The Astaires: Fred & Adele

They were Gershwin's music in motion, a fascinating pair who wove spellbinding rhythms in song and dance. In this book, the first comprehensive study of their theatrical career together, Kathleen Riley traces the Astaires' rise to fame from humble midwestern origins and early days as child performers on small-time vaudeville stages where Fred, fatefully, first donned top hat and tails to their debut on Broadway to star billings on both sides of the Atlantic. They became ambassadors of an art form they helped to revolutionize, adored by audiences, feted by royalty, and courted socially by elites everywhere they went.

From the start, Adele was the more natural performer, spontaneous, funny, and self-possessed, while Fred had to hone his trademark timing and elegance through endless hours of rehearsal, a disciplined regimen that Adele loathed.

Ultimately, Fred's dancing expertise surpassed his sister's, and their paths diverged: Adele married into British aristocracy, and Fred headed for Hollywood. The Astaires examines in depth the extraordinary story of this great brother-sister team, with full attention to its historical and theatrical context. It is not merely an account of the first part of Fred's long and illustrious career but one with its own significance. Born at the close of the s, Fred and Adele grew up together with the new century, and when they reached superstardom during the interwar years, they shone as an affirmation of life and hope amid a prevailing crisis of faith and identity.

Moaning Minnie and Goodtime Charlie Chapter 1: Opening the bill Chapter 2: Over the top Chapter 3: Dancing comedians Chapter 4: The fact that the movie moguls insisted that their new signing would be partnered with Ginger whether he liked it or not speaks volumes about the industry's perception that without his sister, or someone a bit like her, Fred was nothing more than a goofy-looking, slightly sexless, already veteran vaudevillian.

In this sprightly book whose every sentence shines with the author's love of her dual subjects, Kathleen Riley writes Adele back into the story of her brother. A relationship that usually gets squashed into the first three or four chapters of a standard Fred Astaire biography is now given a whole book. This also allows Riley to explore in detail the rich bank of dance practice from which Fred's later work emerged. The Astaires together laid down a library of beats, taps and turns from which Fred would go on to make some of the most sublime physical art of the 20th century. The Astaires — or the Austerlitzes to give them their real name — have in the past been described as mid-Western and middle-class.

Riley's careful foraging, however, reveals a family background far less corn-fed. Their mother was a first-generation German while their father had been born in Vienna to a Jewish family that had pragmatically turned Catholic. Fritz Austerlitz had fetched up in Omaha as a beer salesman, a job that fitted neatly with his growing alcoholism. It was to find a way out of this cramping existence that ambitious Mrs Austerlitz put her daughter on the stage. And since her little boy seemed to have a certain physical wit, he too was enrolled at the local dance school.

Within a few years Adele and her sidekick Fred were supporting the family, sending home money to their father in a tactful recognition that he was no longer able to look after himself, let alone them. That Adele and Fred were able to do this by the time they were barely out of their teens was all down to their extraordinary art. But what that art was exactly is hard to know. Kathleen Riley is a theater historian from Australia, so her focus on Anglo theater is perhaps not surprising.

Her apparently color blindness is. I applaud the clearly encyclopedic research she performed to retrace the Astaires' early career. Her archival chops are obviously intact. In a limited anecdotal sense, I really enjoyed parts of this book. But the theoretical, interpretive components of her research are impoverished.

Fred & Adele

And I still love watching Fred Astaire dance. May 18, blake rated it it was amazing Shelves: A lovely portrait of a little vaudeville family that made good, with the charismatic and naturally gifted sister supported by her less talented but harder working brother, and shepherded by a a reluctant stage mom. Which is kind of an interesting look at Fred Astaire's history odd years later when the movies have preserved his talent long after the stage history is forgotten by most people.

Although, these days, I suppose "most" people have forgotten Fred's movies. Much like Paul Whiteman A lovely portrait of a little vaudeville family that made good, with the charismatic and naturally gifted sister supported by her less talented but harder working brother, and shepherded by a a reluctant stage mom. Much like Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music, , a great deal of the Astaires' brilliance is lost to a time when recording things was a really big deal.

There's a fair amount of inside baseball here though nowhere near Black and Conservative , the bulk of which covers the same time period and there is a limit to how much you can convey the artistry of music and dance with words, but Riley is game for the task and provides a story of a tightly-knit and largely functional family navigating art and show biz. The end of Fred and Adele's stories aren't super happy, as endings for human beings often aren't.

The struggle over-all, however, of making it to the big time is as fun and funny as an old-time "let's put on a show"-style movie, and I can recommend to any fan of the vaudeville era and jazz age. May 22, Alethea rated it really liked it Shelves: I really enjoyed this from a historical perspective.

