The last year for this award, which is an indication that musicals were beginning to fade at the box office. They would revive again in the 1940s, particularly at MGM, so it's a bit of a shame that the category was eliminated. It's notable that although he was nominated in every year that the award was presented, the choreographer who had the greatest influence on the treatment of dance in the movies, Busby Berkeley, never won.
The nominees were ...
- Busby Berkeley, "The Finale" number from Varsity Show
- Bobby Connolly, "Too Marvelous for Words" number from Ready, Willing and Able
- Dave Gould, "All God's Children Got Rhythm" number from A Day at the Races
- Sammy Lee, "Swing Is Here to Stay" number from Ali Baba Goes to Town
- Harry Losee, "Prince Igor Suite" number from Thin Ice
- Hermes Pan, "Fun House" number from A Damsel in Distress
- LeRoy Prinz, "Luau" number from Waikiki Wedding
And the Oscar went to ...
Hermes Pan, "Fun House" number from A Damsel in Distress.
Pan came by his Greek mythological name honestly: He was born Hermes Panagiotopoulos. After working as a chorus boy on Broadway, he went to Hollywood, where he worked as an assistant to choreographer Dave Gould on the first movie to feature Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Flying Down to Rio. Impressed with Pan's ideas for dance steps, Astaire formed a partnership that lasted through all of Astaire's films with Rogers at RKO. Together, Astaire and Pan would work out dance routines, and Pan would then teach them to Rogers. They also worked together on many of Astaire's films without Rogers. Pan also choreographed many other films, including Betty Grable's musicals at 20th Century-Fox. While Pan, who resembled Astaire, has been called Astaire's alter ego, it's evident from the films on which he was not assisted by Pan that Astaire had a style of his own. A Damsel in Distress is a product of Astaire's desire not to be identified as a member of a dance team, as he had been during his Broadway collaboration with his sister Adele, so when he signed a five-picture contract with RKO in 1936, he stipulated that one of the five be with someone other than Rogers. Unfortunately, considering that the film has a song score by George and Ira Gershwin, the leading lady who was cast in the film, Joan Fontaine, could neither sing nor dance. (It was Fontaine's first major film, and she looks terrified throughout -- a fact that helped her get cast as the timid second Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca.) Astaire goes solo through much of the film except for the "Fun House" number, which features George Burns and Gracie Allen.
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| Hermes Pan |
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