Royal Wedding

Royal Wedding (MGM) is a 1951 Hollywood musical comedy film set in London in 1947 at the time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, and stars Fred Astaire, Joan Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah Churchill and Keenan Wynn, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. The film was directed by Stanley Donen.

Key songs/dance routines

Choreographer Nick Castle collaborated with Astaire on several of the numbers. Although none of the songs are considered standards, dance-wise, it is notable for the inclusion of not one but two Astaire solos, both of which are amongst his best known works. Parody, of himself and of some well-known colleagues, is an important theme of the choreography.

Related Topics:
Nick Castle - Standards

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• Ev'ry Night At Seven: A rather tired-looking Astaire and a lively Powell sing and dance through this royal-themed number.
• Sunday Jumps: Astaire credits the idea for this famous solo to his long-time choreographic collaborator Hermes Pan and in it, Astaire parodies himself by dancing with a clothes-horse (often incorrectly referred to as the "hat-rack" dance) and appears to parody his rival and friend Gene Kelly by inserting a mock body-building episode during which he kicks aside some indian clubs in a reference to Kelly's routine with The Nicholas Brothers in The Pirate. The fame of the dance rests on Astaire's ability to animate the inanimate and was reprised, after a fashion, by Mel Gibson in What Women Want. More controversially, it has been digitally manipulated to show Astaire dancing with a vacuum cleaner in Dirt Devil commercials. The solo takes place in a ship's gym, where Astaire is waiting to rehearse with his partner Powell, who doesn't turn up, echoing Adele Astaire's attitude towards her brother's obsessive rehearsal habits to which the lyrics (unused and unpublished) also made reference.
• Open Your Eyes: This lilting waltz is sung by Powell at the beginning of a romantic routine danced by Powell and Astaire in front of an audience in the ballroom of a transatlantic liner. Soon, a storm rocks the ship and the duet is transformed into a comic parody with the dancers sliding about to the ship's motions. This attractive number is based on a real-life incident which happened to Fred and Adele Astaire as they travelled by ship to London in 1923.
• The Happiest Days Of My Life: Powell sings this ballad to Peter Lawford, with Astaire sitting at the piano.
• How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life: For the first time in his career Astaire casts aside any pretensions to elegance and indulges in a deliberately vulgar and, ultimately successful, comic song and dance vaudeville-style routine with Powell, who relishes the role. The routine recalls the A Couple Of Swells number with Judy Garland in Easter Parade. Here, for the second time in the film, he seems to parody Gene Kelly by wearing the latter's trademark straw boater, and employing the stomps and splayed strides which originated with George M. Cohan, and were much favoured in Kelly's choreography.
• Too Late Now: Powell sings her third ballad, this time an open declaration of love, to Lawford.
• You're All The World To Me: In one of his best-known solos, Astaire dances on the walls and ceilings of his room. The idea occurred to Astaire years before, and was first mentioned by him in an MGM publicity publication: "Lions Roar" in 1945. The number was filmed by mounting the camera and operator in a cage which rotated with the room.
• I Left My Hat In Haiti: This number, essentially the work of Nick Castle, involves Powell, Astaire and chorus in song and dance routine with a Latin theme.