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The book offers an interesting glimpse into the lives and careers of an iconic dancing partnership, only half of which was lucky enough to be memorialized on celluloid. But it was also fun to read for the glimpses it provides into a time before recorded content changed the way we interact with art and entertainment forever as the book provides peeks into the worlds of vaudeville, jazz and the New York and London theater scenes at various momen I really enjoyed this from a historical perspective.

But it was also fun to read for the glimpses it provides into a time before recorded content changed the way we interact with art and entertainment forever as the book provides peeks into the worlds of vaudeville, jazz and the New York and London theater scenes at various moments leading up to the mids.

For the most part it's a glowing tribute to two amazing performers and a lovely sibling relationship. Sep 01, Wileyacez rated it really liked it.

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Great book on the Astaires and theatre at the turn of the century through the early 's. Really a tragedy that no film exists of Adele dancing, because based on the the reviews of her work in theatre, she was something else. At least we do have Fred on film. Real tragedy is that publisher cheaped out and did not do high quality full-paged photos. I spent a lot of time googling various people and recordings--yay for the age we live in.

The Astaires

So much additional info available. Feb 12, Maj rated it really liked it Recommends it for: I've been making my way through Fred Astaire's filmography for years now, savouring it all: But until now I haven't actually read a biography about him. The catalyst for choosing this particular book for my first Astaire reading was finding, by complete chance, a few tidbits here and there online that indicated how huge Fred's joint career with his sister actually was.

Try looking up Adele's name on Tumblr There are a lot of photos of her, surviving to this day, and being digitised. And yes, her star quality shines through on those photos. Not a great beauty, but those eyes! And so I thought this book, chronicling the early life and the musical theatre career of the Astaire siblings, seemed like a perfect place to start with my biographical reading about Fred.

And I was right! I think it's about as comprehensive and well researched chronicle of Fred's theatre career as you would wish. And since that part of his career and life is inextricably connected with his sister's the author also provides a good and only? Kelly manages to deftly marry information about her subjects' personal lives with the public and professional ones, and frame them within the context of the theatre world of that time period her knowledge of theatre history, and her fascination with theatre's fleeting nature, is quite clear throughout the book.

I have to say I quite liked the ratio of information of personal nature incl. We get to know enough about the Astaire family, even the siblings' love lives, without feeling like we're prying. The author also offers her opinion here and there, but there is not too much of it.

Fred Astaire - live performance excerpt

Sometimes a point can be driven too long-winded-ly - but that's a matter of personal taste and how much interested in bygone theatre vs. Thought as I said I think this book features just enough of it for the consistence of it to make sense. Fred and Adele were very close to their mother, who became a stage mum without particularly wanting to, while the father, Fritz, mostly stayed behind in Midwest and died just as the kids started to make it on Broadway. So when Fred decided to get married, to a divorced woman who already had one child, neither of the other two women in his life were happy about it.

The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley – review

The hardest part was convincing his mother. Cue my favourite part in the quoted correspondence - Fred: I don't know what she expects me to do - keep a couple of tarts or play with myself. Since I'm Czech, I was happy, but surprised, to learn that not only Fred and Adele's paternal grandfather, but also the grandmother were both from Bohemia, even got married in Pilsen, not Linz. Before this book, I only knew of the grandfather's Prague roots. I suppose we can now claim one fourth of Fred Astaire for us, even if I'm assuming his paternal grandparents were German speaking Jewish, not Czech-speaking.

How admired and beloved Adele was; and that from his teenage years when he befriended George Gershwin, Fred was right where new, exciting music was being made - and that he had an excellent taste in choosing just what suited his and Adele's performing style. Why not take advantage of being able to hear what is being described? Nov 02, Stephanie rated it liked it Shelves: I was enamored of the topic of this book; the life before retirement of Fred's sister Adele Astaire, but somehow this book never "grabbed" me.

There are only so many ways you can say how wonderful a person may be, and I believe this author exhausted most of them. I think it made me feel less attracted to Adele. It was as though her purported perfection made her feel less like a real person to me. Others may differ, but I came to fine this a tedious read. May 05, Susan Rainwater rated it really liked it Shelves: A delightful read if you're interested in Vaudeville and the early days of Broadway musicals.

