionally handsome, Astaire was not but he cultivated intense charm.
They were from somewhat different generations and embodied some of those generational differences (Astaire was born in 1899 and Kelly in 1912).
Kelly portrayed virility in dance, and he had significant sex appeal. Although Astaire was not androgynous, his dancing wasn’t about either virility or sex appeal.
Kelly was athletic. Astaire conveyed the feat of using every ounce of his body to seem almost bodiless and light as a cloud.
Kelly was of the earth and Astaire of the air, although both touched the ground and sometimes made tap-dance noises when they did it.
Kelly was more believable as a regular Joe, and although Astaire sometimes portrayed that (in “Follow the Fleet,” for example), usually he seemed vaguely upper class.
You noticed the musculature in Kelly’s body (his thighs, for example). But although Astaire clearly had muscles (he couldn’t have done what he did without them), you didn’t take note of them when you looked at his body moving in space.
They both could sing and act, as well.
At some future point I may take some time to search for videos that exemplify these characteristics. Right now I’ll just state them as my opinion, having watched many movies with each man and having enjoyed them all. There’s also this clip of both men dancing together, but I dislike the choreography and don’t think it really shows the strengths of either man, although it’s somewhat skewed to Gene Kelly’s style.
Astaire all the way, and for a reason you didn’t mention: he had the cream of The Great American Songbook composers writing specifically for him personally. Kern, Gershwin. Berlin. Warren. And others too.
A fair and clear-eyed comparison in my (limited) opinion.
Astaire it is and always has been. When I see a vid of Kelly dancing I notice it and even watch some of it.
I seek out Astaire videos and watch all of them.
Aistaire is ballet, almost like a ballerina,, Kelly is muscular and powerful, exuding sexuality. It’s Aistaire for me, the gracefullness is breathtaking.
There have been many great dancers and Kelly is one of them.
Astaire IS dance.
Yeah, Astaire was the all-time great but then . . . ‘On the Town’ and ‘American in Paris’ and, of course, ‘Singing in the Rain’. Gene Kelly danced for every man because he was the quintessential ‘Everyman’.
This was Astaire’s last public performance, age 71, at the Academy Awards. I remember watching this as a kid. We were convinced that Bob Hope sprung this on Astaire without any warning and that the performance was completely improvisational. Now I’m not so sure.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/doyouremember.com/135764/fred-astaire-dance-1970-oscars/amp
Thank you for that neo, Astaire I think, if I have to choose.
Thank you for sharing that Eva Marie. That was when the Oscars were worthing watching.
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Gene Kelly danced for every man because he was the quintessential ‘Everyman’.
Well put, Skilly.
I wouldn’t presume to take a jot or a tittle away from Astaire, but Gene Kelly won my heart in “Singin’ in the Rain.” If I coulda dance, that’s what I woulda dance like.
@ Neo “Kelly was of the earth and Astaire of the air”
What dancers are Fire and Water?
AesopFan:
Easy-peasy.
Maya Plisetskaya was fire. Suzanne Farrell was water.
Plisetskaya:
Farrell:
Eva Marie:
That was fun.
But definitely choreographed and rehearsed in the smallest detail.
The best group dance in Singing in the Rain was Moses Supposes, and you can’t help but notice O’Connor was the better dancer. Much more fluid and lighter on his feet than Kelly. The staging pretty much admitted it. As left-to-right readers, your eye naturally gravitates to the left first: which is where they put O’Connor throughout the scene.
@ Ann – Donald was a great dancer, but somehow (?) never got the leading roles.
Love watching him.
Astaire gets the nod. As noted by a commenter above, he is the natural dance correlative to the Great American Songbook composers.
He complimented and enhanced the art of his great partners: Rogers, Powell, Hayworth, Charisse.
Suzanne Farrell’s autobiography is aptly titled “Holding on to the Air”.
Astaire seemingly danced with zero effort; he exuded elegance, grace and sophistication in his dancing. His dancing appeared effortless and he made all his dance partners look the same.
“No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.”
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Interesting, Astaire was like a rare fine wine, hard to describe and he made the difficult look ever so easy, hard to define but you knew it when you saw it. Watching Kelly dance was like seeing a great athlete perform off of a diving board or doing couples work on the ice, smooth, polished and flawless and he made the hard look smooth, you knew it masterful work.
What great entertainment we had years ago, going to movies to escape and share tears, laughter and a feeling that we were part of an incredible, on the screen, world that was ever so nice and some of that stayed with us for a while when the lights came back up and we returned to our own situations which were often not so easy and delightful. I am tired of angst movies, loud movies, special effects guts and gore movies and movies telling me how screwed up the world has become.
We need more actors like Fred and Gene and the movies they made with graceful beautiful women and music that was so much more than the strange noise the call music today.
Here’s one of my favorite Astaire-Rogers bits, unusual because it’s a bit rough in places. I think that was on purpose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsS7B8nyw5Y&t=58s
I liked Astaire in “To catch a thief” with Robert Wagner as the star.
As an aside; the Hollywood gangster / tough guy, James Cagney was also a hoofer.
He started his career as a dancer before he made his gangster flicks.
There are a couple of movies in which Cagney dances; Yankee Doodle Dandy and Footlight Parade (where he hoofs it up with Ruby Keeler) are two.
Not suggesting he was in the Astaire / Kelly league (but who is ??) but Cagney was pretty good at hoofing.
