Friday's with Fred-Fred in the Snow

Friday's With Fred-Fred the Analyst

In the following clip from 1938's Care Free, Ginger Roger's wears the most gorgeous Valentine's dress (I had a copy made I wrote about here) while telling her Psychiatrist, Fred, about a very strange dream she had:

Fridays with Fred-Swing Time Dress

About a year ago, and my goodness can it truly be that long, I wrote an extensive post about one of my  favorite Astaire and Roger's films, 1936s Swing Time.   

This film is unique among the duo's 1930s musicals in that it is the only one that, even if indirectly, acknowledges the great depression that was ravaging the country.   Fred and Ginger play "ordinary folks" a gambling traveling show man and a dance instructor, respectively.   Perhaps due to these more pedestrian characters, the clothes in the film are some of my very favorites in the Astaire and Rogers series.  While the gowns of the 1930s are lovely, and Ginger sported many divine ones, its the everyday ensembles that really get me swooning and this film has a few of Ginger's best looks.

A beautiful plaid jacket with a cape back:

A simple winter dress with a curly fur coat and tilt hat (bonus points for Fred's adorable bowler):

And my favorite look a simple black dress with short puffed sleeves, an accordion pleated skirt and a silver bow collar:

I've wanted a version of this dress for a long time and thanks to the wonderful Etsy seller Sew Vintage Seamstress, I got the dress of my dreams:

 

 

I can't say enough about this dress!  It's so beautiful, comfortable, and just like the one in the movie!   Sew Vintage Seamstress also has the most amazing customer service.  I've worked with ALOT of Etsy merchants and she is definitely one of the best.   Not only did she exchange countless emails about what I wanted for my dress and clearly explain how to take measurements, she came up with an affordable way of pleating the skirt by ironing the pleats in.  

The dress is a bit dressy for every day wear but I've already worn out to brunch once and I plan to wear it quite a few more times this winter.   I knew the dress needed some good accessories so I paired it with black suede baby doll heels from Remix vintage shoes, seamed panty hose from What Katie Did, and a holly hair clip from Chatter Blossom on Etsy.  Chatter Blossom also has the most amazing customer service and the clips she made me have genuine dead stock 1930s lacquered leaves paired with sparkly beads.  They are simply the best Holiday hair accessory ever.

I can definitely see myself wearing this dress for many Christmases to come.  What are your favorite holiday clothes?

Friday's with Fred: Let's Face The Music With The Irving Blouse From Jitterbuggin'

If you've followed this blog at all  you might know I have a bit of a thing for the incomparable Fred Astaire

 

 

He's my favorite singer, my favorite film star, and though he may be nearly thirty years in the grave my number one celebrity crush.   Basically if it involves Fred Astaire I can' resist it.   Fred Astaire introduced dozens of popular songs during his decades long career, many of them written by Irving Berlin.   

So when I first saw the aptly name Irving blouse

in Jitterbuggin's Etsy shop it was the Fred connection that caught my eye, Fred introduced many an Irving Berlin song in his films, but one good look at the lovely 1930s style blouse with a bow at the neck and the music note print and I was as smitten as when I first saw Fred and Ginger dance as a pre-teen.

 

 

I immediately ordered the blouse and like all my other Jitterbuggin' pieces its quickly become a favorite staple in my wardrobe.  This blouse looks equal good paired with jeans, skirts, or pinafores.  

 

 

It is a 1930s style blouse but I like to mix eras and my favorite way to wear it is with my 1930s style skirt from Time Machine Vintage and a red 1940s hat I got during an awesome clearance sale at Poppycock vintage.  To accessorize I added sparkly red miss l fire shoes,  some thrifted bakelite bangles and a lovely reproduction 1940s heart pin from MerriWeather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a rule I won't dance

 

 

but in this blouse I can at least face the music!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Nautical Nonsense-1930s Sailor Style for the Fourth

The 1930s where a terrific moment for nautical styles.  Hats, dresses, and pants all got a seaworthy twist with decidedly stylish results.



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I've been day dreaming about my own nautical 1930s outfit ever since I saw Fred and Ginger in 1936's Follow The Fleet over twenty years ago.  This year thanks to Nudee Dudee and Adelines Attic on Etsy I got to make my style dreams a reality.    

