TLS on Fred and Ginger

from the review of Hannah Hyam's FRED AND GINGER
The Astaire-Rogers partnership, 1934-1938
253pp. Pen Press. £15.
978 1 90562 1965

lt is a little shocking to read at the beginning of the book that all this [the dance sequences of Fred and Ginger] amounts to little more than fifty minutes' worth of film. The plot-lines, the songs for other characters, the numbers that Astaire or Rogers sing alone, take up the rest of the time. From "Night and Day" in The Gay Divorcee (1934) to "Change Partners" in Carefree (1938), Astaire choreographed twenty-two duets for himself and Rogers. Since she was generally occupied on another film , nearly always as a straight actress, he would start work months in advance, with his assistant, Hermes Pan, standing in for Rogers.