Singer/dancer/actor Fred Astaire introduced Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek” in the RKO motion picture Top Hat in 1935. The song immediately roared into the charts: - Fred Astaire (1935, vocal, #1)
- Eddy Duchin and His Orchestra (1935, #2)
- Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians (1935, #2)
- Phil Ohman and His Orchestra (1935, #5)
- Boswell Sisters (1935, vocal, #10)
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The American public went crazy for the duo of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the mid-1930s. Their RKO musicals were the perfect escapist fare, showing how the “other half lived” during the tough days of the Depression. Astaire (dressed to the nines, suave and debonair) and Rogers (coquettish and elegantly clad in evening attire) along with superb music and choreography made these films sure-fire hits.
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Top Hat was Berlin’s second musical for Astaire/Rogers. “Cheek to Cheek” is one of the best songs he wrote for their films. In typical Berlin fashion, part of the tune had already been written with a working title of “Moon Over Napoli” and intended for an un-produced Broadway show titled More Cheers. Berlin effortlessly reworked the number into “Cheek to Cheek.” In Edward Jablonski’s biography, Irving Berlin: American Troubadour, Berlin related the effect Astaire had on him: “He’s a real inspiration for a writer. I’d never have written Top Hat without him.”
The radio program “Your Hit Parade” debuted in 1935. On September 29, 1935, the program featured all five Berlin songs written for Top Hat, the first time music from a film had received such coverage from the program. Astaire’s version of “Cheek to Cheek” was in the charts for 18 weeks, and his versions of the other songs from the show, “No Strings,” “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails,” “Isn’t This a Lovely Day,” and “The Piccolino,” were in the charts from six to eleven weeks.
“Cheek to Cheek” took some time to become comfortable to jazz musicians. Its unusual, 72-bar length and A-A-B-C-A structure proved a bit daunting for some players, but the more advanced ones found the tune the perfect challenge with its engaging melodic and chordal structure.
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