Shall We Dance (1937) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

A ballet dancer and a showgirl fake a marriage for publicity purposes, then fall in love.

Cast & Crew

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Mark Sandrich

Fred Astaire

Petrov [also known as Pete P. Peters]

Ginger Rogers

Edward Everett Horton

Eric Blore

Cecil Flintridge

Jerome Cowan

Photos & Videos

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Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Shall We Dance (1937)

Shall We Dance (1937) -- (Movie Clip) Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!

Shall We Dance (1937) -- (Movie Clip) I Hope To Dance With Her Someday

Film Details

Also Known As

Stepping Toes, Watch Your Step

Genre

Musical

Classic Hollywood

Comedy

Release Date

May 7, 1937

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 56m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

12 reels

Synopsis

Smitten with photographs of musical revue star Linda Keene, Pete P. Peters, an American ballet dancer living in Paris and performing under the name Petrov, vows to his impresario, Jeffrey Baird, that he will meet and marry her. However, when Pete, who secretly prefers jazz dancing to formal ballet, finally arrives at Linda's apartment, he overhears her eschewing her fawning male admirers and expressing to her nearly bankrupt producer, Arthur Miller, her desire to quit show business. With his thickest Russian accent, Pete introduces himself as Petrov, the temperamental ballet star, and pretends to be unimpressed by Linda. Then, to be near her as well as be away from Lady Tarrington, a former ballerina and dogged admirer of his, Pete tricks Jeffrey into booking passage for him on the same New York-bound boat on which Linda is sailing the next day. Before boarding the liner, Pete encounters Lady Tarrington and, in order to rid himself of her, confirms Jeffrey's story that he has been married in secret for four years. While sailing to New York, Pete connives to join Linda as she takes her little dog on his daily walks and gradually wins favor with her. However, after rumors generated through Lady Tarrington about Pete's "secret marriage" begin to spread around the boat, Linda's attentions to Pete lead to speculation that she is Pete's wife and is pregnant. When an outraged Linda then hears from Jeffrey that Pete used her to avoid Lady Tarrington, she grabs the next mail airplane to New York. After Linda assures her confused Park Avenue fiancé, Jim Montgomery, that she is still single, Arthur throws a party for the couple on the hotel's roof. During the party, Arthur, who doesn't want Linda to marry Jim and leave show business, connives to have her perform an impromptu dance with Pete, then conspires with a publicity man to have a sleeping Pete photographed with a mannequin of Linda. The published photograph, which is offered as proof of Pete and Linda's marriage, forces the reluctant couple to flee from reporters, and eventually leads them to marry secretly in New Jersey. Linda agrees to the marriage on condition that she can divorce Pete immediately, but soon realizes that she truly loves the dancer. However, when she finds Pete with Lady Tarrington, she disappears from the hotel and initiates divorce proceedings. Although the resulting scandal causes Pete to lose his engagement with the Metropolitan Ballet Company, Arthur, desperate over the absence of Linda, offers to feature him in his upcoming musical revue. At the show's opening, Linda arrives to serve Pete his divorce papers, but when she sees the number that he created, in which all of the dancers are wearing masks of her face, her anger dissolves. By placing herself in the dance, Linda reunites on stage with a joyful Pete.

Director

Mark Sandrich

Cast

Fred Astaire

Petrov [also known as Pete P. Peters]

Ginger Rogers

Edward Everett Horton

Eric Blore

Cecil Flintridge

Jerome Cowan

Ketti Gallian

Lady Tarrington

William Brisbane

Ann Shoemaker

Matron [Mrs. Fitzgerald]

Harriet Hoctor

Charles Coleman

Policeman in Central Park

Marek Wyndheim

Ballet instructor

Ben Alexander

Emma Young

Alphonse Martell

Charles Irwin

Vesey O'davoren

Charles Hall

Sam Wren

Helena Grant

Pete Theodore

George Savidan

Matty Roubert

Pat Flaherty

Frank Moran

Rolfe Sedan

Leonard Mudie

Sherwood Bailey

Norman Ainsley

Sam Hayes

J. M. Kerrigan

William Burress

Torben Meyer

Spencer Teakle

Marie Marks

Monty Collins

Jane Hamilton

Crew

David Abel

Pandro S. Berman

Mel Berns

Hal Borne

Rehearsal pianist

Harold Buchman

Anne Morrison Chapin

Carroll Clark

Art Director Associate

Harry Cornbleth

Stand-in for Fred Astaire

J. R. Crone

Production Manager

George Gershwin

Ira Gershwin

James Gow

Contr to Screenplay const

William Hamilton

John Huettner

Stand-in for Edward Everett Horton

J. Roy Hunt

Irene

Miss Rogers' gowns

Lee Loeb

Harry Losee

Ballet staged by

Hugh Mcdowell Jr.

