Editing Ginger Rogers (section)

== Career ==
=== 1925–1929: Vaudeville and Broadway ===
[[File:Ginger Rogers and the Redheads advertisement - Yale Theater, TX (1926).png|thumb|left|Advertisement for Ginger Rogers and the Redheads]]
Rogers's entertainment career began when the traveling [[vaudeville]] act of [[Eddie Foy]] came to Fort Worth and needed a quick stand-in. In 1925 the 14-year-old entered and won a [[Charleston (dance)|Charleston dance]] contest; the prize allowed her to tour as Ginger Rogers and the Redheads for six months on the [[Orpheum Circuit]].<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAzP__xv7CkC&q=ginger+rogers+charleston+dance+contest&pg=PA150| title=The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries| last=Knowles| first=Mark| date=2009-06-08| publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5360-3|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite magazine| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K04EAAAAMBAJ&q=house+where+ginger+rogers+born&pg=PA62| title=She Adds New Chapter to Her Success Story| date=1942-03-02| pages=60–65| magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]]|publisher=Time, Inc.| language=en}}</ref> In 1926, the group performed at an 18-month-old theater called [[The Craterian]] in [[Medford, Oregon]]. This theater honored her years later by changing its name to the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater.<ref>{{cite web| title=Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater| url=http://www.oregon.com/attractions/craterian-ginger-rogers-theater| website=Oregon.com| first=Patrick| last=Johnson| access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref> When the M.G.M film ''[[The Barrier (1926 film)|The Barrier]]'' premiered in [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]], California, in February 1926, Rogers's vaudeville act was featured. The local newspaper commented, "Clever little Ginger Rogers showed why she won the Texas state championship as a Charleston dancer."<ref>"World Premiere of Picture Viewed by Thousands Here - 'The Barrier' Voted Mighty Spectacle, Vaudeville Fine," ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', Monday 1 March 1926, Volume LVIII, Number 1, page 6.</ref>

At 17, Rogers married Jack Culpepper, a singer/dancer/comedian/recording artist of the day who worked under the name [[Jack Pepper]] (according to Ginger's autobiography and ''Life'' magazine, she knew Culpepper when she was a child, as her cousin's boyfriend).<ref name=":1"/> They formed a short-lived vaudeville double act known as "Ginger and Pepper". The marriage was over within a year, and she went back to touring with her mother.<ref name=":1" /> When the tour got to New York City, she stayed, getting radio singing jobs. She made her Broadway debut in the musical ''[[Top Speed (musical)|Top Speed]]'', which opened at [[Chanin's 46th Street Theatre]] on [[Christmas]] Day, 1929<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]]|year=2019|isbn=9781442245280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRmGDwAAQBAJ|chapter=Top Speed|pages=557–558}}</ref> following the musical's premiere in Philadelphia at the [[Chestnut Street Opera House]] on November 13, 1929.<ref>{{cite news|title="Top Speed" New Musical Comedy|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=November 13, 1929|page= 4}}</ref>

Within two weeks of the  New York opening of ''Top Speed'', Rogers was chosen to star on Broadway in ''[[Girl Crazy]]'' by [[George Gershwin]] and [[Ira Gershwin]]. Fred Astaire was hired to help the dancers with their choreography. Her appearance in ''Girl Crazy'' made her an overnight star at the age of 19.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

=== 1929–1933: Early film roles ===
[[File:42nd-Street-Merkel-Keeler-Rogers.jpg|thumb|[[Una Merkel]], [[Ruby Keeler]], and Ginger Rogers in ''[[42nd Street (film)|42nd Street]]'' (1933)]]
Rogers's first movie roles were in a trio of short films made in 1929: ''Night in the Dormitory'', ''A Day of a Man of Affairs'', and ''Campus Sweethearts''. In 1930, [[Paramount Pictures]] signed her to a seven-year contract.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

