Follow the Fleet

This musical, the fifth pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, casts Astaire as Bake, a sailor on shore leave when the fleet docks in San Francisco, and Rogers as Sherry, his former dance partner and onetime almost fiancee. A subplot has Sherry's plain looking sister Connie tricking Bake's buddy Bilge (Randolph Scott) into escorting her, only for him to fail to recognize her after a glamorous makeover and start pursuing her instead. Scored entirely by Irving Berlin, the film cost seven hundred forty seven thousand dollars and earned two million seven hundred twenty seven thousand at the box office. For the "Let's Face the Music and Dance" finale, Ginger Rogers wore a roughly twenty five pound beaded gray gown whose heavy sleeve struck Astaire in the jaw during the first take, and that take was nonetheless judged the best performance and used in the finished film. Astaire later wrote in his autobiography that he detested the dress, saying it was surely designed for anything but dancing. Who it's for: Musical fans devoted to the classic Astaire and Rogers era and Irving Berlin's songbook. Who it's not for: Those looking for Astaire's signature top hat and tails look may find this sailor suited entry a bit of a departure.