Argyle Nelson

Assistant Director

Edmund North

Contr to Screenplay const

Marie Osborne

Stand-in for Ginger Rogers

Ernest Pagano

Hermes Pan

Ballet staged by

Van Nest Polglase

Paul Rochin

Allan Scott

Nathaniel Shilkret

Darrell Silvera

Harry Timms

Vernon Walker

Special Effects

P. J. Wolfson

Photo Collections

Videos

Shall We Dance (1937) -- (Movie Clip) I Hope To Dance With Her Someday Just-introduced Paris ballet impresario Baird (Edward Everett Horton) visits his ambivalent star Pete (Fred Astaire, his first scene), for further exposition, leading us to Linda (Ginger Rogers), whom he worships from afar, opening RKO's Shall We Dance, 1937.

Shall We Dance (1937) -- (Movie Clip) Slap That Bass! As hoofer (posing as a ballet artist) Pete, Fred Astaire performs a George & Ira Gershwin original with the crew, in a remarkable cruise ship engine room set, Van Nest Polglase the credited designer, in RKO's Shall We Dance, 1937, also starring Ginger Rogers.

Shall We Dance (1937) -- (Movie Clip) They All Laughed After she's sung the George & Ira Gershwin tune, Linda (Ginger Rogers) goes along when the dinner crowd at a glitzy New York address demands she dance with Pete "Petrov, (Fred Astaire), amid false rumors they're secretly married, in Shall We Dance, 1937.

Shall We Dance (1937) -- (Movie Clip) Let's Call the Whole Thing Off! Incognito in Central Park, dodging rumors of their non-existent secret marriage, celebrity dancers Pete (Fred Astaire) and Linda (Ginger Rogers) introduce the George and Ira Gershwin song, with their famous roller-skate dance in Shall We Dance, 1937.

Intro Aired: Nov 2018

Ben Mankiewicz Intro -- Shall We Dance (1937) Ben Mankiewicz introduces Shall We Dance, 1937.

Intro Aired: Dec 2015

Robert Osborne Intro -- Shall We Dance (1937) Robert Osborne introduces Shall We Dance, 1937.

Film Details

Also Known As

Stepping Toes, Watch Your Step

Genre

Musical

Classic Hollywood

Comedy

Release Date

May 7, 1937

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 56m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

12 reels

Award Nominations

Best Song

1937

Articles

Shall We Dance? (1937)

February 26, 2003

Shall We Dance (1937) was the seventh outing within four years for RKO superstars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Having kept the RKO studio financially afloat during the darker days of the Great Depression, Astaire and Rogers kept movie audiences entertained too, with sublime dance numbers, romantic fantasies of Boy-Meets-Girl, and songs that stayed with the audience long after the house lights came up. But by the time Shall We Dance was released in May 1937, the luster on the Astaire & Rogers films was beginning to fade. Shall We Dance was not a critical or even a box office success, but it was not the first indication that the team was losing steam. It was while this film was being shot that RKO studio bosses met to commiserate on the disappointing returns from Swing Time, released in 1936. That film made a profit of $413,000, well below the team's usual performance. In the case of Shall We Dance, audiences may have been disappointed by the decreased number of dance routines, while critics noted that the musical was less original and the plot a virtual rehash of their previous outings. But seen today, Shall We Dance succeeds as a stylish and superior musical entertainment from the Art Deco era.

There are many things to praise here, including some truly memorable dance sequences. An outing in a park sets the stage for the most imaginative dance number in the film, a roller skate sequence set to the song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Despite rumors at the time of a tense working relationship, the dance team projects a real sense of having fun as they twirl, swirl and tap on wheels. It's a fantastic number and definitely a Rogers-Astaire novelty, building on the roller skate number in Gold Diggers of 1933 and raising the bar for Gene Kelly in It's Always Fair Weather (1955).

Shall We Dance also features another famous team that became legends in their own right. Brothers George and Ira Gershwin were commissioned to write a number of songs for Fred and Ginger to croon lovingly to each other. It was their second picture (their first being Delicious for Fox in 1931), and their only one for an Astaire & Rogers flick. The Gershwin tunes were not an immediate hit with the public, but in time they became popular standards. "Slap That Bass," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," and "They Can't Take that Away From Me" were a few that the Brothers Gershwin contributed to cultural history. Sadly, George Gershwin died on July 11th, only a few months after the premiere of Shall We Dance.

