Astaire and the Gershwins Return in 'Shall We Dance'

Here's another in a series collecting the commercial recordings associated with Fred Astaire's films. The last entry, Swing Time, featured the music of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. For this post, 1937's Shall We Dance, we return to the work of the Gershwin brothers, whose songs previously have been heard in A Damsel in Distress.

As before, the Gershwins produced a raft of classic songs for the production - "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and "They All Laughed," with "I've Got Beginner's Luck" and the title song being only a little less memorable.

Johnny Green

For Astaire's Brunswick recordings, pianist-conductor Johnny Green provided the backing, perfectly suited to the dancer's vocals and personality. In addition to the songs mentioned above, Astaire recorded "Slap That Bass," and both that song and "Shall We Dance" capture his tap dancing along with his singing.

There are no commercial recordings of Ginger Rogers from Shall We Dance, to my knowledge, but Johnny Green contributed an instrumental disc - joining Dave Terry for a two-piano medley of songs from the score. It's included in the download.

I've also added Astaire's 1948 version of "They Can't Take That Away from Me," done for The Barkleys of Broadway. Finally, the file also includes the delightful instrumental "Promenade (Walking the Dog)," from a much later recording.

As usual, the file also contains many restored posters, lobby cards and stills from the film - although I have to observe that the lobby cards in particular are garish. Fortunately the music is as elegant as can be.