 

When I first saw this 1930s sailor hat from Adeline's Attic I knew it had to be mine,

 



and when I saw the 1930s style sailor jumpsuit from Nudee Dudee, I knew it was the hats style soul mate.  The result is a comfortable 1930s Nautical outfit I absolutely adore, with all the right color combos for the fourth!

 

 

 



 

 

Now a little treat for the fourth enjoy watching Fred and Ginger dance to Let Yourself Go  in Follow The Fleet and see if you can spot a young Betty Grable.

 



Vintage Outfit Post-Carefree Dress From Time Machine Vintage

Last Thursday I wrote about one of my favorite old films, the Astaire and Rogers musical comedy Care Free from 1938.

This delightful film features a dress I have dreamed about owning since Junior High when I would watch Fred and Ginger on AMC after school.

 

The adorable dress is more 40s then 30s in style, but the heart and arrow detailing is just the sort of whimsical touch that draws me to vintage styles.   When I discovered Time Machine Vintage on Etsy last year I thought that maybe the incredibly talented Kim could make my dream dress.  For obvious reasons I was thinking of the dress as a Valentine's dress but due to this years record snow falls the package was some what delayed, not a problem since the best things in life are worth waiting for.   Kim worked with me to make the dress perfect and its exactly what I wanted, I'm afraid my pictures don't do it justice.

 

 

 

I wore the dress with a little 1940s hat from the vintage hat shop on Etsy.  Its a cute hat, but eventually I want a larger brim portrait hat that is more like Ginger's.  The fur wrap was my grandmothers and the Bakelite bangle is one I found in Jersey City, the shoes are from Mod Cloth.  I absolutely love the dress and its got me wanting some more applique dresses, maybe a 1950s full skirted navy number with hearts, or something with dogs on it!  The possibilities are endless.

 

This dress also taught me a very important lesson about vintage style clothing, certain styles demand certain underthings.  In my quest to expand my vintage wardrobe I had neglected to think about underwear because I was more concerned with what is on the outside.   Plus I worried old style underwear would be extremely uncomfortable and I am active in my clothes: going to work, walking the dogs, I don't wait for special occasions to wear them.  On Kim's advice I ordered a corselette from What Katie Did and I can recommend it more.  Its very comfortable, smooths out lumps and bumps, and lets you wear the seamed stockings that really complete a vintage look.  I'm a complete vintage style shape wear convert now.



Cinema Spotlight- Carefree 1938

Carefree is a 1938 dance musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Carefree is the eight film in the Astaire and Roger's series.  Their next film would be the bio-pic The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and a decade later the reunion film, The Barkely's of Broadway, which would cast the pair as a long married couple.  So in many ways Carefree is really the final traditional Astaire and Roger's film.   Even so its a bit different from the one's that come before it, Ginger Roger's is more at the center of the story then Fred Astaire and the dancing seems to take a back seat to the comedy.  Still its a delightful film and one of my favorites.

The plot is typically complicated.  Roger's plays Amanda Cooper a singer and a radio star whose fear of marriage has her constantly breaking up with and re-uniting with her boy friend Stephen.   Stephen's best friend is Tony Flagg, played by Fred Astaire, a psychoanalyst.   Steve begs Tony to analyze Amanda and figure out what is at the root of her fear of marriage. 

 The film's view on psychoanalysis is made pretty clear when Tony explains to Steve how psychoanalyses can help you figure out what you really want, his example "Remember how stage struck I used to be?  I wanted to be a dancer.  Psychoanalyses showed me how wrong I was."

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Amanda shows up at Tony's office and hears a recording in which he describes his previous patient as "a typical spoiled female."  Amanda thinks Tony is talking about her and is deliberately cold and withholding in the interview, refusing to be analyzed.