By the way, Shall We Dance was originally slated as the last of the Fred-and-Ginger romps, but within a year they were together again in Carefree. They followed that with The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle in 1939, and finally teamed up for the last time in 1949 for The Barkleys of Broadway.

Director: Mark Sandrich
Producer: Pandro S. Berman
Screenplay: Harold Buchman & Lee Loeb (story Watch Your Step), Ernest Pagano, Allan Scott, P.J. Wolfson (adaptation)
Cinematography: David Abel
Editor: William Hamilton
Art Direction: Van Nest Polglase
Music: George Gershwin, Ira Gerswhin
Cast: Fred Astaire (Petrov), Ginger Rogers (Linda Keene), Edward Everett Horton (Jeffrey Baird), Eric Blore (Cecil Flintridge), Jerome Cowan (Arthur Miller).
BW-109m. Close captioning.

by Scott McGee

Shall We Dance? (1937)

Shall We Dance? (1937)

Shall We Dance (1937) was the seventh outing within four years for RKO superstars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Having kept the RKO studio financially afloat during the darker days of the Great Depression, Astaire and Rogers kept movie audiences entertained too, with sublime dance numbers, romantic fantasies of Boy-Meets-Girl, and songs that stayed with the audience long after the house lights came up. But by the time Shall We Dance was released in May 1937, the luster on the Astaire & Rogers films was beginning to fade. Shall We Dance was not a critical or even a box office success, but it was not the first indication that the team was losing steam. It was while this film was being shot that RKO studio bosses met to commiserate on the disappointing returns from Swing Time, released in 1936. That film made a profit of $413,000, well below the team's usual performance. In the case of Shall We Dance, audiences may have been disappointed by the decreased number of dance routines, while critics noted that the musical was less original and the plot a virtual rehash of their previous outings. But seen today, Shall We Dance succeeds as a stylish and superior musical entertainment from the Art Deco era. There are many things to praise here, including some truly memorable dance sequences. An outing in a park sets the stage for the most imaginative dance number in the film, a roller skate sequence set to the song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Despite rumors at the time of a tense working relationship, the dance team projects a real sense of having fun as they twirl, swirl and tap on wheels. It's a fantastic number and definitely a Rogers-Astaire novelty, building on the roller skate number in Gold Diggers of 1933 and raising the bar for Gene Kelly in It's Always Fair Weather (1955). Shall We Dance also features another famous team that became legends in their own right. Brothers George and Ira Gershwin were commissioned to write a number of songs for Fred and Ginger to croon lovingly to each other. It was their second picture (their first being Delicious for Fox in 1931), and their only one for an Astaire & Rogers flick. The Gershwin tunes were not an immediate hit with the public, but in time they became popular standards. "Slap That Bass," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," and "They Can't Take that Away From Me" were a few that the Brothers Gershwin contributed to cultural history. Sadly, George Gershwin died on July 11th, only a few months after the premiere of Shall We Dance. By the way, Shall We Dance was originally slated as the last of the Fred-and-Ginger romps, but within a year they were together again in Carefree. They followed that with The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle in 1939, and finally teamed up for the last time in 1949 for The Barkleys of Broadway. Director: Mark Sandrich Producer: Pandro S. Berman Screenplay: Harold Buchman & Lee Loeb (story Watch Your Step), Ernest Pagano, Allan Scott, P.J. Wolfson (adaptation) Cinematography: David Abel Editor: William Hamilton Art Direction: Van Nest Polglase Music: George Gershwin, Ira Gerswhin Cast: Fred Astaire (Petrov), Ginger Rogers (Linda Keene), Edward Everett Horton (Jeffrey Baird), Eric Blore (Cecil Flintridge), Jerome Cowan (Arthur Miller). BW-109m. Close captioning. by Scott McGee

Quotes

What are the grounds for divorce in this state?
- Linda Keene

Marriage.
- Clerk

I told you, I haven't even met her. But I'd kinda like to marry her. ...I think I will.
- Peter P. Peters

Petrov and Keen: secret marriage!
- Paperboy

We're the only two people in New York who don't think we're married.
- Peter P. Peters

Think? I know we're not.
- Linda Keene

I'm beginning to have my doubts.
- Peter P. Peters

Trivia

Working titles were "Watch You Step" and then "Stepping Toes."

