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The Astaires - Fred & Adele (Paperback)
Loot Price: R496
Discovery Miles 4 960
You Save: R101
(17%)
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The Astaires - Fred & Adele (Paperback)
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List price R597
Loot Price R496
Discovery Miles 4 960
You Save R101 (17%)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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Before "Fred and Ginger," there was "Fred and Adele," a
show-business partnership and cultural sensation like no other. In
our celebrity-saturated era, it's hard to comprehend what a genuine
phenomenon these two siblings from Omaha were. At the height of
their success in the mid-1920s, the Astaires seemed to define the
Jazz Age. They were Gershwin's music in motion, a fascinating pair
who wove spellbinding rhythms in song and dance. In this book, the
first comprehensive study of their theatrical career together,
Kathleen Riley traces the Astaires' rise to fame from humble
midwestern origins and early days as child performers on small-time
vaudeville stages (where Fred, fatefully, first donned top hat and
tails) to their 1917 debut on Broadway to star billings on both
sides of the Atlantic. They became ambassadors of an art form they
helped to revolutionize, adored by audiences, feted by royalty, and
courted socially by elites everywhere they went. From the start,
Adele was the more natural performer, spontaneous, funny, and
self-possessed, while Fred had to hone his trademark timing and
elegance through endless hours of rehearsal, a disciplined regimen
that Adele loathed. Ultimately, Fred's dancing expertise surpassed
his sister's, and their paths diverged: Adele married into British
aristocracy, and Fred headed for Hollywood. The Astaires examines
in depth the extraordinary story of this great brother-sister team,
with full attention to its historical and theatrical context. It is
not merely an account of the first part of Fred's long and
illustrious career but one with its own significance. Born at the
close of the 1800s, Fred and Adele grew up together with the new
century, and when they reached superstardom during the interwar
years, they shone as an affirmation of life and hope amid a
prevailing crisis of faith and identity.
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