Table Of ContentPraise for Top Hat
“Alert and attentive, always respecting the magic of this most magical
of movies, Peter Evans nevertheless manages to show how exactly it
works, how its stars discreetly clash as they combine, and how a
well-tried formula can turn into unforgettable art. Good too that the
admirable Eric Blore is celebrated, a comic dream of a supporting
actor.”
Michael Wood, Princeton University
“Peter Evans has provided an exemplary account of Top Hat. Packed
with information and insight, his book is as elegantly structured and
presented as the film itself. An excellent addition to an excellent
series.”
Steve Neale, Professor of Film Studies, University of Exeter
“An acknowledged authority on the musical, Peter Evans has written
an illuminating, often brilliantly so, study of Top Hat. He presents
hitherto unknown facts relating to the film’s production history, puts
Astaire and Rogers’ star personas and the supporting cast under the
spotlight, and provides superb analysis of narrative, song, and dance.
Like Astaire and Rogers, the movie and the critic are perfectly
matched.”
Peter Stanfield, University of Kent
Top Hat Peter William Evans
© 2010 Peter William Evans. ISBN: 978-1-405-18829-6
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Wiley-Blackwell Studies in Film and Television
Series Editors: Diane Negra and Yvonne Tasker
Experienced media studies teachers know that real breakthroughs in
the classroom are often triggered by texts that an austere notion of the
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Blackwell Studies in Film and Television works from a broad field of
prospective film and television programs, selected less for their adher-
ence to definitions of “art” than for their resonance with audiences.
From Top Hat to Hairspray, from early sitcoms to contemporary
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TOP HAT
PETER WILLIAM EVANS
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
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This edition fi rst published 2010
© 2010 Peter William Evans
Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evans, Peter William.
Top hat / Peter William Evans.
p. cm. – (Wiley-Blackwell series in fi lm and television)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-8829-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-8830-2 (pbk. : alk.
paper) 1. Top hat (Motion picture) I. Title.
PN1997.T625E93 2010
791.43′72–dc22
2010006502
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 10.5/13pt Minion by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Singapore
001 2010
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Contents
List of Figures vi
Synopsis vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Making of Top Hat 6
2. Fred Astaire: “Outlaw” Stylist of the Dance 19
3. Ginger Rogers: Confi rming and Defying Convention 26
4. Introduction to Narrative and Number: The Bumpy
Road to Love 35
5. The Numbers 43
6. Querying National and Sexual Identity 85
Conclusion: A Perfectly Swell Romance 101
Notes 104
Bibliography 106
Index 114
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List of Figures
Jerry (Astaire) goes native in London’s Thackeray Club 45
Dale (Rogers) is poised to put the “No Strings” philosophy
of Jerry (Astaire) to the test 49
An unsuitable couple: Astaire as Jerry/St. Vitus/Pygmalion
and lifeless partner 52
Jerry (Astaire) attempts to rescue a damsel in distress (Rogers) 57
The perfect couple: Astaire and Rogers dance together
in the “green world” setting of Hyde Park 59
Jerry (Astaire) and the fragmentations of self 65
The couple (Astaire and Rogers) “Cheek to Cheek”
in their private heaven 73
Dale (Rogers) and Jerry (Astaire) in the carnival setting
of the Lido 83
“For the woman the kiss; for the man the sword!”
the motto of Beddini (Rhodes) 88
Bates (Blore) and Jerry (Astaire), two “plural personalities” 92
“All I said was ‘Darling!’ Then she smacked me” 95
Madge (Broderick) match-making 97
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Synopsis
Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire), the celebrated American dancer, is
appearing in London in a show produced by Horace Hardwick
(Edward Everett Horton). Staying the night in Horace’s hotel suite, he
meets Bates the butler (Eric Blore), who is embroiled in one of his
habitual squabbles with his employer, Hardwick. Jerry sings and
dances in “No Strings” of his happiness at being single, but his tap-
dancing awakens Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), who models clothes
for Alberto Beddini (Erik Rhodes), from her sleep in the room below.
She knocks on Horace’s door to remonstrate, and meets Jerry, with
whom she becomes smitten. The attraction is mutual. The following
day Jerry takes on the role of London cabbie, driving Dale, unaware at
first of the switch of drivers, to her horse-riding session at the Belcher
Academy in Hyde Park. Soon unmasked, Jerry sings “Isn’t This a
Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain?” in the bandstand as the rain
begins to fall. Back at the hotel Dale confuses Jerry with Horace, the
husband she has never met of her friend Madge (Helen Broderick).
