Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

"Doing the Continental" (From The Gay Divorcee)

[Los Angeles]: RKO Pictures, [1934]. Posters. 24x18". Photo-illustrated glossy black and white poster promoting the 1934 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical film "The Gay Divorcee", and its famous dance number "The Continental". The poster displays a sequence of 8 images in b/w, showing dancers William Brand and Ruth Rapp in costume, and demonstrating each step in the dance sequentially. Extensive text captions below each image describe the movements in detail.

1934's "The Gay Divorcee", directed by Mark Sandrich, was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Composer Con Conrad (Conrad K. Dober) and lyricist Herb Magidson won the film's only award in the category of Best Song for "The Continental", the first win in this category in Oscars history. The song was accompanied by an new original dance routine choreographed by legendary Hollywood choreographer and dance director Dave Gould (1899-1969), and featured in a memorable extended sequence near the end of the film. The choreography likely had uncredited input from Hermes Pan (1909-1990), the acclaimed choreographer, who was Gould's protégé, and a longtime collaborator with Fred Astaire on all his 1930s musicals.

Poster with folding creases and a few small closed tears along the center fold. Paper and all images clean and bright. The poster is stored folded, and is protected in modern mylar. Poster in very good condition overall. Extremely scarce. vg. Item #48548

Dave Gould (1899-1969) was among the leading dance choreographers in Hollywood during the 1930s. He is notable for being a pioneer in staging dance sequences for musical films, and is one of only three people (along with Hermes Pan) to have won an Oscar in the short lived category of Best Dance Direction. This award was only given out for three years, between 1936-1938, with Gould winning the first award, and being nominated in both subsequent years.

Price: $950.00

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