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Steve is determined that Tony will analyze Amanda and he arranges for Amanda, her Aunt Cora, Tony, and himself to spend time at his country club.  The group ride bikes,

which gives Ginger a change to wear this adorable outfit, the most casual outfit she wears throughout the series, and golf:

Eventually Tony convinces Amanda to dine on a series of bizarre foods 

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in order to induce some dreams for him to psychoanalyze.  The resulting dream sequence:



 

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As you might gather from this song this dream sequence dance was meant to be shot in color, but the studio eventually deemed it to expensive.  Every time I wash it I regret this stingy decision.  Id love to see the bright Wizard of Oz colors of the lily pads and the shade of Ginger's night gown, but audiences would have to wait until the Barkelys of Broadway to see Fred and Ginger in color.  This is also an important dance because it is the first time that Fred and Ginger kiss on screen.  Fred Astaire hated mushy love scenes and preferred to confine all of his romantic moments on screen to dance, but after 7 films I guess he felt it was time to give the public what they wanted:

The next morning Amanda wakes up from her dream and realizes she is in love with Tony and not Steven.   She sets out for her psychoanalyzes appointment wearing a gorgeous dress that broadcasts her feelings very clearly

This may be my favorite of Ginger's dresses throughout the series.  The hearts and arrows motif is gorgeous, and perfectly fits the plot, and even though the film was made in 1938 its interesting to see the coming shape of the 1940s silhouette in the cut of the dress. 

At first Amanda, too embarrassed to relate the dream, tells Tony she didn't dream at all.  He then tells her he wont be able to psychoanalyze her and so in order to hold his interest she makes up a bizarre scenario that has him convinced he has every complex in the book.   In order to get at the root of her problems he hypnotizes her

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 Unfortunately after being put in a highly uninhibited state Amanda wanders out of the doctor's office and basically runs amok.

Eventually Tony catches up with her and reverses the hypnosis.  That night she convinces him to dance with her at the country club were the perform the rather bizarre "Do The Yam" number:

At this point Amanda is utterly ignoring her fiancée, Stephen, but he seems oddly oblivious.   Amanda however, can take no more, and at her next appointment she confesses her true feelings to Tony.  He however tells her she is just imagining her feelings and he decides to hypnotize her again to remove her love for him.  He seems to go a bit overboard as he instructs her to hate him and shoot down all men like him like dogs.  Afterwards however he has a chat with his subconscious and regrets his decision

He goes back to remove the hypnotic suggestions but Stephen has shown up to take Amanda to a work appointment at a radio station.  There she reeks havoc at the station

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and later tries to shoot Tony, and several other men, at a Skeet shooting range.  Tony arrives in time to bring Amanda out of her hypnotic state but is unable to remove the negative thoughts about him he planted in her mind.  He explains the situation to Stephen, who is less then sympathetic.   Stephen wants to marry Amanda no matter who she is really in love with.

With the help of Amanda's Aunt Cora and his own medical assistant.  Tony continues to try to get to at Amanda.  He attends the country club dance and while dancing with Cora tries to sidle up to a very annoyed Amanda and Steve.

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The resulting song, Change Partners, is one of the best comic songs in the series.

Eventually Tony does get Amanda alone and they perform the hypnotic dance, 

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 but before  he can remove the negative thoughts he planted in her head, Stephen shows up.

Stephen and Amanda prepare to marry.  This is actually the onlty time in the series that Ginger Roger's wears a traditional wedding dress, and its a beauty, a lace bedecked,  big sleeved 1930s gem.

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 Tony not to be dissuaded by the impending nuptials and with the assistance of the ever helpful Aunt Cora, crashes the wedding.  The initial plan, provided by his assistant, is for Tony to "sock" Amanda and when she is unconscious remove the unnatural negative thoughts, but Tony can't bring himself to strike the women he loves.  Fortunately at that moment Stephen crashes in and while trying to punch Tony, strikes Amanda instead.  Once knocked unconscious  and de-hypnotized, Amanda realizes who she really loves

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and its no surprise who walks down the aisle.

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Carefree is not generally considered one of the better Fred and Ginger musicals, but I beg to differ.  It has less dancing in it then some of the earlier films and the dances in it tend to get less attention, though Fred Astaire's golf dance is nothing short of amazing.   I have also  heard the film criticized for its sexist ideas.  This seems pretty silly to me since we are talking about a 75 year old film AND I would argue that Ginger's character in the film is an independent women.  She has a career that she doesn't intend to give up and she, rather then Fred, is the romantic pursuer for most of the film.   Amanda clearly knows what she wants and sets out to get it.  The sexist comments made regarding women and psychology only serve to underline how silly this film thinks psychoanalysis is.  In the end I think Carefree is a very entertaining film with a lot of screwball humor and gorgeous clothes!