Angered by this “discovery,” she slaps Jerry in public as an adulterer,
and leaves with Beddini for Venice to meet up with Madge. Jerry
learns of Dale’s whereabouts and follows her to Venice after the
evening performance of his show. At the Lido hotel in Venice, Madge
tells Dale she would like her to meet an eligible bachelor friend of
hers, not letting on that she means Jerry. Dale complains of “Horace’s”
attentions to her. The hot-headed Italian fop, Beddini, warns the real
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viii SYNOPSIS
Horace on pain of death to refrain from pestering Dale, while Madge
encourages Dale to dance in the “Cheek to Cheek” number with Jerry,
unaware that he has been mistaken by Dale for Horace. In love with
Jerry, Dale cannot take any more of “Horace’s” brazen pursuit, and
“marries” Beddini. Madge smacks Horace in the eye, by now both
amazed and convinced of his designs on Dale, but the confusion is
eventually cleared up, Jerry reveals his true identity, and sets about
attempting to untie Dale’s marital knot with Beddini, who is lured
away on a gondola while Jerry and Dale take part in the “Piccolino”
carnival number. Beddini and Dale have not really been married,
since the priest who officiated at their wedding was none other than
Bates, who had been detailed by Horace to follow Dale’s steps on sus-
picion that she was an adventuress out to take advantage of Jerry.
Jerry and Dale exit the scene at the film’s end to the mixed sounds of
the “Piccolino” and “Cheek to Cheek.”
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Diane Negra and Yvonne Tasker for supporting
the inclusion of this volume in the series, and for their many helpful
editorial suggestions, and also Jayne Fargnoli and Margot Morse at
Wiley-Blackwell and their freelance copyeditor, Janey Fisher. Thanks
are also due to Queen Mary, University of London, for granting me
leave in 2008–9 to carry out the research for the volume. Special
thanks are due to Trevor Dadson, Vice-Principal for Humanities and
Social Sciences at Queen Mary, my colleagues in the School of
Languages, Linguistics and Film, and all colleagues and students,
especially Lucy Bolton, Charles Drazin, Sue Harris, Annette Kuhn,
and Pauline Small, in the Department of Film Studies. Thanks, too, at
Queen Mary, to Jan Clarke, Colleen Cotter, Jill Evans, Mark Glancy,
Rüdiger Görner, Philip Ogden, Kenny Scott, Jane Whetnall, and Mark
White for various forms of support and help. I am indebted to Hannah
Hyam, Rick Jewell, John Mueller, Cathy Surowiec, and David Redfern
for invaluable advice and contacts. The excellent Fred Astaire confer-
ence held at Oriel College, Oxford, in 2008 led to many new friend-
ships and contact with old friends, including Bruce Boyer, Paula
Cohen, Katie-Jane Hext, Kathleen Riley, and Susan Smith; I am espe-
cially indebted to Chris Bamberger for her encouragement, constant
supply of references and information. Many useful comments and
suggestions have been offered by Christopher Cordess, Celestino
Deleyto, Ron Guariento, Andrea Sabbadini, and Bernardo Sánchez.
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x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Maria Shepherd came to my rescue with her laptop when mine had
broken down. I am grateful to John Cunningham, as well as to Ildikó
Takács and Judit Körös at the Hungarian Embassy, and to Andras
Nagyivanyi, for help with the Hungarian stage and screen sources of
Top Hat. Thanks, too, to Margaret Paques who sent me Philippe
Garnier’s Caractères.
The inspiration for this book arises to a great extent from both my
life-long love of the Hollywood musical, and my friendship and happy
collaboration over many years with Bruce Babington, beginning with
the first of our three co-authored books, Blue Skies and Silver Linings:
Aspects of the Hollywood Musical, which included a chapter on Astaire
and Rogers. I am grateful to the extremely helpful staff at the libraries
where I undertook the research for this book: QMUL, BFI, Senate
House Library, British Library, USC (especially Ned Comstock),
UCLA (especially Lauren Buisson), and the Margaret Herrick Library
at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Los Angeles
(especially Barbara Hall). In these libraries I consulted archives con-
taining screenplay variants, budgets, private and public correspon-
dence involving RKO and the Hays office, personal files, production,
promotion and reception notes and documents, as well as popular
and academic material related to Top Hat.
I am deeply grateful to the University of London Central Research
Fund committee for a grant that helped fund my trip to research this
volume in Los Angeles libraries. Irene León has been indispensable in
the presentation and formatting of this volume. My daughter Jenni
has cast her specialist musician’s eye invaluably over the manuscript
and helped with analysis of the music in Top Hat. Isabel Santaolalla
has been, as ever, my best and sharpest critic. This book is dedicated
to her, to my son Tom and daughter Jenni, and to the memories of my
mother, Rose-Marie Evans, and father, Ernest William Evans, who
also loved musicals.
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