The Story of Vernon and Irene
Castle, filmed in 1938 for release in 1939, was the ninth and penultimate
pairing of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and their final picture for RKO. And
it was the duo’s first and only period piece.
Together we had drunk our cup
of Fame
And side by side had loved, and
worked, and played
And Life to us seemed but a happy game;
We met our fortunes laughing—unafraid.
Irene Castle
Production Background and
Source Material
RKO’s script was based on Mrs. Castle’s
books, My Husband and My Memories of Vernon Castle, but
production was delayed for two years after acquiring the rights. The producers never
refuted Irene’s firm belief that they would acquiesce to her demand for a
nationwide search for the actress to portray her (inspired by David O.
Selznick’s well-publicized "Search for Scarlett.") But from the outset, the project
was intended for Ginger and Fred.
During pre-production, Ginger had her
first meeting with the former ballroom and cabaret dancer, and reminisced about
it in her memoir. “What an entrance she made! … I could hear the rustle of
taffeta and the swishing of her dress. Then the door opened and in she swept.
Irene Castle was tall, at least 5’10”. [Ginger was six inches shorter.]
Everything she wore was gray: gloves, shoes, hat, and purse…She looked as if
she had stepped out of a Vogue magazine from the early 1920s.”
Surprisingly, despite being offered
the role of her own mother, Irene declined. She received script and casting
approval, and was put under contract as technical advisor. An assertive personality
and a stickler for accuracy, she insisted that Ginger appear as a brunette in
the film, with short, bobbed hair in the style made popular as the “Castle
Bob.” Didn’t happen. The director, Hank Potter, constantly ran interference,
according to Ginger, “with care and tact.”
Irene achieved victory in the area
of choreography and to a lesser extent, in costuming. She worked closely with
Hermes Pan, already familiar with the Castles’ manual Modern Dancing, recreating
dance steps she and her husband had performed. Ginger’s dance dresses were designed
to replicate the ones worn by Irene, and she was excited by the prospect of
wearing historical costumes from decades earlier. The studio spent a total of $2,775
on her wardrobe.
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| Irene & Vernon and Ginger & Fred |
But Irene had scant understanding
of the concept of “interpretation” and was constantly disappointed in Ginger,
who later reflected that Fred had it easy, because Mrs. Castle was so intently focused
on her portrayer. Besides, all along, Irene had wanted Fred to play Vernon, and
was especially pleased that he could fit into her late husband’s military
uniforms. During Fred’s early career dancing with his sister Adele, he’d often witnessed
the Castles in action and remembered some of their dances well enough to help
Hermes Pan revive them. was further instructed by Mrs. Castle herself.
The film contains seven dance
duets, some extremely brief. The music and songs were faithful to those of the
Castles’ performances, apart from “Only When You’re in My Arms,” which was
composed for the film.
Although the movie was popular
with audiences, it wasn’t entirely successful for the studio, failing to make a
profit and recording a loss of $50,000.
The Film
For audiences, then and now,
accustomed to the lightweight plots of an Astaire-Rogers musical, the witty banter
and repartee, misunderstanding-based conflict, and dances that reflect and
inform the romantic plot, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle contains
numerous differences. As a biopic, it’s a straightforward—if not wholly factual—presentation
of the real-life performers’ courtship, dance partnership, and wartime
separation, and (spoiler) a tragic accidental death. Fred, collaborating with Hermes
Pan, choreographed solo dances for himself and to perform with Ginger, specific
to the films they made together. The Castles were famous for exhibition dances performed for live audiences in theatres and cabarets. Their original creations became popular
as social dances that anyone could learn—the Castle Walk, the Castle Polka, the Maxixe. They also
added flair to existing dances like the Turkey Trot and the Foxtrot.
The Story.
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| Zowie (flim version), with Ginger & Fred |
Young Irene Foote (Ginger Rogers),
a New Rochelle doctor’s daughter, aspires to a stage career. When she
encounters English vaudeville comedian Vernon Castle (Fred Astaire) at the seaside,
where they save a small fluffy white dog from drowning, she invites him home and gives a drawing-room
performance of “The Yama-Yama Man,” in a Pierrot clown suit, copying Bessie
McCoy, the originator. It fails to impress her parents or Vernon. Later, at the
railway station, the indifferent vaudevillian breaks into a dance, convincing
Irene that his talents are wasted in broad slapstick comedy roles for producer
Lew Fields (appearing as himself). She’s already smitten, he eventually
succumbs. They dance together. They marry. They accept an employment offer from
a pair of Parisian producers believing they will perform together as a couple. On
arrival in Paris, with the little dog Zowie and omnipresent servant Walter
(Walter Brennan), Vernon discovers that he’s supposed to appear in his old
vaudeville routine. A chance encounter with a formidable female talent agent
(Edna May Oliver), secures them a fine dinner at the Café de Paris restaurant and cabaret and the chance to dance there the following night. But when the extremely hungry couple sit down for their delectable meal, a Russian Grand Duke demands that they dance there and then. Vernon escorts Irene, in her wedding dress and lacy Dutch cap, to the floor. Their massive success and lasting legend are instantly assured.
