CRAZY ABOUT DRUM CRAZY

There are few things in life as satisfyingly perfect as a top tier MGM dance sequence and few more perfect than Fred Astaire's opening one in 'Easter Parade' where he ingeniously improvises around toy drums and Easter bunnies.

Having supposedly 'retired' after his last movie 'Blue Skies' in 1946, Astaire came to the rescue of the 'Easter Parade' production when its central male star Gene Kelly broke his ankle playing volleyball in his back yard and persuaded Fred to replace him at the last minute.

And what a fortuitous break it turned out to be for Astaire who was now able to show off his dancing skills in dazzling technicolour. We see the benefits of this colour revolution early on in this audacious opening scene where Astaire's unassuming and elegant grey, patch pocket suit is perfectly contrasted with the pink and yellow drum sets of the toy store. In fact, all of the star's many suits in the film complement the full dazzling array of colours on display with the movie's candy store aesthetic maintained consistently throughout to match its Easter theme.

'Drum Crazy' itself is a lighter than air concept for a sequence and really has nothing more to it than Astaire attempting to distract a young boy from buying the toy bunny he wants for the woman he fancies, but this is so often the way with great dance sequences in musicals - requiring only the merest prompt to launch into minutes of choreographed madness. Think only of the utterly bizarre 'Moses Supposes' in 'Singin In The Rain' (1952) or 'Shine On My Shoes' in 'The Bandwagon' (1953).

In attempting to convince the floppy bowed kid into buying a drum set instead of a toy bunny, the main prop contrivance for the 'Drum Crazy' sequence is set up. Astaire, starting off playing a miniature toy drum, quickly moves across the shop floor to the bigger sets where his hyper kinetic dancing goes quite literally, crazy.

The entire 'Drum Crazy' scene now almost seems to herald the new glossy era of MGM musical that peaked in the early 1950s with its ostentatious and vivid use of technicolour. It wasn't that Astaire hadn't done similar sequences before in his earlier black and white films. In fact, a similar drum orientated dance set to 'Nice Work If You Can Get It' in 'A Damsel In Distress' (1937) most likely provided the blueprint for 'Drum Crazy'.

I suppose in the end, what maybe edges 'Easter Parade's' 'Drum Crazy' for me above 'Damsel' is the economy of the sequence itself and the slickness with which the entire scene is directed. In the decade long period between 1937 and 1948 there has been an obvious cinematic evolution in the way musicals were filmed and this benefits the viewer in appreciating how the film apparatus had become more congruous with the fluid nature of its dancing subjects.

Of course, MGM would go on to make far better films in its technicolour period than 'Easter Parade' but as a light as air aperitif of what was to come it is as delicious as an Easter egg.

Enjoy!