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FRED ASTAIRE AND CAVALIER’S MG TD PART 1
SO WHAT’S THE LINK BETWEEN FRED ASTAIRE and the car R&T called “As Friendly as a Tail-Wagging Dog”?
Image from That’s Entertainment, 1974.
Fred is examining magazines in a Santa Fe Railway station, and there—for all to see—is an MG TD airborne on the cover of Cavalier.
Cavalier, November 1952. Image from Vintage Everyday.
The Band Wagon, 1953. The setting is from The Band Wagon, what Wikipedia observes is “a 1953 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.”
Wikipedia continues, “It tells the story of an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway show will revive his career. However, the play’s director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of the Faust legend and brings in a prima ballerina who clashes with the star. Along with An American in Paris (1951) and Singin’ in the Rain (1952), it is regarded as one of the finest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, although it was a box-office disappointment on first release.”
That’s Entertainment I, II, and III. I’ve never seen The Band Wagon flick, but Fred’s brief Santa Fe ambling and an extended Fred and Cyd dancing routine are part of That’s Entertainment I, a 1974 compilation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Last year, thus, was the studio’s 100th. And Turner Classic Movies celebrated this by showing the trilogy of That’s Entertainment I, 1974; That’s Entertainment II, 1976; and That’s Entertainment III, 1994.
I’ve been enjoying bits of the total six hours fourteen minutes in no particular order nor length. What follows here in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow are tidbits gleaned from here and there.
The Song “That’s Entertainment!” Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz wrote this song specifically for The Band Wagon. Wikipedia notes that it “was a hit and has become a standard in popular music.” Other favorites from the flick include “Dancing in the Dark,” “You and the Night and the Music,” and “I Guess I’ll Have to Change my Plan.”
My favorite Schwartz and Dietz story comes from Schwartz’s son Jonathan: “Working in Schwartz’s hotel, they were forced more than once to move from room to room—piano and all—because of complaining neighbors. Said Dietz, ‘You know, Arthur, they never complain about the lyrics.’ ”
Ha.
Tomorrow in Part 2, we’ll analyze the Entertainment trilogy and cite another magazine of the Cavalier genre. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025
Simanaitis Says 
As ever Dennis, your inspiring meanderings keep bringing up other associations. For instance, Fred Astaire in one of his few non-dancing/singing roles as a doomed racing sports car driver.Astaire drove a 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider by Scaglietti in the 1959 apocalyptic movie ‘On the Beach.’ Also harkening to your vintage aviation and airship explorations, ‘On the Beach’ was based upon a novel by British aeronautical engineer and racing enthusiast Nevil Shute Norway – a member of the design team for the successful pre-war R100 airship. ‘On the Beach’ employed a post-nuclear holocaust scenario, in which World War 3 finished with only the inhabitants of Australia and the US submarine ‘Sawfish’ had survived destruction and radiation. Sub Captain Gregory Peck discovered an approaching radiation cloud would prove lethal to all. As each person confronted their fate. Fred Astaire’s character realized a lifetime racing ambition by winning a suicidal motor race around the Philip Island course, near Melbourne, Australia.
Yes, I recall the flick. Sources suggest Philip Island shows up, though most of the race scenes were shot at SoCal’s Riverside Raceway in late 1958. A giveaway are the mountains occasionally in the background.–ds