December 29, 1933: The film Flying Down to Rio premieres. It is the 2nd film for Fred Astaire, the 22nd film of Ginger Rogers, and their 1st film together.
Frederick Austerlitz was born on May 10, 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska. Sidney Zion, a columnist for the New York Daily News, listed him as one of "The Century Seven," 7 people born in 1899, the last year of the 19th Century, whose work guided American popular culture through much of the 20th Century. They were: Duke Ellington, born on April 29; Fred Astaire, May 10; James Cagney, July 17; Alfred Hitchcock, August 13; Hoagy Carmichael, November 22; Noël Coward, December 16; and Humphrey Bogart, December 25.
He started dancing professionally with his sister, Adele. Their mother suggested a change of surname to "Astaire," after an uncle's nickname. In 1914, Fred met the brothers George and Ira Gershwin, and they worked together for the rest of George's life.
Virginia Katherine McMath was born on June 16, 1911 in Independence, Missouri, outside Kansas City. Independence became famous as her hometown before it became known as the hometown of President Harry S Truman: He was 27 years older, but she became nationally famous first.
A cousin had trouble saying, "Virginia," and it came out "Ginger." When her parents split up, and her mother remarried, Ginger took her stepfather's surname, Rogers. She was discovered in 1925 by vaudeville legend Eddie Foy.
In 1930, the Gershwins' musical Girl Crazy debuted on Broadway. Rogers appeared in it, and Astaire helped with the choreography. They met then, but they didn't star together until Flying Down to Rio. Despite being 12 years younger, Rogers actually become a film star first, earlier in the year, with Gold Diggers of 1933, with its signature song, "We're In the Money."
Fred & Ginger made 10 films together. Flying Down to Rio in 1933; The Gay Divorcee, featuring the song "Night and Day," in 1934; Roberta, featuring "I Won't Dance (Don't Ask Me)" and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," and Top Hat, featuring the title song and "Cheek to Cheek," in 1935; Follow the Fleet and Swing Time, the latter featuring "The Way You Look Tonight," in 1936; Shall We Dance, featuring "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me," in 1937; Carefree in 1938; The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, featuring "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," in 1939; and The Barkleys of Broadway in 1949.
Despite playing real-life couples in the last 2, they were never romantically involved with each other. With the rise of feminism in the 1970s, a joke developed: "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels."
Rogers retired from acting in 1965, and ran a ranch in Oregon. Astaire continued to dance into the 1970s, and acted as late as 1981. Rogers married and divorced 5 times, and had no children. Astaire married, was widowed, and, many years later, married the much younger female horse-racing jockey Robyn Smith. Fred Astaire Jr. became a pilot and (interestingly, like Rogers but not his father) a rancher. Ava Astaire maintains her father's commercial legacy.
Astaire died on June 22, 1987, at the age of 88, the last survivor of the men that Sidney Zion called "The Century Seven." Rogers died on April 25, 1995, at 83. As of December 29, 2022, both Astaire children are still alive.
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December 29, 1933 was a Friday. This was also the day the Laurel & Hardy film Sons of the Desert premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.
Baseball and football were in the off-season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And while the NHL season was in progress, no games were scheduled. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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