December holding feathers

The Grove in December,  contre jour.


In the convenience store in Grosvenor Road, the owner lays the telephone on the counter. It is emitting  continuous, nagging,  tinny sounds. "I am trying to sort something out," he says. "I'm holding on. They keep playing music. I hate it."

On the TV last night are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers  in the "dancing cheek to cheek" episode of Top Hat and Tails -  that surpassing moment of movie elegance. Among the commentators in the documentary of which this clip is a part is Astaire's, daughter Ava. "It is not true," she says that Ginger Rogers and her Father quarrelled.  In fact they were always good friends. Though it is true that Astaire did lose his temper on the occasion of the "cheek to cheek" scene because the feathers came off her flowing, white dress. Though the dress filmed so well, following the couple's movements, the feathers flew into  the air and got into Astaire's eyes and nostrils. Of such detail is history made.