I met Ginger Rogers a couple of years before she passed. She was rather bloated at the time supposedly as a result of some health issues. Still, she was friendly and gracious enough to me. I understand she was also a decent skeet shooter in her day.
Nicely done. I too prefer Astaire, especially since Kelly really couldn’t sing. His voice was okay, but he had absolutely no style.
Now, things are a little different if you compare their movies. Nothing tops Astaire/Rogers (dancing/songs/comedy), but after that, Kelly’s films may be better. As good as The Band Wagon and Funny Face are (50’s), I don’t think you can say they top On the Town, An American in Paris, or Singin’ in the Rain.
In Carefree (1938) Ginger goes after Fred with a shotgun. Hilarity ensues.
Yes indeed John Salmon! I love the Fred/Ginger movies (plus Broadway Melody 1940 w/Eleanor Powell), but Kelly had the Arthur Freed unit at MGM for most of his films.
“Let’s have a happier discussion”
Unfortunately something else unhappy happened yesterday, if not nearly the same significance as Afghanistan. Don Everly of the Everly Brothers passed away (Phil died in 2014). To me there was almost nothing in the world of music as pure and beautiful as the Everly Brothers’ harmonies, not to mention the fact that they were a huge influence on the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle and many others. RIP Don.
PS – Astaire by a mile.
Was it Astaire that perfected effortless moonwalking before Michael Jackson was born?
Any idea how much work goes into making dance look effortless?
I remember there was a book called something like “How to Tell the Birds from the Fishes,” and telling Kelly from Astaire strikes me almost as funny; but Neo describes their distinguishing marks well, and the memories called up are a pleasure always. I admit I’d choose Astaire too if I had to — I’m just glad I don’t have to.
One demur though: Astaire was always classy, but never even vaguely “upper class.” Did you mean high class? He was sure a high class mug.
Gene Kelly himself said that his brother James was the better dancer. There’s a story that while James was in the Army in WWII, Ike summoned him for dance lessons.
“At some future point I may take some time to search for videos that exemplify these characteristics.” neo
You’ve certainly shown us many examples of Astaire’s matchless prowess. IMHO, you’ve also shown us an astonishing example of Kelly’s; Gene Kelly and Tamara Toumanova in the movie “Invitation to the Dance,” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sBQzfw53pDE
Kelly’s leap @ 54 seconds is simply Gold Medal, Olympic caliber athleticism. Perfect control, perfect judgement. The first time I saw it (thanks to you) I couldn’t believe my eyes and rewatched it a few times, certain there must be hesitation or the briefest of moments of imbalance. Simply perfection. No CGI, no cut away, shot wide angle.
FOAF:
I plan to write tomorrow about the Everly Brothers. They were fabulous and inspired the Bee Gees and the Beatles, among others.
Not being a dance expert like you Neo or having your eye, I do appreciate your columns on dancing.
I remember in 1992 , the governor Anne Richards made the comment that Ginger Rodgers did everything Fred Astaire did, but in high heels.
Years later I saw this wonderful scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOILZ_D3aRg
from ” Shall We Dance.
and while they were both great, Fred clearly seems more comfortable and graceful on skates.
In Astaire’s later years he did a few roles such as The Towering Inferno and Ghost Story.
while he was past his shelf life as a dancer, I thought he was quite good in those roles and was sad that he didn’t do more later life acting roles.
also Simon and Garfunkel, Im sure you’ll get to that too neo
II loved the dancing of both Fred and Gene. However, I identified more with Kelly because his dancing seemed more attainable for someone like me. Astaire was so elegant, so smooth, so light on his feet that his dancing seemed almost surreal to me.
Gene Kelly, on the other hand, was more masculine and muscular. Traits I could identify with. He made a film, “The Pirate,” in 1948. It was schlocky, but entertaining. Kelly’s dance scenes in that one were muscular and acrobatic, but also done with tongue-in-cheek humor. I had two left feet when it came to dancing, but my best friend and I spent some fun time trying to emulate some of Kelly’s moves from that movie. With little success but much laughter.
I gladly wen to see the movies of both men, but Gene Kelly was my favorite of the two.
Kelly’s leap @ 54 seconds is simply Gold Medal, Olympic caliber athleticism. Perfect control, perfect judgement.
Geoffrey Britain:
That was amazing. I just think about protecting my generals.
Christopher Walken on Gene Kelly
“The Babbitt and the Bromide” is a Gershwin brothers song, originally written for and performed by Fred and Adele Astaire in the Broadway musical “Funny Face” (1927). Fred and Adele later recorded the song: https://youtu.be/Ki-QKxhbtbs.
For a real treat from Astaire, here’s Fred performing another Gershwin song (from a different show), with none other than George Gershwin himself playing the piano: https://youtu.be/-t9ak-8Gtfk
Can you imagine it? Fred Astaire and George Gershwin in the same room? A hydrogen bomb of talent.
The director of the Hong Kong film, Hard Boiled [tm], had something like this to say about Gene Kelly’s dancing:
(Paraphrased) – “When Gene Kelly Dances, he moves like a PANTHER!”
…
…
(Warning- Gene Kelly’s films, like Singing in the Rain, are suitable for all ages of kids + other people, aka he did, “rated G”, types of films.
“Hard Boiled” is a VERY violent, action film… and in my view, should probably only be seen by people 17 years old + older.
In other words, when Mr. Kelly, + Mr. Woo, made films- those films were in VERY different genres.) 🙂
I forgot to say in the above comment –
Mr. John Woo made + directed the film, “Hard Boiled”.