Dancing Ladies, Part I - Ginger Rogers

The Hollywood Musical has always been one of my very favorite film genres. And I've always been fascinated by the dancing, in particular. For instance, Vera-Ellen's character in White Christmas has always been my favorite because I liked to watch her dance and twirl around in those lovely dresses on screen. While the singing is always marvelous and is obviously essential in musicals, the dancers always seem to attract my attention first.

Some of the greatest dancers in the classic musicals were often the women. So here's the first in a series of Dancing Ladies posts, and I will begin with Miss...

Ginger Rogers

After winning the Texas State Charleston Championship in 1925, Ginger went on to perform in Vaudeville acts around the country and also starred in the original Broadway production of Girl Crazy. Her career in musicals flourished in the mid-late 1930s.

My favorite actress of all-time and favorite female dancer. Ginger Rogers was truly a great dancer who, in my own opinoin, is not given enough credit for her talent in that department. She is often overshadowed by Fred Astaire, with whom she made 10 musical films. Sure, Fred worked on most of the choreography for their movies himself, but that was only because Ginger was busy making other non-musical films. If you need proof of what a marvelous dancer she really was, just see her perform the solo tap routine in Follow The Fleet, or watch her keep up with Astaire in the "Bouncin' The Blues" number from The Barkley's of Broadway. She also performed two fantastic dance numbers, "I've Got A New Lease On Life" and "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", in In Person (1935). She was dedicated to her craft, not only to dancing, but acting as well, and it clearly shows when watching her movies.

Though Ginger always wanted to be known for her acting rather than her dancing abilities, she clearly was, and still is, the tops when it comes to musicals!