Steve and Fred, Together Again
Yesterday, I posted a video of the classic dance sketch on SNL where Steve Martin and Gilda Radner did a parody of the "Dancing in the Dark" number from the movie The Bandwagon with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. All the more impressive for being done live. The video yesterday matched the sketch side-by-side with a clip of the real number itself.
After I posted that, I remembered another Steve Martin dance clip that might be even more impressive. It’s that three years after that SNL sketch, Martin (with Bernadette Peters) did a serious recreation of another Fred Astaire dance in the movie, Pennies from Heaven. And making it even “riskier” is that while the dance was going on (rather than someone on YouTube making an edit decades later…) the movie had footage of Astaire running in the background, so audiences were able to compare the two as it was happening. And Steve Martin obviously said, fine, let’s do it.
I posted it here a few years ago (after having done a piece on another Steve Martin dance, one with Lily Tomlin at the end of All of Me), but this seemed like an appropriate time to repeat it.
The video was sent to me by my friend Myles Berkowitz. Here's some of what I wrote at the time --
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I was reminded how many things Steve Martin danced in -- and all the more, how well he did so. Rare for any actor, but incredibly uncommon for a comedian. I suspect that when most people think of Steve Martin and dancing, it's likely his "Happy Feet" bit from his old stand-up act. But all this isn't that. This is serious (even if at times comic...) dancing.
Pennies From Heaven stands out on several levels. Myles noted how incredibly gutsy Steve Martin was for what is basically going up against Fred Astaire. (And that's not meant metaphorically, but literally -- watch the video, you'll see). And it stands out, too, for absolutely terrific dancing. But further, as I recall, the whole movie was gutsy for him since the character is such an awful guy.
Mainly, though, this with Bernadette Peters is actually, really good dancing.
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