On the set of Top Hat (1935), Fred Astaire was a meticulous perfectionist who controlled nearly every aspect of his dance numbers, from the orchestration to the final edit. He famously insisted that the camera remain still and capture dancers from head to toe in long, continuous takes, famously stating, “Either the camera will dance, or I will.” Filming began in early April 1935 at RKO, with a budget around $620,000.
Astaire was famous for his grueling rehearsal schedules. Before a single frame of Top Hat was shot, he and Ginger Rogers spent weeks in a rehearsal hall. He would work until his shoes were literally soaked with sweat, often practicing a single tap sequence for hours to ensure the sound was crisp and the rhythm was flawless.
The most famous story from the set involves the “Cheek to Cheek” sequence. Rogers arrived in a dress heavily adorned with ostrich feathers. As they began to spin, the dress shed feathers like a “chicken being plucked in a cyclone,” as Astaire later put it. Feathers got in his eyes, his mouth, and all over his tuxedo. Astaire, usually a private man, reportedly lost his temper. However, after the dress was stitched down and the scene was successfully filmed, he made light of it by sending Rogers a gold feather charm and nicknamed her “Feathers.”
Astaire had a “Full Body” rule for filming. He hated the way musicals were edited at the time, frequently cutting to close-ups of faces or just the feet. On the set of Top Hat, he insisted that the camera must stay wide. The audience had to see the dancer’s entire body from head to toe. He favored long takes with minimal cuts to prove that the dancing was real and not a product of film editing.
For the title number, “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails,” Astaire treated his cane like a musical instrument. He spent a significant amount of time on set working with the sound engineers. Because the tap sounds were often re-recorded (post-synced) to ensure clarity, Astaire would go into a studio and “dance” with his hands or feet while watching the footage to perfectly match the audio to his filmed movements.
While they weren’t close social friends off-camera, their professional synergy on the Top Hat set was at its peak. Astaire was the taskmaster, and Rogers was one of the few people who could match his stamina. He once remarked that she was the only partner who didn’t cry during his intense rehearsal sessions, though she did famously end up with bleeding feet from her heavy shoes and his demanding choreography.
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