Great Musicals

Both Ginger and Fred had come to Hollywood from Broadway; she in 1930 and he in 1933. He was 12 years her senior and not given credit for being much more than a dancer (Remember that famous evaluation of his first screen test?: "Can't act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little."), In "The Gay Divorcee", Incidentally, Fred's opening dance steps to the bugle call at the beginning of "Don't Let It Bother You" were reportedly the result of clowning during rehearsals, and became an inside joke in later Rogers-Astaire films -- most notably ROBERTA (1935) and FOLLOW THE FLEET (1936). In "Top Hat" Unfortunately, wardrobe had a little difficulty with the feathers, and the dress wasn't ready until time for the shoot. According to Ginger, Fred and director Mark Sandrich began to complain about it as soon as it was delivered: "'What is it? A bird? A plane?' 'No, it's Ginger's dress!'"(*3) As she was about to put it on, Sandrich came to her dressing room and told her he didn't think it was right for the scene. He suggested that she wear her white dress from the "Night and Day" number in THE GAY DIVORCEE and had it brought down from storage. Ginger was upset by this affront to her taste and judgment and decided to fight for the dress, but Fred, Sandrich and the crew were all against her. She became so overwhelmed at how out-numbered she was as the argument progressed (by now, five men from RKO's front office were also involved), that she called her mother, Lela, who came down to studio to lend her support. Eventually things became so heated that Ginger and her mother walked off the set. They didn't return until Sandrich agreed to let her rehearse the number in the blue feather dress.
In Fred's version, there was no trouble until they actually began rehearsing with the dress.In "Top Hat, In Fred's version, there was no trouble until they actually began rehearsing with the dress. "Everything went well through the song, but when we did the first movement of the dance, feathers started to fly as if a chicken had been attacked by a coyote."(*4) According to Ginger, there were difficulties with flying feathers, but it wasn't that bad. In either case, after a little more rehearsing, sewing, shaking, and sweeping, the cameraman finally decided just to shoot the number and see how it came out in the rushes the next day. The rushes were fine and the trauma was over. (A few loose feathers are visible in the number, but only if you're looking for them really.) There were still a few hard feelings on both sides however. Fred and choreographer Hermes Pan mocked the incident by singing (to the tune of "Cheek to Cheek"()):
Feathers -- I hate feathers --And I hate them so that I can hardly speak,And I never find the happiness I seekWith those chicken feathers dancing cheek to cheek.(*5)Ginger didn't take too kindly to this or to the general cold-shoulder she felt she was getting from Sandrich and the crew, but Fred made it up to her. A few days after the incident, a small white box was delivered to her dressing room containing a little gold feather for her charm bracelet and a note that said, "Dear Feathers, I love ya! Fred."(*6) He later referred to the whole episode as a "running gag with Ginger and me" and even started calling her "Feathers."(*7)