Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

The Astaires, Fred & Adele, Kathleen Riley

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-230), chronologies and index

collective biography

facsimilesphotographsportraitsillustrations

index present

non fiction

The Astaires

bibliography

Kathleen Riley

Fred & Adele

Before "Fred and Ginger" there was "Fred and Adele," a show-business partnership and cultural sensation like no other. In our celebrity-sated 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 audiobook, 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:

Fred & AdeleFred and Adele