Second Chorus

... with the first act being his dance partnership with his sister and his second act being his RKO years.

"Second Chorus" is not a widely known film, but it will probably be enjoyable to any fan of Fred Astaire. If you're not particularly fond of Astaire, you might want to pass on this one since seeing Astaire in action in an unusual role is the main attraction. The story is that Danny O'Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) are leaders of a band. The two have been intentionally failing in college, because they like the atmosphere, and also because as long as they are officially students they can spend their time running the band and making a pretty good living at it. When Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) enters the picture, they both get greedy and want her attention for themselves. Thus they each double-cross the other and both wind up getting expelled from the university, thus ending their cozy arrangement with their band. They spend most of the rest of the film continuing to double-cross one another, this time over trying to get into Artie Shaw's band as well as trying to win over the affections of Ellen, who now works for Shaw.

The things that are not so great about this film are the less than great comic timing, and the tiresome scenes with J. Lester Chisholm, played by Charles Butterworth. Mr. Butterworth is no Edward Everett Horton, and as a less-than-adequate character actor you just want to shoo the guy off stage every time he turns up. Also, if you're watching this film to see lots of Astaire's wonderful dancing, you'll likely be somewhat disappointed. He does do some singing and dancing, but this film mainly shows off his comic abilities, of which the mischievous Astaire has plenty. This part would have been better if the comic timing of the script had been tighter, though.

After Fred Astaire finished his RKO contract in 1939 with The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, he freelanced for the rest of his career. His first film under the Paramount banner was Second Chorus which had him co-starring with marrieds to be Paulette Goddard and Burgess Meredith and big bandleader Artie Shaw. There seems to be a consensus among the reviewers that this was Astaire's worst musical film and I'm not going to dispute that.

Of course second rate Fred Astaire is better than most and he does have some nice dance numbers, but even they're not up to his usual creative genius. I think Astaire realized he was in a turkey and walked through it to collect his paycheck and move on to something better.

Poor Paulette Goddard however. She was just beginning her career and she had gotten good notices for Modern Times and The Women. She had been in stage choruses before so it wasn't like she didn't have any musical training. The following year she was in another musical disaster, the independent United Artist film Pot O' Gold with Jimmy Stewart. That was with another bandleader, Horace Heidt. Something about Paulette and bandleaders. Anyway she got a long term Paramount contract for the Forties and much better parts including three DeMille films.

As an actor, Artie Shaw was a great clarinetist and bandleader. Of course he joins other great contemporary thespians like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman all who made Hollywood films at the time. His band has a few great numbers though I would have liked to have seen Shaw reprise his all time classic instrumental hit, Begin the Beguine.

The film starts off kind of dumb to begin with. We're asked to believe that the 41 year old Fred Astaire and his pal Burgess Meredith are a pair of perennial college students who keep flunking courses to stay in college so they can advertise their band as a college orchestra. Even Jack Oakie didn't stay in college forever.

After horror of horrors Meredith graduates they have to start looking for work and they keep trying to get a break with Artie Shaw. Of course it all works out in the end, but for those interested in seeing the film, I shan't say how.

Charles Butterworth is on hand to play another of his droll eccentrics and he gets a few laughs. But unless you like Fred Astaire and/or Artie Shaw you might well skip Second Chorus.

Second Chorus has two good scenes; the one where Fred and Paulette take the floor for some good old fashioned dancing at the end of the I'll Dig It number; and the one where Fred conducts the band and taps at the same time.

Plotwise it is wafer-thin. Astaire and Burgess Meredith play rather over-aged students (Fred Astaire a 'young man'??) who play in a band called the Perennials, a college band who start to take all the bookings from more established outfits like Artie Shaw's, thanks to their enterprising manager Goddard. Naturally both are competitive and want both to be in Shaw's band and get off with Goddard.

Yawn. Artie Shaw and his band appear and play great music, although he was no actor - you'd think all those dumb movie star brides would have taught him some tricks of the trade ... Goddard doesn't look the part and her role doesn't seem right for her. Charles Butterworth also appears as a lousy mandolin player who finances a big concert for the band.

Fairly enjoyable despite the shortcomings but no great shakes when up against Fred's best work with Ginger.

SECOND CHORUS 1940 Vas Good? ... Vas Pair-fect. (but not so the film.)

The Wonderful Fred Astaire and the vibrant, young, healthy and sexy Paulette Goddard struggled valiantly with this picture. Unfortunately there were no Irving Berlin or Cole Porter melodies to hang it on. If you are an Artie Shaw fan, then you will be content. As to the acting ability of Artie Shaw, I found nothing wrong with it. He was quite natural and, as a band leader, seemed quite at home . However, he was right up there, as a dramatic actor, with Xavier Cugat and Harry James. Fred was not at his best with the love song (even Paulette looked rather dubious about it) They looked good as dancing partners but it was obvious Fred taught her what little terpsichorian skills she possessed. (nice legs, though ... but then that is my weakness) I liked the little Russian number that Mister Astaire had some fun with.

Burgess Meredith and Fred Astaire actually were pretty snappy as a comedy team. Burgess had that same glitter in his eye as Paulette (they were later married in real life)

The video that I saw was a poor copy and suffered accordingly. Perhaps it would fare better with a clear one.

With all its faults and a minimal plot, I still would recommend that you get a good copy and watch some attractive young people show the present day, minimal twits what comedy should be.

Has anyone else noticed a resemblance between Burgess Meredith and Harpo Marx? Maybe it's just the attitude. Thank you for your patience with my ramblings. Comments are welcome. OLD DAD from Babbling Books (babblingbooks@shaw.ca)

Artie Shaw's band adds a little more pop to the music than is found in most Astaire films. I found that the irritating characters that Meredith and Astaire played got in my way of enjoying the usual pleasures of an Astaire movie. I kept wanting somebody to tell Meredith that it's rude to wear a hat indoors. I found the sneaky and mean rascal that Astaire played even more annoying. Not a dog, but a picture I'll not look forward to watching again.