Richard M S
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,050
Not quite. I also read the Hugh Fordin book where he dismissively said Astaire did not like it and so it was removed. Dante diPaolo, the great dancer and widower of Rosemary Clooney, became lifelong friends with Astaire after dancing in that number. Page 145 of Peter J. Levinson's bio "Puttin' on the Ritz : Fred Astaire" discusses Fred ordering the sets to be expensively replaced and quoted a letter in which Fred wrote to him that he loved the number and regretted all his life that it was deleted. Apparently Rosemary was so taken by the letter she wove it into her nightclub act.Fred himself asked Arthur Freed to take "If the Swing Goes" out of the film, so he obviously thought very little of it. Of course, we all know Fred was a notorious taskmaster and was never satisfied with his work. I wish we could have seen it and judged it for ourselves.
I also read Freed felt the references to rationing in the lyrics would have dated the number by the time the film made it's way around the country.
Still, I agree, I also wish we could see it and decide for ourselves.
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