Page "Ginger Rogers" Paragraph 14

Although the dance routines were choreographed by Astaire and his collaborator Hermes Pan, both have acknowledged Rogers's input and have also testified to her consummate professionalism, even during periods of intense strain, as she tried to juggle her many other contractual film commitments with the punishing rehearsal schedules of Astaire, who made at most two films in any one year.

In 1986, shortly before his death, Astaire remarked, " All the girls I ever danced with thought they couldn't do it, but of course they could.

So they always cried.

All except Ginger.

No no, Ginger never cried ".

John Mueller summed up Rogers's abilities as follows: " Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's partners not because she was superior to others as a dancer but because, as a skilled, intuitive actress, she was cagey enough to realize that acting did not stop when dancing began ... the reason so many women have fantasized about dancing with Fred Astaire is that Ginger Rogers conveyed the impression that dancing with him is the most thrilling experience imaginable ".

According to Astaire, when they were first teamed together in Flying Down to Rio, " Ginger had never danced with a partner before.

She faked it an awful lot.

She couldn't tap and she couldn't do this and that ... but Ginger had style and talent and improved as she went along.

She got so that after a while everyone else who danced with me looked wrong.

" Astaire also had this to say to Raymond Rohauer, curator at the New York Gallery of Modern Art: " Ginger was brilliantly effective.

She made everything work for her.

Actually she made things very fine for both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success.