Rogers soon got herself out of the Paramount contract—under which she had made five feature films at [[Kaufman Astoria Studios|Astoria Studios]] in [[Astoria, Queens]]—and moved with her mother to Hollywood. When she got to California, she signed a three-picture deal with [[Pathé Exchange]]. Two of her pictures at Pathé were ''[[Suicide Fleet]]'' (1931) and ''[[Carnival Boat]]'' (1932) in which she played opposite future [[Hopalong Cassidy]] star [[William Boyd (actor)|William Boyd]]. Rogers also made feature films for Warner Bros., Monogram, and Fox in 1932, and was named one of 15 [[WAMPAS Baby Stars]]. She then made a significant breakthrough as Anytime Annie in the [[Warner Bros.]] film ''[[42nd Street (film)|42nd Street]]'' (1933). She went on to make a series of films at Warner Bros., most notably in ''[[Gold Diggers of 1933]],'' in which her solo, "We're in the Money", included a memorable verse in [[Pig Latin]]. She then moved to [[RKO Studios]], was put under contract and with Astaire started work on ''[[Flying Down to Rio]]'', a picture starring [[Dolores del Río]] and [[Gene Raymond]]. Rogers and Astaire "stole the show",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Scott S. |date=2023-03-23 |title=Ginger Rogers Worked Smart To Become Top-Paid Performer |url=https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/ginger-rogers-worked-smart-to-become-a-star-of-screen-and-stage/ |access-date=2024-04-27 |website=[[Investor's Business Daily]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grotell |first=David |date=2011 |editor-last=Epstein |editor-first=Joseph |editor2-last=Levinson |editor2-first=Peter J. |title=The Fine Art of Understatement: Fred Astaire Onscreen and Off |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29777240 |journal=[[Dance Chronicle]] |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=166–174 |doi=10.1080/01472526.2011.549002 |jstor=29777240 |issn=0147-2526}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Flying Down to Rio (1933) poster, Dutch {{!}} Original Film Posters Online {{!}} Collectibles |url=https://www.sothebys.com/buy/e399a0d9-346e-427a-876a-cf84a04fce4a/lots/f691b84e-8cf5-4d41-82af-b326eb69ddb9 |access-date=2024-04-27 |website=[[Sotheby's]] |language=en}}</ref> an industry term for outshining the billed stars.

=== 1933–1939: Partnership with Astaire ===
Rogers was known for her partnership with [[Fred Astaire]]. Together, from 1933 to 1939, they made nine musical films at RKO: ''[[Flying Down to Rio]]'' (1933), ''[[The Gay Divorcee]]'' (1934), ''[[Roberta (1935 film)|Roberta]]'' (1935), ''[[Top Hat]]'' (1935), ''[[Follow the Fleet]]'' (1936), ''[[Swing Time (film)|Swing Time]]'' (1936), ''[[Shall We Dance (1937 film)|Shall We Dance]]'' (1937), ''[[Carefree (film)|Carefree]]'' (1938), and ''[[The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle]]'' (1939). ''[[The Barkleys of Broadway]]'' (1949) was produced later at MGM. They revolutionized the Hollywood musical by introducing dance routines of unprecedented elegance and virtuosity with sweeping long shots set to songs specially composed for them by the greatest popular song composers of the day. One such composer was [[Cole Porter]] with [[Night and Day (song)|"Night and Day"]], a song Astaire sang to Rogers with the line "... you are the one" in two of their movies, being particularly poignant in their last pairing of ''The Barkleys of Broadway.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}''

[[File:fredginger.jpg|thumb|left|Rogers with her frequent co-star [[Fred Astaire]] in the film ''[[Roberta (1935 film)|Roberta]]'' (1935)]]

[[Arlene Croce]], [[Hermes Pan]], Hannah Hyam, and [[John Mueller]] all consider Rogers to have been Astaire's finest dance partner, principally because of her ability to combine dancing skills, natural beauty, and exceptional abilities as a dramatic actress and comedian, thus truly complementing Astaire, a peerless dancer. The resulting song and dance partnership enjoyed a unique credibility in the eyes of audiences.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

