eMoviePoster.com

What are the objects in the corners of some images? Learn More

Fred Astaire was born Frederic Austerlitz Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska in 1899. He had an 18 month older sister, Adele, and they were a working class family, and when their mother saw their dancing talents at a very young age, she steered them into a sister/brother act, and they moved to New York in 1905, and started performing in vaudeville. By the early 1920s, they were regularly performing on Broadway and in London. In 1932, Adele married an English lord, and retired. Fred had been dancing with her for 27 years, but he paired with Claire Luce, and starred in the play Gay Divorce (which was later made into the movie The Gay Divorcee). This solo success got him a screen test at RKO (he had had one at Paramount with his sister in 1927, and they were not interested). Legend has it that the report on his screen test was "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little.", but this is likely one of those irresistible urban legends, especially because he was cast in a supporting role in Dancing Lady, where he dances with Joan Crawford. He followed with another supporting role, in Flying Down to Rio, where he was paired with Ginger Rogers, and they stole the movie from star Dolores Del Rio. He did not want to become part of a team again, but their movies were so successful that they indeed made eight more together by 1939, and re-teamed for one last movie in 1949. There was a huge difference between the Astaire/Rogers dancing and that of the Busby Berkeley Warner Bros musicals, in that there was next-to-no camera cutting, simply showing the great dancers perform in almost a single take! In 1939 he split with Rogers and also left RKO, and made a series of movies with several different partners, including the hugely successful Holiday Inn, with Bing Crosby. In 1946, he announced that he was retiring, but when Gene Kelly was injured, he stepped into the lead of Easter Parade, and that was the end of his retiring! He made several very memorable MGM musicals in the 1950s, including The Band Wagon. In 1957 he again retired from dancing in movies, taking only straight dramatic roles (in movies like On The Beach and The Towering Inferno), although he did do memorable TV specials with Barrie Chase in 1958 to 1960, and again in 1968. In 1980 he married Robyn Smith, a jockey who was 44 years younger than he was! He passed away in 1987, and since his passing his widow has kept his films from being used commercially without major compensation, and even refused to allow clips to be shown at a tribute to Ginger Rogers, which is especially sad. Fred Astaire was an incomparable stage and movie dancer, and was a very charismatic actor as well. He had a career that spanned 76 years, all the more remarkable for someone who spent most of that time dancing! I highly recommend all of his movies! AND Rosalind Russell (born Catherine Rosalind Russell) was an actress from the 1930s to the 1970s. Her middle name, which she used when she performed, came from the name of a ship! She was far from an overnight success. She did not start acting in movies until she was 27, and for several years, she was used by MGM to keep Myrna Loy from demanding more money! She mostly had secondary parts. In 1939, her skill at comedy was discovered when she played one of the leads in The Women, and that led to her starring role in His Girl Friday, playing a part written for a man. She alternated between making movies and appearing on the stage, and she had great success on both with Auntie Mame (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film). Some of her other movies include: Sister Kenny (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film), My Sister Eileen (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film), and Mourning Becomes Electra (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film)

Important Added Info: Note that this item has been personally autographed (signed) by Fred Astaire on one side and Rosalind Russell on the other! Our consignor had this page that was in an autograph album, and the owner of the album glued a small photo of each star to each side next to their autograph. We have taken an image of both the front and back of the page, showing both autographs.

About the Collection this Item Comes From
Note that this item (and 11 others we are auctioning this week, each in its own auction) was consigned to us by a man who purchased the collection of a dedicated collector, who was a major film buff from the 1950s through the 1990s. He would purchase stills on stars he liked, and then he would go to events or collectibles shows (he went to virtually every collectibles show where stars appeared!), and he would get the items autographed, and many of his photos were personalized to him with nice inscriptions, because over time many of the celebrities who regularly attended shows came to be friends with him! Over many years he was able to acquire a large number of signed stills, and his collection was purchased by our consignor. In this set of auctions we are auctioning 12 of his autographed items (and we will auction others in future "all signed" auctions). We feel certain that the autographs on these items are authentic! Note that each of the 12 items from this consignor all have this paragraph on them.

Our address for UPS or FedEx only is:
Bruce Hershenson,
306 Washington Avenue, West Plains, MO 65775