A.M. ANNOYANCE - Night and Day
It still drives me crazy to think that the guy who could have been the Fred Astaire of our generation turned out to be such a freak.
…
And then there’s the guy who was the Fred Astaire of his generation…
The person George Balanchine and Rudolf Nureyev rated as the greatest dancer of the twentieth century and the man, about whom a talent agent for RKO Pictures supposedly once wrote in a memo: “Can’t sing. Can’t act. Balding. Can dance a little.” …
dance, Fred Astaire, Michael Jackson, what could have been





July 1st, 2007 at 9:00 am
Sorry, I don’t see the connection. Fred had staying power and the sense to keep it.
July 1st, 2007 at 12:09 pm
My point, which was obviously not clearly made, was that Michael Jackson wasted the opportunity to become mentioned in the same breath as Fred Astaire because of his (Michael’s) personal transgressions.
Both men were amazing dancers and revolutionized the dancing of their time.
Astaire was, by all accounts, a kind and grounded individual whereas Jackson seems to just get freakier every time you read about him.
You’re point about Astaire’s staying power is excellent. Without getting too cosmic about it, I think it points out that character and class endure; artificial images created to pander to current trends do not.