The Belle of New York

The Belle Of New York (MGM) is a 1952 Hollywood musical comedy film set in New York circa 1900 and stars Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Alice Pearce, Marjorie Main and Keenan Wynn, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by Charles Walters.

Key songs/dance routines:

The choreography makes play with ideas of lightness, of floating on air and on ice, and the use of platforms, with Astaire consciously avoiding his usual love of noise-making in his solos. Vera-Ellen's lithe and waif-like figure (she suffered from anorexia nervosa in real life) facilitated this concept. Choreographer Robert Alton collaborated with Astaire on the routines.

Related Topics:
Anorexia nervosa - Robert Alton

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• When I'm Out With The Belle Of New York: The film's signature waltz is delivered by a chorus outside Vera-Ellen's window.
• Who Wants To Kiss The Bridegroom: Astaire sings and dances with seven women in sequence, finishing the routine on a table.
• Let A Little Love Come In: Sung by Alice Pierce and then by Vera-Ellen (dubbed here by Anita Ellis).
• Seeing's Believing: Astaire fantasy song-and-dance solo performed atop a mock-up of Washington Square Arch and which makes considerable use of process photography.
• Baby Doll: Partnered romantic duet, with gentle comic overtones, sung by Astaire and danced by Astaire and Vera-Ellen with much emphasis on twirling motifs and platform work.
• Oops: Comic dance duet, sung by Astaire, takes place in and around a moving horse-drawn streetcar which introduces the platform ingredient into a linear side-by-side style of choreography incorporating gags and tap routines which echo aspects of the I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket Astaire-Rogers number from Follow The Fleet.
• A Bride's Wedding Day Song (Curries And Ives): After some unfortunately cloying opening scenes, and an attractive swirling routine on an ice-skating rink, Astaire and Vera-Ellen launch into a duet which in terms of virtuosity is equalled only by the famous Waltz In Swing Time Astaire-Rogers dance from Swing Time, with which this routine has some elements in common, being also a syncopated waltz with tap overlays, this time to a speeded-up version of The Belle Of New York. The apparent ease with which Vera-Ellen copes with the myriad complexities of this routine has sealed her reputation as one of Astaire's most accomplished dance partners.
• Naughty But Nice: A solo song (dubbed by Ellis) and dance routine by Vera-Ellen which attempts to be erotic.
• I Wanna Be A Dancin' Man: Astaire's second solo routine is a song and sand-dance (only his second sand-dance on film, the other being the No Strings number from Top Hat), and one which - by running separate takes side by side in split screen - has been used in That's Entertainment, Part II to illustrate the extreme precision of Astaire's dance technique. The number - whose lyrics are a tribute to Astaire by his friend Mercer - is a humorous study in nonchalance, with Astaire's choreography deliberately offsetting Mercer's tribute.