Plucky platinum-haired Ginger Rogers is best known as Fred Astaire’s dancing partner in the RKO musicals The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936). But before the blonde bombshell exploded onto the movie scene, she kicked off her career as a hoofer in vaudeville and on Broadway. No doubt, it was her rhythmic stance, swaying hips and spectacular set of … gorgeous gams that won Ginger chorus girl roles in 1933’s pre-Code musicals 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933. But the talented ingénue proved she was more than just a pretty face and fab physique when she received the Best Actress Academy Award for playing the titular character in Kitty Foyle (1940). Since then, the box-office babe became one of the industry’s highest paid and most recognizable stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Through the years, Ms. Rogers revealed her range in the romantic comedy The Major and the Minor (1942), the drama I’ll Be Seeing You (1944), the comedy Monkey Business (1952), and the film noir crime caper Tight Spot (1955). The busy beauty also found time to pose for the covers of Life magazine (1938,1940,1942,1951) and host TV shows, such as The Bell Telephone Hour (1962-1965) and The $64,000 Question (1955). The American icon even penned her autobiography “Ginger, My Story” in 1991 before she passed away in 1995. Yet Mr. Skin will always remember Ginger for strutting her stuff in scantily-clad satin for the rom-com In Person (1935). Perhaps that’s what had Fred a-staring!