Of the [[Fred Astaire's solo and partnered dances|33 partnered dances]] Rogers performed with Astaire, Croce and Mueller have highlighted the infectious spontaneity of her performances in the comic numbers "[[I'll Be Hard to Handle]]" from ''Roberta'', "[[I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket]]" from ''Follow the Fleet'', and "[[Pick Yourself Up]]" from ''Swing Time''. They also point to the use Astaire made of her remarkably flexible back in classic romantic dances such as "[[Smoke Gets in Your Eyes]]" from ''Roberta'', "[[Cheek to Cheek]]" from ''Top Hat'', and "[[Let's Face the Music and Dance]]" from ''Follow the Fleet''.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

Although the dance routines were choreographed by Astaire and his collaborator [[Hermes Pan (choreographer)|Hermes Pan]], both have testified to her consummate professionalism, even during periods of intense strain, as she tried to juggle her many other contractual film commitments with the punishing rehearsal schedules of Astaire, who made at most two films in any one year. In 1986, shortly before his death, Astaire remarked, "All the girls I ever danced with thought they couldn't do it, but of course they could. So they always cried. All except Ginger. No, no, Ginger never cried".<ref>{{cite web| last=Crowther| first=Linnea| title=Ginger Never Cried| website=[[Legacy.com]]| url=http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/article/ginger-never-cried| access-date=August 26, 2019| year=2013}}</ref>

John Mueller summed up Rogers's abilities as: "Rogers was outstanding among Astaire's partners, not because she was superior to others as a dancer, but, because, as a skilled, intuitive actress, she was cagey enough to realize that acting did not stop when dancing began&nbsp;... the reason so many women have fantasized about dancing with Fred Astaire is that Ginger Rogers conveyed the impression that dancing with him is the most thrilling experience imaginable".<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_wjtqH6YvsC&q=rogers+conveyed+impression|title=Fred Astaire| last=Epstein| first=Joseph| date=May 29, 2012| publisher=Yale University Press| isbn=978-0-300-17352-9| page=133}}</ref>

According to Raymond Rohauer, curator at the New York Gallery of Modern Art, Astaire gave Rogers this salute: "Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work for her. Actually she made things very fine for both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success."<ref>''Ginger: Salute to a Star'', Dick Richards, p. 162</ref>

In a 1976 episode of the popular British talk-show ''[[Parkinson (TV series)|Parkinson]]'' (Season 5, Episode 24), host [[Michael Parkinson]] asked Astaire who his favorite dancing partner was. Astaire answered, "Excuse me, I must say Ginger was certainly [uh, uh,] the one. You know, the most effective partner I ever had. Everyone knows."{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

After 15 months apart and with RKO facing bankruptcy, the studio paired Fred and Ginger for another movie titled ''Carefree'', but it lost money. Next came ''The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle,'' based on a true story, but the serious plot and tragic ending resulted in the worst box-office receipts of any of their films. This was driven not by diminished popularity, but by the hard 1930s economic reality. The production costs of musicals, always significantly greater than regular features, continued to increase at a much faster rate than admissions.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

=== 1933–1939: Success in non-musicals ===
[[File: Ginger Rogers Argentinean Magazine AD 2.jpg|thumb|Rogers in 1937]]

Both before and immediately after her dancing and acting partnership with Fred Astaire ended, Rogers starred in a number of successful nonmusical films. ''[[Stage Door]]'' (1937) demonstrated her dramatic capacity, as the loquacious yet vulnerable girl next door and tough-minded theatrical hopeful, opposite [[Katharine Hepburn]]. Successful comedies included ''[[Vivacious Lady]]'' (1938) with [[James Stewart]], ''[[Fifth Avenue Girl]]'' (1939), where she played an out-of-work girl sucked into the lives of a wealthy family, and ''[[Bachelor Mother]]'' (1939), with [[David Niven]], in which she played a shop girl who is falsely thought to have abandoned her baby.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

