In the summer of 1974, when I was thirteen, I saw That’s Entertainment! thirteen times. One of the film’s most entrancing clips is the “Dancing in the Dark” routine from The Band Wagon (1953). Danced exquisitely by Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, it begins as a nighttime stroll through Central Park, then effortlessly becomes one of the more romantic dance duets in screen history. We lost Ms. Charisse this week, and I can’t let her passing go by without paying tribute to her and her dazzling talent. Of all Hollywood’s great female dancing stars, Charisse is my favorite. Sexy, powerful, beautiful, long-legged, and the greatest dancing vamp of all time (see Singin’ in the Rain and the “Girl Hunt” ballet in Band Wagon).
Here are some lesser-known Charisse highlights to watch for: her sensational “Frankie and Johnny” number in Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956); a highly charged “Dance of Fury” with Ann Miller and Ricardo Montalban in the otherwise lousy Kissing Bandit (1948); and the rapturously sensual and exciting “One Alone” with James Mitchell in Deep in My Heart (1954), a case of a magnificent dance trapped in a terrible movie.
I met Ms. Charisse briefly in 1976 at the NYC premiere of That’s Entertainment Part 2. She looked gorgeous in a green gown, and her hair was by now much lighter than it had been in her MGM days. I got her autograph and took a photo and she was warm and gracious. There she was, the woman who had brilliantly partnered both Astaire and Kelly. Yet she didn’t need to be anybody’s partner. One of her most glorious moments is the sequence in Silk Stockings (1957) in which she, through dance, makes the transition from severe comrade to silk-stockings-wearing goddess. It’s a term thrown about too casually, but Charisse indeed was a screen goddess.
6 responses so far ↓
1 coffee drinker // Jun 20, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Just think of how much more spectacular this routine might have been had she partnered with Kelly instead of Astaire in The Band Wagon.
2 Mark Kirby // Jun 21, 2008 at 2:27 pm
My favorite BAND WAGON number is her brief but electric “New Sky” number, with that gorgeous yellow background. She was a stunner. But has anyone besides me wondered, after the studio heads see the “Broadway Rhythm” number in SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, and this dancer comes out of nowhere and does this number with Don Lockwood, none of them ask who SHE is? And why they don’t choose to star HER with him instead of Kathy Selden?????????? I’ve always wondered but evidently I am the only one.
Mark
3 John DiLeo // Jun 21, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I love Gene Kelly but no one could touch Fred Astaire as Tony Hunter in THE BAND WAGON. One of the reasons he’s so great in the “Girl Hunt” Ballet, a satire of Mickey Spillane novels, is that he’s so unexpected as a tough guy, adding much to the wit and humor of the sequence. And the very physical Michael Kidd choreography really stretched Astaire out of his comfort zone and he succeeded brilliantly. The “Dancing in the Dark” number is quintessential Astaire: elegant, romantic, perfectly executed. I wouldn’t want to see Astaire in SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, and I’m glad that Kelly isn’t in THE BAND WAGON.
4 John DiLeo // Jun 22, 2008 at 12:29 pm
In addition to “New Sun in the Sky,” Charisse was supposed to have the “Two-Faced Woman” number that was filmed then deleted. The song (and vocal track by India Adams) made its way into TORCH SONG and became a bizarre number for Joan Crawford. It’s a camp classic (as is that whole film).
Regarding why no one discovers Charisse within SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, perhaps it’s because we’re not really sure she exists. The “Broadway Ballet” is described to studio boss Millard Mitchell by Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, so we get to see it our of their (our) imagination but never as a piece of film. We don’t really know how that number turned out in the actual film, right? Aside from all of that, YES, she’s a knockout and would have anybody clamoring for more of that sizzling talent!
5 Jay Lesiger // Jul 3, 2008 at 8:48 am
John, I do believe that we are non-identical twins separated at birth (and by quite a few years!) but I love reading your blogs. Tom and I had a two-night Cyd Charisse memorial fest two weeks ago: we did watch the usual suspects (Girl Hunt, Dancing in the Dark, Broadway Ballet, the amazing Silk Stockings number) but maybe my fave is still “One Alone.” Had the pleasure of meeting the still-handsome James Mitchell several years ago (why in the world does he not dance with Cyd in BAND WAGON? and does anyone have a copy of her early 60s TV special where they dance together?) and told him how much we loved “One Alone” and asked him how in the world that dance number, probably the most sensual in Hollywood history, ever made it past the censors? He admitted that he too was suprised, and said how much he loved partnering Cyd. We saw her one and only Broadway appearance in GRAND HOTEL, and while it wasn’t much of a showcase for her, she was still dazzling as she approached 70. Having grown up in a movie theatre (my dad ran the Oceana in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn throughout the 1950s), my earliest screen memory was of Cyd as a blonde in the Girl Hunt Ballet (I always loved blondes). As a child, spending hours not in school at the library reading about movies, I was very confused: there was no mention anywhere of a blonde actress in BAND WAGON, just Cyd and Nanette Fabray…wasn’t until I saw the film years later that I realized the blonde was the bewigged Cyd. I’m afraid we don’t have a Cyd Charisse room at Chelsea Pines (although many of my 1950s icons are represented, such as Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis, who just sent us a lovely note and photos and is recovering from cancer, George Nader and some 20-odd others). John, thrilled that my hero Mr. Osborne is featuring your book and several of your flic pix, but you should be there too; you have a very engaging personality and a great deal of interesting information to impart. Keep up the great work!
6 John DiLeo // Jul 4, 2008 at 9:58 am
Hi Jay,
I, too, had something of a Cyd memorial festival at home. She was always one of my favorites. I would love to see that TV special of hers. There’s still so much to see, even after you think you’ve seen it all, right?
I can see why, as a child, you didn’t realize that the two Cyds in “Girl Hunt” were the same person. She looks so strikingly different, but she also dances with a very different quality, proving that, though she wasn’t much of an actress, she was quite definitely a dancing actress, someone who communicated character through her body better than she ever could with dialogue. “Girl Hunt” is probably her most impressive piece of work. And, yes, I agree, it seems rather wasteful to have James Mitchell cast as her choreographer/mentor and then have him dance only a few rehearsal moves with her.
At some point during the preparation of SCREEN SAVERS, I realized that James Mitchell was in three of the forty movies, and not one of them a musical! This is remarkable when you think how few films he made. And he’s excellent in all three: BORDER INCIDENT, DEVIL’S DOORWAY, and STARS IN MY CROWN. He has an especially good role in STARS IN MY CROWN, and his performance should have led to more dramatic roles.
I’m glad you share my enthusiasm for “One Alone,” which, though brilliant, probably seems even better than it is because most of the rest of the movie is terrible. Jose Ferrer, shamelessly overacting as Sigmund Romberg, should have been forced to return his CYRANO Oscar!
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