Dapper, dashing and beautifully dancing--that was Fred Astaire. We’re sure that many men dreamed of looking as suave as he did in his fine double-breasted tux, and certainly, many women dreamed of dancing the night away in his arms. (Lucky Ginger!!)

Academy Award winning film and Broadway stage dancer, singer and choreographer, and
one of the most famous stars of the 1930’s, Fred was born May 10, 1899. Celebrate his 110th birthday with this great biography, PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ: Fred Astaire and the Fine Art of Panache.

Publishers Weekly loved it, saying, “In this exuberant biography of Astaire, (author) Levinson traces Astaire’s stunningly long and successful career from early vaudeville partnership with sister Adele to the heyday of MGM musicals.  Hailing from Omaha, Neb., Astaire ...tagged along with his older, more promising sister to dance school in New York City, where the tap-and-step team got their start on the Orpheum Circuit before hitting stardom in the 1923 London musical Stop Flirting. When Adele quit in 1932, Astaire renounced Broadway for the bright new medium of film, and once ensconced in Hollywood, he never looked back.  From being teamed up rather reluctantly with Ginger Rogers (10 films) to finding his muse in choreographer Hermes Pan and spectacular, short-lived partnerships with legendary leading ladies, Astaire became a national treasure. Levinson takes a chatty, nostalgic look at Astaire’s artistic collaborations, his shy nature and his underappreciated singing voice".   HC, 496 pages, 9" X 6"

BK257 - Puttin' on the Ritz:
Fred Astaire and the Fine Art
of Panache
$32.50