In 1934, Rogers sued [[Sylvia of Hollywood]] for $100K for defamation. The fitness guru and radio personality had claimed that Rogers was on her radio show when, in fact, she was not.<ref>Interview Suit Begun By Actress: Screen Player Asks Damages, ''Los Angeles Times'', March 24, 1934.</ref>

On March 5, 1939, Rogers starred in "Single Party Going East", an episode of ''[[Silver Theater (radio program)|Silver Theater]]'' on [[CBS]] radio.<ref>{{cite news| title=Virovai Is Guest| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2108716/st_ginger_rogers/| newspaper=The Nebraska State Journal| date=March 5, 1939| page=36| via=Newspapers.com| access-date=March 31, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>

=== 1940–1949: Career peak and reuniting with Astaire ===
[[Image:Kitty foyle - life magazine.jpg|thumbnail|alt=Rogers as her character Kitty Foyle on the cover of ''Life''|A [[trailer (film)|trailer]] for ''[[Kitty Foyle (film)|Kitty Foyle]]'' depicting Rogers' cover appearance on ''Life'' magazine for her Oscar-winning 1940 role]]

In 1941 Rogers won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for her role in 1940's ''[[Kitty Foyle (film)|Kitty Foyle]]''. She enjoyed considerable success during the early 1940s, and was RKO's hottest property during this period. In ''[[Roxie Hart (film)|Roxie Hart]]'' (1942), based on the same play which later served as the template for the musical ''[[Chicago (musical)|Chicago]]'', Rogers played a wisecracking flapper in a love triangle on trial for the murder of her lover; set in the era of prohibition. Most of the film takes place in a women's jail.

In the melodrama ''[[Primrose Path (1940 film)|Primrose Path]]'' (1940), directed by [[Gregory La Cava]], she plays a character attempting to conceal being a prostitute's daughter being pressured into following the fate of her mother and grandmother. Further highlights of this period included ''[[Tom, Dick and Harry (1941 film)|Tom, Dick, and Harry]]'', a 1941 comedy in which she dreams of marrying three different men; ''[[I'll Be Seeing You (1944 film)|I'll Be Seeing You]]'' (1944), with [[Joseph Cotten]]; and [[Billy Wilder]]'s first Hollywood feature film: ''[[The Major and the Minor]]'' (1942), in which she played a down-on-her-luck woman who masquerades as a 12-year-old to get a cheap train ticket home and finds herself obliged to continue the ruse at a military academy. Rogers' mother, Lela, played her mother in the film.

[[File:Ginger Rogers by Virgil Apger, 1949.jpg|left|thumb|Ginger Rogers by Virgil Apger, 1949]]

After becoming a free agent, Rogers made hugely successful films with other studios in the mid-'40s, including ''[[Tender Comrade]]'' (1943), ''[[Lady in the Dark (film)|Lady in the Dark]]'' (1944), and ''[[Week-End at the Waldorf]]'' (1945), and became the highest-paid performer in Hollywood. However, by the end of the decade, her film career had peaked. [[Arthur Freed]] reunited her with Fred Astaire in ''[[The Barkleys of Broadway]]'' in 1949, when Judy Garland was unable to appear in the role that was to have reunited her with her ''[[Easter Parade (film)|Easter Parade]]'' co-star.

=== 1950–1987: Later career ===
[[File:Monkey Business trailer.JPG|thumb|Ginger Rogers in ''Monkey Business'' (1952) with ''(from left to right)'' [[Robert Cornthwaite (actor)|Robert Cornthwaite]], [[Cary Grant]], and [[Marilyn Monroe]]]]Rogers's film career entered a period of gradual decline in the 1950s, as parts for older actresses became more difficult to obtain, but she still scored with some solid movies. She starred in ''[[Storm Warning (1950 film)|Storm Warning]]'' (1950) with [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Doris Day]], a noir, anti-[[Ku Klux Klan]] film by Warner Bros. In 1952 Rogers starred in two comedies featuring [[Marilyn Monroe]], ''[[Monkey Business (1952 film)|Monkey Business]]'' with [[Cary Grant]], directed by [[Howard Hawks]], and ''[[We're Not Married!]].'' She followed those with a role in ''[[Dreamboat (film)|Dreamboat]]'' alongside [[Clifton Webb]], as his former onscreen partner in silent films who wanted to renew their association on television. She played the female lead in ''[[Tight Spot]]'' (1955), a mystery thriller, with [[Edward G. Robinson]]. After a series of unremarkable films, she scored a great popular success on Broadway in 1965, playing Dolly Levi in the long-running ''[[Hello, Dolly! (musical)|Hello, Dolly!]]''<ref>{{cite news| last=Chapin| first=Louis| title=Ginger Rogers' shining Dolly| newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]| date=August 25, 1965}}</ref>

