"Fred taught me a step because I said I can't let this experience be over without my learning something. He taught me the most wonderful Fred Astaire-like step, with an umbrella. It was a complete throwaway; it was almost invisible. It was in the way he walked. As he moved along, he bounced the umbrella on the floor to the beat and then he grabbed it. It was effortless and invisible. As a matter of fact, a few years later I was photographing Gene Kelly and told him that Fred Astaire had taught me this trick with an umbrella. And Kelly said, "Oh I'll teach you one," and he did, and the two tricks with the umbrella in some way define the difference between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and, in my view, demonstrate who is the greater of the two artists. With Gene Kelly, he threw the umbrella way up into the air, and then he moved to catch it, very slowly, grabbing it behind his back. It was a big, grandstand play, about nothing."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Episcopalians from the United StatesSingers from the United StatesPeople from OmahaDancers from the United StatesActors from Nebraska
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Richard Avedon in Silverman, Stephen M. Dancing on the Ceiling. Knopf, 1996. .
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fred_Astaire
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American film and stage dancer, actor, singer and choreographer.
77 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Fred Astaire →
Related Quotes
"When working on my choreography I am not always receptive to outside suggestions or opinions. I believe that if you h…"
"But I do nothing that I don't like, such as "inventing" up to the arty or "down" to the corny. I happen to relish a c…"
"I don't make love by kissing, I make love by dancing."
"Either the camera will dance, or I will."
"There comes a day when people begin to say, 'Why doesn't that old duffer retire?' I want to get out while they're sti…"
"A four wood I hit on the 13th hole at Bel Air Country Club in June of 1945. It landed right on the green and rolled i…"
"What's all this talk about me being teamed with Ginger Rogers? I will not have it Leland--I did not go into pictures …"
"I have had to do most of my choreography. I would say most of it, with help from various choreographers I have worked…"
"Oh, there's no such thing as my favorite performance. I can't sit here today and look back, and say, Top Hat was bett…"
"I have no desire to prove anything by it. I have never used it as an outlet or a means of expressing myself. I just d…"