VOA慢速英语2012 PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Fred Astaire, 1899-1987: His acting, singing and dancing changed the American motion picture musical

 

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Fred Astaire, 1899-1987: His acting¹, singing and dancing changed the American motion² picture musical

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: PEOPLE IN AMERICA -- a VOA Special English program about famous Americans of the past. Today, Harry³ Monroe and Kay Gallant⁴ tell the story of dancer and movie star, Fred Astaire.

(MUSIC)

HARRY MONROE: The year is nineteen thirty-two. The United States is suffering the greatest economic depression in its history. Jobs are hard to find.

One young man is attempting to get a job dancing in the movies. Earlier, he and his sister had made a short film showing how they danced and sang. A motion picture company official watches the film. He writes this about the young man: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little."

Even with this poor report, the young man still gets a job in the movies. And -- in time -- his acting, singing and dancing changed the American motion picture musical. His name was Fred Astaire.

(MUSIC: "I Want to Be a Dancing Man")

KAY GALLANT: Fred Astaire was born in the Middle Western city of Omaha, Nebraska, in eighteen ninety-nine. He was the second child of an Austrian beer maker⁵, Frederick Austerlitz, and his wife, Ann Gelius Austerlitz. Fred and his sister, Adele, learned⁶ to dance when they were very young. Their mother took them to New York to study dance. They performed in their first professional show when Fred was ten years old and Adele was twelve. Later, as teenagers, the two danced in many shows throughout the United States.

Their first big success was on Broadway in nineteen seventeen. One critic wrote that Fred danced as if he had no bones.

HARRY MONROE: The Astaires -- as they were known -- quickly became Broadway stars. During the nineteen twenties, they sang and danced in eleven different shows. They also performed in England.

In nineteen thirty-two, Adele Astaire married a British man, and stopped performing. Critics had always considered her a better dancer than her brother. But Fred did not give up. He would go on alone, in the movies. Many years later in the film, "The Bandwagon," he played a man in a similar situation.

(MUSIC: "By Myself, Alone")

KAY GALLANT: One of Fred's first films was called "Flying Down To Rio." It was in this movie that he first danced with a young woman named Ginger⁷ Rogers.

Fred and Ginger were not the stars of the picture. But when they danced this dance, The Carioca, everyone knew that something important was happening in the world of movie dancing.

(MUSIC: "The Carioca")

HARRY MONROE: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made nine movies together. Their dancing was considered -- and still is considered -- the best ballroom⁸ dancing in the world.

Dance critic Arlene Croce wrote: "Astaire and Rogers became the most popular team the movies have ever known. Their dancing was a vehicle of serious emotion between a man and a woman. It never happened in the movies again."

Many great American songwriters wanted to write songs for Fred and Ginger. Among them were Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter⁹, and George and Ira Gershwin. They liked the way Fred sang a song. He did it simply, with respect for the words. One of these songs was Cole Porter's "Night and Day." Fred sang it to Ginger in the movie "The Gay¹⁰ Divorcee."

(MUSIC: "Night and Day")

KAY GALLANT: Fred Astaire made forty other films. In addition to Ginger Rogers, he danced with many other talented women. Rita Hayworth. Eleanor Powell. Judy Garland. Cyd Charisse. Leslie Caron. 

Fred also danced alone in some very unusual places. He danced up walls and on the ceiling in the film "Royal Wedding." He danced on rooftops in "The Belle¹¹ of New York." He danced on roller skates in "Shall We Dance?" And he danced with firecrackers exploding at his feet in "Holiday Inn¹²."

HARRY MONROE: Fred Astaire made all this look easy. But it was not.

Critics have said his technical skill was the greatest in the history of the movie musical. He said: Dancing is a sweat job. You cannot just sit down and do it. You have to get up on your feet. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable¹³. I always try to get to know my dance so well that I do not have to think, 'what comes next?' Everything should fall into line. And then I know I have got control of the floor."

KAY GALLANT: Before each movie was filmed, Fred Astaire and his partner worked for as many as six weeks to plan each step and movement. He also planned how the cameras would photograph them, so that as much dancing as possible could be filmed at one time.

Earlier, movie directors had photographed dancers showing one part of their body at a time as they danced. Fred would not permit this. He wanted moviegoers to see his whole body at all times. And he would not permit any camera tricks to make his dancing appear smoother or faster than it was.

In nineteen forty-nine, Fred Astaire won a special award for his film work from America's Motion Picture Academy¹⁴. He also won awards from the television industry for a number of his television programs.

HARRY MONROE: Fred stopped dancing in nineteen seventy. He was more than seventy years old at the time. He said a dancer could not continue dancing forever. He said he did not want to disappoint anyone, even himself. He danced again in public only once after that. It was with another great male dancer, Gene¹⁵ Kelly, in the movie "That's Entertainment, Part Two".

Fred did not always appear as a dancing man. He had a dramatic¹⁶ part in the movie "On The Beach" in nineteen fifty-nine. And he starred in a non-dancing television series called "It Takes a Thief".

KAY GALLANT: Fred Astaire and his first wife, Phyllis, raised three children. Phyllis died in nineteen fifty-four. Twenty-five years later, Fred married race horse rider Robyn Smith.

Fred Astaire died on June twenty-second, nineteen eighty-seven. He was eighty-eight years old. He was called the greatest dancer in the world. His dancing was called perfect. And moviegoers everywhere will remember him as a great performer whose work will live forever in his films.

(MUSIC: "I Want to Be a Dancing Man")

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: You have been listening to People In America -- a program in Special English on the Voice of America. This program was written by Nancy Steinbach. Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe were the narrators. I'm Shirley Griffith.

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 motion   

n.打手势，示意，移动，动作，提议，大便；v.运动，向...打手势，示意

参考例句：

• She could feel the rolling motion of the ship under her feet.她能感觉到脚下船在晃动。
• Don't open the door while the train is in motion.列车运行时，请勿打开车门。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 gallant   

adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的

参考例句：

• Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
• These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

5 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

6 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

7 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

8 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

9 porter   

n.搬运工人；守门人，门房

参考例句：

• The hotel porter will help you.旅馆的门童可以帮你的忙。
• The porter and I looked at each other and smiled.我和脚夫微笑着你看着我，我看着你。

10 gay   

adj.同性恋的；色彩鲜艳的；n.(男)同性恋者

参考例句：

• I don't know he was a gay person.我不知道他是同性恋者。
• Spring comes round to the earth again and everything looks fresh and gay.春回大地，万象更新。

11 belle   

n.靓女

参考例句：

• She was the belle of her Sunday School class.在主日学校她是她们班的班花。
• She was the belle of the ball.她是那个舞会中的美女。

12 inn   

n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店，小饭店

参考例句：

• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。
• We stayed in a small village inn,right off the map.我们住在一家偏僻的乡村小店里。

13 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

14 academy   

n.(高等)专科院校；学术社团，协会，研究院

参考例句：

• This is an academy of music.这是一所音乐专科学院。
• I visited Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.我昨天去访问了中国科学院。

15 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

16 dramatic   

adj.引人注目的；戏剧的；演戏的

参考例句：

• She plays a very dramatic woman with flashing eyes.她饰演一位双眼闪光的引人注目的妇人。
• His speech was dramatic.他的演说激动人心。