[[File:David Burns-Ginger Rogers in Hello, Dolly!.jpg|thumb|right|[[David Burns (actor)|David Burns]] and Rogers in <br>''[[Hello, Dolly! (musical)|Hello, Dolly!]]'' on Broadway (1964) ]]
In later life, Rogers remained on good terms with Astaire; she presented him with a special [[Academy Award]] in 1950, and they were copresenters of individual Academy Awards in 1967, during which they elicited a standing ovation when they came on stage in an impromptu dance. In 1969, she had the lead role in another long-running popular production, ''[[Mame (musical)|Mame]]'', from the book by [[Jerome Lawrence]] and [[Robert Edwin Lee]], with music and lyrics by [[Jerry Herman]], at the [[Theatre Royal Drury Lane]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]] of [[London]], arriving for the role on the liner ''[[Queen Elizabeth 2]]'' from New York City. Her docking there occasioned the maximum of pomp and ceremony at [[Southampton]]. She became the highest-paid performer in the history of the West End up to that time. The production ran for 14 months and featured a royal command performance for [[Queen Elizabeth II]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

[[File:Ginger and Lela Rogers with President Truman.png|thumb|left|Former President [[Harry S. Truman]], Ginger Rogers (to his right), [[Lela E. Rogers|Lela Rogers]] (Ginger's mother), at the 1964 Ginger Rogers Day celebration]]
From the 1950s onward, Rogers made occasional appearances on television, even substituting for a vacationing [[Hal March]] on ''[[The $64,000 Question]]''. In the later years of her career, she made guest appearances in three different series by [[Aaron Spelling]]: ''[[The Love Boat]]'' (1979), ''[[Glitter (American TV series)|Glitter]]'' (1984), and ''[[Hotel (American TV series)|Hotel]]'' (1987), which was her final screen appearance as an actress. In 1985, Rogers fulfilled a long-standing wish to direct when she directed the musical ''[[Babes in Arms]]'' off-Broadway in [[Tarrytown, New York]], at 74 years old. It was produced by Michael Lipton and Robert Kennedy of Kennedy Lipton Productions. The production starred Broadway talents Donna Theodore, Carleton Carpenter, James Brennan, [[Randy Skinner]], [[Karen Ziemba]], Dwight Edwards, and Kim Morgan. It is also noted in her autobiography ''Ginger, My Story''.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

=== Honors ===
The [[Kennedy Center Honors|Kennedy Center]] honored Ginger Rogers in December 1992. This event, which was shown on television, was somewhat marred when Astaire's widow, Robyn Smith, who permitted clips of Astaire dancing with Rogers to be shown for free at the function itself, was unable to come to terms with [[CBS Television]] for broadcast rights to the clips (all previous rights-holders having donated broadcast rights'' gratis'').<ref>{{cite news| url=https://variety.com/1992/film/news/astaire-footage-withheld-from-honors-102225/| title=Astaire footage withheld from Honors| last=Wharton| first=Dennis| work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]| date=1992-12-18| access-date=2009-04-22}}</ref>

For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Rogers has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 6772 Hollywood Boulevard.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/ginger-rogers |title=Ginger Rogers Inducted to the Walk of Fame |website=walkoffame.com |publisher=Hollywood Chamber of Commerce |date=February 8, 1960 |access-date=December 7, 2016}}</ref>