Notes

The working titles of this film were Watch Your Step, which also was the title of the screen story, and Stepping Toes. Modern sources also list On Your Ballet, Stepping Stones, Stepping High, Round the Town, Dance with Me, Let's Dance and Twinkle, Twinkle as other working titles. The production, which according to a Hollywood Reporter news item, required 300 hours of rehearsal, was the seventh film in which Rogers and Astaire appeared together. Rehearsals began in November 1936. Shall We Dance was the first film that George and Ira Gershwin worked on with Astaire, and only the second film for which the brothers had composed music. The Gershwins wrote the music for two of Astaire's broadway shows, Lady, Be Good! and Funny Face, as well as composing for Girl Crazy, a Broadway musical that starred Rogers. Their song "They Can't Take That Away from Me" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song but lost to "Sweet Leilani" from Paramount's Waikiki Wedding. Hollywood Reporter production charts and news items add Abe Reynolds to the cast list, but his participation in the final film has not been confirmed. RKO production files indicate that Margot Grahame was originally cast in the role of Lady Tarrington, but was subsequently replaced by Ketti Gallian. Modern sources add to the cast George Magrill (Room steward), Jean de Briac and Pauline Garon. In addition, modern sources complete the above list of players with the following character names: Emma Young (Tai) and Sherwood Bailey (Newsboy). Modern source crew credits include Robert Russell Bennett (Orchestrator); John Miehle (Still photographer) and Edith Clark (Wardrobe attendant).
       Modern sources give the following information about the production: At the time of his hiring, George Gershwin, who had recently written the opera Porgy and Bess and had suffered a series of Broadway flops, was deemed by the industry to be "highbrow" and uncommercial. Consequently, his deal with RKO, which paid him $55,000 for Shall We Dance and included an option for a second film at $70,000, earned him considerably less than Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern made for similar work on previous Astaire-Rogers films. The Gershwins began composing music for the film months before production began, and the script was written to some extent around the songs. (The film's premise was reportedly inspired by the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart hit Broadway show On Your Toes, a story about an American revue dancer and a Russian ballet company, which the composers originally had imagined as an Astaire vehicle. The play was filmed in 1939, but without Astaire [see entry above]). Because of the fundamental set-up of the film's story, the script encountered immediate censorship problems with the PCA. Joseph I. Breen, the director of the PCA, said of the script: "The attempt to make comedy out the suggestion-even though such suggestion is quite untrue-of an unmarried woman who is pregnant, is, in our judgment, highly offensive." Many deletions were ordered by Breen, who also admonished RKO to be careful not to expose any "intimate" parts of the dancers' bodies, particularly breasts.
       Hal Borne's piano arrangements were used by orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett as the basis for the score's orchestration. One song composed for the film, "Hi-Ho," which was to be used at the film's opening, was dropped from the score because shooting it according to the Gershwins' scheme would have cost the studio $55,000. ("Hi-Ho" was not published until 1967.) Another song, "Wake Up, Brother, and Dance," was eliminated from the score to make room for the title song but re-surfaced years later in altered form as "Sophia" in Billy Wilder's 1964 film Kiss Me, Stupid. In November 1936, George Gershwin wrote of his efforts on the title song: "We haven't a title for the picture as yet, but we are all struggling hard to find just the right phrase." Their friend, Vincente Minnelli, is credited with coming up the "right phrase," and the Gershwins proceeded to complete "Shall We Dance?" (the question mark was eventually deleted) in the spring of 1937.
       Producer Pandro S. Berman, who expected the Gershwins to create "six hits" for the film, wanted the highly respected George Balanchine (who had choreographed sequences in On Your Toes) to choreograph the musical numbers. Balanchine expressed interest in the project, but prior commitments to the Metropolitan Opera prohibited him from accepting the assignment. Director Sandrich tried to hire Russian choreographer Leonide Massine for the ballet sequences, but Harry Losee was flown in from New York and, in spite of his background in modern dance, was assigned to the ballet sequences. Hermes Pan assisted Astaire on the show dancing. The complicated roller skating routine that accompanies "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" required thirty-two hours of preparation and took four days to shoot. Astaire and Rogers skated for an estimated eighty miles. Because the routine was especially difficult, Astaire declined to shoot it according to his "single-shot" rule (see Top Hat for further information). The skating sound effects were dubbed and inserted after shooting. According to Hermes Pan, Astaire got the idea for the choreography for the "Slap That Bass" number, in which Astaire dances around the ocean liner's boiler room, playing off the machinery, from a cement mixer he and Pan passed on the RKO lot. In spite of Berman's desires for hit songs and a hit movie to counter the relatively poor box office showing of Swing Time, Shall We Dance made only $413,000 in profits, while the Gershwins' songs failed to catch on with public until many years later.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States 1937

Released in United States on Video September 12, 1990

Re-released in United States on Video April 20, 1994

Released in United States 1937

Re-released in United States on Video April 20, 1994

Released in United States on Video September 12, 1990

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