Irene becomes a worldwide fashion
icon, influencing dresses, shoes, and hairstyles. They exhibit their talents
across the continent, these cross-country tours revealed in a process montage
across a map of America. They acquire numerous animals in addition to Zowie, the
little dog that brought them together. All is peachy—apart from occasional
references to excess expenditures—until World War I breaks out, and Vernon
feels the call to enter the fray on behalf of his native land. Irene embarks on
a silent film career. Vernon’s daring exploits as an aviator are depicted. He
and Irene meet up in Paris. Eventually he returns to America as a military
flying instructor in Texas. On the day of his long-awaited reunion with his eager
wife, he’s involved in a fatal airplane accident—and is lauded as a hero for saving
his pupil’s life.
Reality vs. Fiction
Fred Astaire bears an uncanny
resemblance to Vernon Castle, though his personality was quite different. As
previously stated, Ginger looked nothing like Irene Castle and neither she nor
the studio had any intention of altering her appearance.
Walter Ash, the family servant of
Irene Foote’s family and the Castles’ devoted retainer, was a Black man. In
later years, Irene complained about his being “whitewashed” into Walter Brennan
in order not to offend exhibitors or audiences in the South. This might or
might not be true.
The couple’s “meet cute” didn’t
happen that way, and “The Yama-Yama Man” played no part. Vernon helped Irene get
a proper audition with Lew Fields, who cast her in a show. Vernon’s barber shop
routine, however, is based on fact.
The real-life Zowie was an un-fluffy bulldog-type.
He did accompany the couple to Paris, where they performed in vaudeville revues
and lived hand to mouth, as depicted in the film.
It was a male agent who booked the Castles at the Café de Paris. On that first night their dinner was interrupted
by a Russian aristocrat who insisted on their dancing immediately, but it wasn’t exactly an impromptu performance—they’d previously rehearsed with the
orchestra. Irene was indeed wearing her wedding dress and her Dutch bonnet. The Russian paid them a tip of 300 francs. The result was a six-month engagement at
the same venue, augmented by private performances.
The Castles did travel throughout
Europe with a German Shepherd dog that they brought back to the States.
The Castle House—its façade appears
briefly on screen—was their dancing academy, and they operated the Sans Souci restaurant
at 42nd and Broadway, and a beachside nightclub. The movie makes it
seems that they were financially as well as professionally successful as
entrepreneurs, but this is misleading. Vernon had lavish tastes and was a
spendthrift, causing practical Irene considerable dismay and concern.
During World War I, Vernon joined
the Royal Flying Corps and was a distinguished and decorated aviator, receiving
the Croix de Guerre in 1917. Achieving the rank of Captain Castle, he was
transferred to Canada as a flight instructor before arriving in Fort Worth for
that fateful final flight. He took the front seat and insisted on his pupil
taking the rear one. This was his final act of heroism, because when he made
his risky maneuver to avoid colliding with another training plane he was in the
more vulnerable position, and it cost him his life. As indicated in the film,
his student did survive.
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| Vernon Castle shortly before his death by airplane |
The final image of the Castles
dancing together leaves the impression that Vernon was the love of Irene’s
life. This may be the case. However, his indomitable widow ultimately had nearly
as many husbands (four) as Ginger Rogers (five).
Conclusion
In their own time, Fred and Ginger
were the 1930s edition of the Vernon and Irene phenomenon—a wildly popular dance
partnership, omnipresent in the media of the day, recipients of international
acclaim, and cultural and fashion influencers. This biopic provided Ginger with
the meatier dramatic role she’d been angling for. The movie concludes during
one world war and at the time of its release a second such conflict was already well under way, and again
the U.S. was slow to join the fight. The demise of Fred’s character, as Ginger points
out in her memoir, presaged the death of their dance partnership, which wasn’t
revived until they reunited a decade later for The Barkleys of Broadway
at MGM.
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