LET'S
FACE THE MUSIC
-- AND DANCE-OFF
One
of the most iconic dance numbers - ever -
was "Let's Face the Music and Dance" from
1936's "Follow the Fleet."
The
very title summed up a "stiff upper lip and
chin out" kind of attitude millions needed
to get through the Great Depression.
We'll
show you that memorable number - and more --
in a moment, right after you glance at
today's memorable items from our website:
So,
back to the dances. Here are Fred and
Ginger (in a dress that weighed as much as a
small child) moving sublimely.
If you look carefully, on one of the first
spins, Ginger's sleeve smacks Fred across
the face. The assumption was that this
was a bad take, so they did the number many
more times.
It turned out the first take was the best --
and that is the one they used.
The
connection between "Let's Face the Music and
Dance" and the Great Depression made the
number catnip for the creative folks behind
1981's Depression-era musical, "Pennies From
Heaven."
Here are Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters
in a salute to that dance. It starts
off familiarly, then -- very smartly --
veers into something quite different.
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