Fred and Adele were one of the many successful child acts, unusual in that they were also successful adult performers. There's lots of interesting trivia about their collaborators — George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, many others. Dec 17, Joanne rated it really liked it Shelves: I learned a lot! Aug 26, Rachel rated it it was ok Shelves: Adele and Fred are talented and intriguing but still after reading this, unknown. Aug 09, Patricia rated it really liked it Shelves: It is good to have a portrait of Adele Astaire, the first and perhaps most influential, partner to her brother Fred.

Reading words about performances just doesn't bring them back. We can watch Fred Astaire any time we want and millions do since his art was captured on film. But Adele only appeared on the stage before the era when every movement was captured in moving pictures. We do have her voice in recordings of the Gershwin songs that were written for her and Fred.

The book gives a chronolo It is good to have a portrait of Adele Astaire, the first and perhaps most influential, partner to her brother Fred. The book gives a chronological account of the siblings' early career to the point of Adele's retirement upon her marriage. There is a scholarly tone to the book. It is heavily footnoted with among other things, Fred Astaire's own memoir which recounts the same events in a more personal way. For the student of musical theater history, this book is a godsend. But for the fan, as I am, it is a tiny bit repetitive, and leaves unsaid some things I would really like to know.

What was the relationship really like between the children and their mother who continued to accompany them on ships to London long after they reached mature ages and did not need a parent or guardian. Did they go to their father's funeral? The death of poor Mr. Austerlitz is recounted almost as an afterthought. I would like to have known if he had any friends, or just how his children took it since they did go on with the show. There is a lack of context of the jazz scene. I think of jazz as innately African American. Except for one racial slur, this book tells of an all white world without Louis Armstrong, or Duke Ellington, or any of the other greats that made such an impact on American culture.

It is true that Fred and Adele were also major, but the emphasis on their success in London, and their hobnobbing with the landed gentry denies us what else was happening simultaneously. This is not Kathleen Riley's interest though. It just goes to show how limiting class can be. Sep 09, The Library Lady rated it did not like it Shelves: It is possible to know your subject, love your subject and still write a dry, crappy book. It's a phenomenon familiar to anyone who reads adult non-fiction, and this is a fine example of that sad situation.

Riley is a theater person and wants to show off her wide range of knowledge about her subject. The result is endless meanderings into related topics, long quotes from only vaguely relevant works, and a life of Fred and Adele Astaire that reduces them to characters that go through their lives a It is possible to know your subject, love your subject and still write a dry, crappy book. The result is endless meanderings into related topics, long quotes from only vaguely relevant works, and a life of Fred and Adele Astaire that reduces them to characters that go through their lives as cardboard cut-outs on a timeline.

It is clear that Riley thinks that Adele was marvelous, but she doesn't really make us feel what charm she must have had and there are no film records of her work. Which brings me to Fred and this quote: She spends more time in the final chapters on the details of Adele's marriages and later life than she does on Fred's career in the movies. She summarizes as quickly as she can so she can talk about Adele's miscarriages and alcoholic husband. To Riley, Fred Astaire is the second banana and his work in films nothing compared to his work with Adele.

Truthfully,having read this I feel no regrets about never being able to see Fred and Adele's stage work. Instead, I am thrilled that his movie work, especially that with Ginger Rogers, is safely on film for generations to come. Go watch his movies and skip this book! Apr 16, Karen rated it it was amazing. Over the years I've read many books about Broadway, musical theatre, dancing, actors and actresses. Some of them were good; quite a few of them were disappointing. I often wondered why it seemed to be so hard for writers to capture the excitement and emotion of a show, or the elements that made a performer great, in the pages of a book.

This book, however, was just about everything I'd hoped it would be. Although Riley does occasionally veer into some "academic-speak" I could have done without, a Over the years I've read many books about Broadway, musical theatre, dancing, actors and actresses. Although Riley does occasionally veer into some "academic-speak" I could have done without, and despite her adherence to the chronological narrative which can often cause a book to bog down , this did not affect my overall enjoyment. Her story of Fred and Adele was thoroughly researched the footnotes are fascinating , well written and did just what she set out to do - illuminate the life and work of Adele Astaire.

Adele was, after the Astaires began to achieve success on Broadway and in London, the bigger star of the two siblings, beloved and praised for her dancing, her acting, her charm and her personality onstage. No known film exists of Fred and Adele performing onstage during their career, which makes it all the more impressive that Riley is able to capture some of the excitement of their performances together just through her writing and her well-chosen use of contemporary reviews and quotes.

You can, however, listen to them sing together via several clips available on YouTube. This book found me frequently doing just that, as well as re-discovering my love for Fred's early films, made so soon after his partnership with Adele ended. This book not only brings Adele back into the spotlight where she belongs - it also helps us understand how Fred developed into the film star we loved.