Hermes Panagiotopoulas would become Hollywood’s Hermes Pan, the man who danced with Fred Astaire. He was born on this day, 102 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee.
Pan & Astaire met in an RKO rehearsal studio in 1933. Hermes was 24, penniless, & moving in the middle of the night from house to house with his mother & his sister.
Pan had been hired by the RKO Dance Director Dave Gould to work with Astaire, because ironically, Gould didn’t know how to dance. There were no choreographers in those days.
Born in Tennessee on this day in 1910, as a little boy his “mammy,” as black housekeepers were named in that era, used to take him home at night sometimes to the part of town known as Black Bottom, a common name for the ghetto in Southern cities.
The influence of the culture of Black Bottom is felt to this day, great music & dancing emerged from those communities. Pan recalled, late in his life, how those trips to Black Bottom were always exciting because there was nightlife in the streets & musicians with tubs, broomsticks & strings that played what was then called “gut bucket jazz.” This music gave birth to Rock n’ Roll.
Pan worked as a dancer on Broadway where he met Virginia McMath. She was headed to Hollywood where word was out that the movies were looking for musical comedy performers. McMath convinced Pan to try his luck. The first few years were tough & he was broke when Pan was hired, at $75 a week, to work with Astaire in Flying Down To Rio, only Astaire’s second film & the first teamed with Virginia McMath, now named Ginger Rogers.
The pair of men had very different personalities but compatible sensibilities in dance, music & humor. Pan was a decade younger than Astaire &more in tune with the “latest”, & Astaire was smart about show biz, recognized Pan’s youthful zip.
Pan & Astaire’s collaboration that lasted for the rest of the men’s lives. Pan acknowledged that the dancing that the world knew as Fred Astaire Style was mainly African in its roots. Astaire was very drawn to percussive sounds & rhythms. There were rumors that Astaire took some lessons from John Bubbles, a vaudevillian, entertainer, dancer. He played Sportin’ Life in the original Gershwin Porgy & Bess & he was regarded as a genius. Astaire was a follower.
The movements & concepts that Pan brought to the dance floor for Astaire were acquired as a small child in Black Bottom, thanks to his mammy & the men who played gut bucket jazz in the streets of Memphis.
Pan worked with Astaire on 17 pictures, including all 10 of the films Astaire made with Ginger Rogers. In the years he worked as a choreographer for Astaire at RKO, Pan always taught Rogers the steps well before she worked with her on-screen perfectionist partner. Pan would first dance the Astaire part while Rogers slowly learned hers. Pan resembled Astaire physically & as a dancer. He often dubbed Rogers taps for her films with Astaire. He is said have done so in high heels for authenticity.
Pan enjoyed a long career as a dance director/choreographer & hired a number of major American dancers for their first Hollywood jobs including Bob Fosse & Jack Cole. He won an Oscar for Damsel in Distress in 1936.
After Astaire & Rogers were no longer a team, Pan went to 20th Century Fox where he worked with Betty Grable, who at the time was then the #1 box office star in the USA. In the 1950s he moved over to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In the 1960s Joe Mankiewicz hired him to stage Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra entering Rome.
Pan: “Dancers are like children. That’s the only way they can do what they do.”
Pan died at his home in Beverly Hills in 1991, a few months short his 81st birthday. He’d got up that day, fed his cat & made bacon, eggs, toast & coffee. After he finished his breakfast he sat down in his favorite chair in his living room overlooking his patio & swimming pool. Later that afternoon, a family member who hadn’t been able to reach him, found him still sitting there, already having departed for the big dance floor in the sky.
Pan & Astaire met in an RKO rehearsal studio in 1933. Hermes was 24, penniless, & moving in the middle of the night from house to house with his mother & his sister.
Pan had been hired by the RKO Dance Director Dave Gould to work with Astaire, because ironically, Gould didn’t know how to dance. There were no choreographers in those days.
Born in Tennessee on this day in 1910, as a little boy his “mammy,” as black housekeepers were named in that era, used to take him home at night sometimes to the part of town known as Black Bottom, a common name for the ghetto in Southern cities.
The influence of the culture of Black Bottom is felt to this day, great music & dancing emerged from those communities. Pan recalled, late in his life, how those trips to Black Bottom were always exciting because there was nightlife in the streets & musicians with tubs, broomsticks & strings that played what was then called “gut bucket jazz.” This music gave birth to Rock n’ Roll.
Pan worked as a dancer on Broadway where he met Virginia McMath. She was headed to Hollywood where word was out that the movies were looking for musical comedy performers. McMath convinced Pan to try his luck. The first few years were tough & he was broke when Pan was hired, at $75 a week, to work with Astaire in Flying Down To Rio, only Astaire’s second film & the first teamed with Virginia McMath, now named Ginger Rogers.
The pair of men had very different personalities but compatible sensibilities in dance, music & humor. Pan was a decade younger than Astaire &more in tune with the “latest”, & Astaire was smart about show biz, recognized Pan’s youthful zip.
Pan & Astaire’s collaboration that lasted for the rest of the men’s lives. Pan acknowledged that the dancing that the world knew as Fred Astaire Style was mainly African in its roots. Astaire was very drawn to percussive sounds & rhythms. There were rumors that Astaire took some lessons from John Bubbles, a vaudevillian, entertainer, dancer. He played Sportin’ Life in the original Gershwin Porgy & Bess & he was regarded as a genius. Astaire was a follower.
The movements & concepts that Pan brought to the dance floor for Astaire were acquired as a small child in Black Bottom, thanks to his mammy & the men who played gut bucket jazz in the streets of Memphis.
Pan worked with Astaire on 17 pictures, including all 10 of the films Astaire made with Ginger Rogers. In the years he worked as a choreographer for Astaire at RKO, Pan always taught Rogers the steps well before she worked with her on-screen perfectionist partner. Pan would first dance the Astaire part while Rogers slowly learned hers. Pan resembled Astaire physically & as a dancer. He often dubbed Rogers taps for her films with Astaire. He is said have done so in high heels for authenticity.
Pan enjoyed a long career as a dance director/choreographer & hired a number of major American dancers for their first Hollywood jobs including Bob Fosse & Jack Cole. He won an Oscar for Damsel in Distress in 1936.
After Astaire & Rogers were no longer a team, Pan went to 20th Century Fox where he worked with Betty Grable, who at the time was then the #1 box office star in the USA. In the 1950s he moved over to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In the 1960s Joe Mankiewicz hired him to stage Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra entering Rome.
Pan: “Dancers are like children. That’s the only way they can do what they do.”
Pan died at his home in Beverly Hills in 1991, a few months short his 81st birthday. He’d got up that day, fed his cat & made bacon, eggs, toast & coffee. After he finished his breakfast he sat down in his favorite chair in his living room overlooking his patio & swimming pool. Later that afternoon, a family member who hadn’t been able to reach him, found him still sitting there, already having departed for the big dance floor in the sky.
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