An Evening with Fred Astaire

The use of videotape

The program was highly innovative in its use of a color-capable VTR, a technology then in its infancy.

As with the first major television program to be recorded on videotape—The Edsel Show in 1957—this was a straight recording of a live performance with no editing. Early videotape use was confined largely to rebroadcasting programs from the east coast three hours later in the west, and was a cheaper, better-quality alternative to the film-based kinescopes. The experimental low-band quadruplex recording system in use was troublesome and hard to copy. Furthermore, early video editing was a highly complicated matter that required the engineer to cover the two-inch tape with iron oxide solution to locate the magnetic tracks and then splice it with a razor blade.

Although it was recorded live, An Evening with Fred Astaire used a number of innovative production techniques that are now commonplace, such as chroma key, and dissolves between scenes.

In 1988, the show earned a further technical Emmy Award for Ed Reitan, Don Kent, and Dan Einstein, who restored the original videotape, transferring its contents to a modern format. The machines used for recording the program were modified RCA B/W recorders, so it required tracking down the engineers who had been instrumental in the conversion. (The three had also restored the oldest color videotape known to exist, the dedication of WRC-TV's new studio in Washington, DC on May 21, 1958.)

The show was rebroadcast twice, on NBC on January 26, 1959, and on CBS on December 20, 1964. It was thus one of the earliest shows to be rerun using color videotape recording. The 1964 rebroadcast used a different beginning and ending that eliminated the advertising for Chrysler; instead, the opening and closing dances were shown, uninterrupted.

Until 2024, An Evening with Fred Astaire was the oldest-known surviving color videotape of an entertainment program; 2024 saw the discovery and restoration of a videotape of the premiere of Kraft Music Hall, aired 9 days prior to the Astaire program.

Musical numbers

• "Morning Ride"/"Svengali"/"Frantic Holiday" — Fred Astaire and the Hermes Pan Dancers
• "Change Partners" — Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase
• "Baubles, Bangles & Beads" (Wright and Forrest)
• "Prop Dance" — Fred Astaire
• "Mack the Knife" — The Jonah Jones Quartet
• "Man with the Blues"/"Young Man's Lament" (David Rose)/ "Like Young" (André Previn) — Fred Astaire, Barrie Chase and the Hermes Pan Dancers
• "Old MacDonald on a Trip/Holiday for Strings" (David Rose) — The Hermes Pan Dancers, featuring Jimmy Huntley, Roy Fitzell, and Bert May
• "St. James Infirmary" (Primrose) — Fred Astaire, Barrie Chase, Jonah Jones, and the Hermes Pan Dancers
• "Oh, Lady be Good!" (Ira & George Gershwin)/"Cheek to Cheek" (Irving Berlin)/"A Fine Romance" (Kern & Fields)/"They Can't Take That Away From Me"/"Nice Work If You Can Get It"/"A Foggy Day" (Ira & George Gershwin)/"I Won't Dance" (Kern-Hammerstein-Harbach)/"Something's Gotta Give" (Mercer)/"Night and Day" (Porter)/"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" (Berlin, also the theme music for the show) — Fred Astaire
• "Isn't This a Lovely Day" — Fred Astaire

The Chrysler Corporation record label, mastered and pressed by NBC partner RCA Victor Records produced a rare giveaway promotional soundtrack album direct from the monaural audio track of the master videotape.

Sequels

Astaire produced another three similar specials, each featuring Barrie Chase:

• Another Evening with Fred Astaire (November 4, 1959) designed by art director Edward Stephenson (Art Direction Emmy Award)
• Astaire Time (September 28, 1960) designed by art director Edward Stephenson (Art Direction Emmy Award)
• The Fred Astaire Show (February 7, 1968) designed by art director James Tritippoo (Art Direction Emmy Award)

Media coverage

Astaire's first foray into television dance, and the introduction of his new dance partner, Barrie Chase, drew significant media coverage, the most prominent being a feature on the cover of TV Guide for October 11–17, 1958 and an inside article: "Now for the Dance Bash",{{cite book

Not all media coverage was so positive, however. After the show won an unprecedented nine Emmy awards, Ed Sullivan queried whether Astaire should have been awarded the Best Actor Award.{{cite book

Notes

References

References

1. [http://www.fredastaire.net/people/barrie_chase.htm Fred Astaire website entry]
2. Slide, Anthony. (1992). "Nitrate won't wait: a history of film preservation in the United States". McFarland & Co.
3. Wirth, Richard. (August 3, 2015). "Restoration of a Piece of Television History".
4. [http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/rca-nbc_firsts.html RCA-NBC Firsts in Color Television] {{webarchive. link. (2006-02-06 novia.net)
5. [https://deadline.com/2024/02/oldest-color-entertainment-videotape-discovered-preserves-the-kraft-music-hall-starring-milton-berle-1235818725/ Deadline.com, Feb 8 2024]