FRED & ADELE ASTAIRE 78 OH GEE OH GOSH Vg+

	£		21
	$		28

A VERY GOOD COPY OF THIS VERY RARE UK ORIGINAL HMV 78 FROM FRED AND ADELE ASTAIRE FROM THE MUSICAL SHOW "JUST FLIRTING"

Had he never entered films he would still have a secure place in entertainment history as one half of a legendary partnership and as an innovator in dance and musical comedy. The shows written for the Astaires’ unique talents changed the shape of the American musical itself. Their final collaboration, The Band Wagon, began, in Brooks Atkinson’s words, “a new era in the artistry of the American revue,” with its inventive dance stories, sophisticated comedy, and revolutionary scenics.

Partly what made Fred and Adèle such an effective team was that, as artists and personalities, they were perfect foils for one another. Adèle was born with “star quality.” She was an exuberant gamine who, according to one critic in 1919, danced “like a lilac flame.” Her artistry was intuitive and often improvisatory. She was a natural clown, a wonderful madcap, outrageous, and dazzling. She once attended a costume party, hosted by Elsa Maxwell, dressed as an angel, complete with wings, a halo, and a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Fred was a famous workhorse and worrier, “Moaning Minnie” to his sister’s “Good-Time Charlie.” Although Adèle’s star was the more radiant, he supplied the team’s creative energy, choreographic brilliance, and discipline. 

On stage he masked a seething powerhouse of perfectionism with an appearance of elegant effortlessness, and a shy and serious temperament beneath an urbane insouciance. Above all Fred was innately musical. Balanchine likened him to Bach “who in his time had a great concentration of ability, essence, knowledge, a spread of music. Astaire has that same concentration of genius; there is so much of the dance in him that it has been distilled.”

The Astaires’ complementary gifts and combined magnetism made them the toast of two continents, the darlings of royalty and literary lions, of the raffish and social-registered alike. At the height of their success in the mid-1920s they seemed to define the Jazz Age: a pair of ragtime pixies, impish, imaginative, young, and wholly captivating. They were modern; they were twentieth-century; they were Gershwin’s music in motion; a fascinating pair who wove fascinating rhythms in song and dance.

About Fred and Adele 

1896

Adèle is born to Frederic and Joanna Austerliz on September 18, in Omaha

1899

Fred (Frederic Austerliz Jr.) is born on May 10

1905

Joanna leaves Omaha with Fred and Adèle, traveling to New York and auditions for vaudeville 

1906

"Juvenile Artists presenting an Electrical Musical Toe Dancing Novelty"

1908

Phyllis Baker is born (later to become Mrs. Fred Astaire)

1910

Hermes Panagiotopolos is born (Hermes Pan will later be Fred's choreographer)

1917

Over The Top with music and lyrics by Sigmund Romberg, Herman Timberg and Charles J. Manning, opens in New York at the 44th Street Roof Theater, starring Fred and Adèle (their first Broadway show) and Charles Ruggles

1918

The Passing Show of 1918 opens in New York at the Winter Garden, with music and lyrics by Sigmund Romberg, Jean Schwartz and Harold Atteridge, with the hit song, "I Can't Make My Feet Behave," starring Fred and Adèle and John Charles Thomas  

1919

Apple Blossoms opens in New York at the Globe Theater, with music and lyrics by Fritz Kreisler, Victor Jacobi and William LeBarron, including "A Girl, A Man, A Night, A Dance," starring Fred and Adèle, John Charles Thomas, and Alice Brady; their first "book" musical

1921

The Love Letter opens at the Globe in New York, with music and lyrics by Victor Jacobi and William LeBarron (only 31 performances); Fred and Adèle meet Noel Coward in New York

1922

For Goodness Sake opens in March at the Lyric Theater in New York, music and lyrics by Paul Lannin and Arthur Jackson with the popular number "The Whichness of the Whatness," starring Fred and Adèle, in November, Fred and Adèle star in The Bunch and Judy, music and lyrics by Jerome Kern and Anne Caldwell, with "Morning Glory," and "Every Day in Every Way"

1923

For Goodness Sake, now called Stop Flirting opens in London starring Fred and Adèle; Fred meets the Prince of Wales

1924

Lady Be Good! opens at the Liberty Theater in New York on December 1 and runs for 330 performances, starring Fred and Adèle, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin including the enduring "Oh Lady, Be Good" and "Fascinatin' Rhythm 

1926

Lady Be Good! opens in London, starring Fred and Adèle, where it runs for 326 performances; Fred meets the newborn Princess Elizabeth; Phyllis Baker makes her debut

1927

Funny Face opens at the Alvin in New York (250 performances), starring Fred and Adèle, Betty Compton, and Victor Moore, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin with the hits "Funny Face," "High Hat," S'wonderful," "My One and Only," "He Loves and She Loves," "Let's Kiss and Make Up"; Phyllis Baker marries Eliphalet Potter III in December

1928

Funny Face opens in London, runs for 263 performances

1930

Smiles opens at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York (63 performances), starring Fred and Adèle, Marilyn Miller, Eddie Foy Jr., and Frank Morgan, music Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Clifford Grey, Harold Adamson and Ring Lardner, including "Love I'm Glad I Waited" and "Say, Young Man of Manhattan"; Liz Altemus weds Jock Whitney

1931

The Band Wagon opens at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York in June (260 performances), starring Fred and Adèle, Frank Morgan, Helen Broderick, music and lyrics: Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, with "Sweet Music," "New Sun in the Sky," "I Love Louisa," "The Beggar Waltz";  Fred meets Phyllis Potter 

1932

Adèle's final performance in The Band Wagon on March 5, marriage to Lord Charles Cavendish in Ireland in May, leaves show business forever; Fred opens in Gay Divorce co-starring Claire Luce, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York, November 29

1933

Phyllis and Eliphalet divorce; Fred marries Phyllis; Gay Divorce, with Fred Astaire and Claire Luce opens in London; Fred signs contract with RKO and moves to Hollywood

DISC DETAILS

UK HMV B 1719    10" 78rpm SHELLAC   1923

A:  THE WHICHNESS OF WHATNESS

B:  OH GEE!  OH GOSH!

CONDITION -  VG+    (Labels have a little damage to the Music Publishers stamp and the number 39 written in blue-black ink)

THIS IS A MEGA RARE ORIGINAL UK FRED ASTAIRE 78

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POSTAGE STUFF

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