Monday, December 3, 2012

Soundtrack Recordings

Miss Ginger Rogers lent her voice to many a recording of song.  A few of the soundtracks from the movies she starred in with Fred Astaire can be found on archive.org.  All the information below can also be found on the "Ginger Sings" page of this blog.
http://thegingerrogersresouce.blogspot.com/2012/09/ginger-sings.html

Motion Picture magazine     October 1936

Swing Time (1936) and The Gay Divorcee (1934).  The items featuring Ginger Rogers singing are:
  • "A Fine Romance" duet with Fred Astaire
  • "Swing Time" (1936) finale duet with Fred Astaire, Helen Broderick, Victor Young and Georges Metaxa
  • "Pick Yourself Up" duet with Fred Astaire with extended music and dancing sounds
  • "The Continental" with Erick Rhodes and ensemble plus some words from Fred Astaire; includes closing credits music
The songs that Fred Astaire sang in those movies are also on the same page including:  "Never Gonna Dance", "Bojangles of Harlem", "The Way You Look Tonight", "A Needle in a Haystack", and "Night and Day" plus the song "Let's Knockaknees" and the music for "Waltz in Swingtime", dancing sounds included, with introduction dialogue by Fred Astaire and Georges Metaxa.
http://archive.org/details/Swingtime1936AndTheGayDivorcee1934

Photoplay magazine   June 1937



Shall We Dance (1937) with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin.  Ginger sings:

  • "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" duet with Fred Astaire, with some of the skating sounds from the dance
  • "They All Laughed"
The songs that Fred Astaire sang in this movie are also on the same page including: "I've Got Beginners Luck", "Slap That Bass" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me"
http://archive.org/details/ShallWeDance1937FredAstaireAndGingerRogers


Motion Picture magazine     March 1935


Top Hat (1935) and The Gay Divorcee (1934) also only has 2 songs by Ginger:

  • "The Continental" with Erick Rhodes and ensemble plus some words from Fred Astaire; includes closing credits music
  • "The Piccolino" with music from the dance and dancing sounds and the music from the finale dance of Top Hat
The songs that Fred Astaire sang in those movies are also on the same page including: "A Needle in a Haystack", "Night and Day", "Cheek to Cheek", "Isn't It a Lovely Day to Get Caught in the Rain", "No Strings" and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails".
http://archive.org/details/TopHat1935AndTheGayDivorcee1934


Just in case you missed the movies in their first run, here are a few reviews so you can catch up on the plots.


Motion Picture magazine   January 1935


Motion Picture magazine   November 1935
Motion Picture magazine   November 1936
Photoplay magazine    June 1937
Images above can be found in the Media History Digital Library:
Swing Time poster -
 http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture52moti#page/n189/mode/2up
"Cutest Shot of the Month" from Shall We Dance-
 http://archive.org/stream/photoplayvolume551chicx#page/n691/mode/2up
Continental dance still from The Gay Divorcee -
 http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture49moti#page/n119/mode/2up
The Gay Divorcee review -
 http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture48moti#page/64/mode/2up
Top Hat review -
 http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture50moti#page/n307/mode/2up 
Swing Time review -
 http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture52moti#page/n285/mode/2up
Shall We Dance? review -
 http://archive.org/stream/photoplayvolume551chicx#page/n661/mode/2up

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