This famous song Fascinating Rhythm comes from Lady, Be Good!, the equally famous show of 1924, starring Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele, which opened on Broadway right in the middle of the post–World War I period.
Among the events on the international scene in 1924: Stalin’s ascendance to power; Britain recognized the U.S.S.R.; France left the German industrial Ruhr Valley; and Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for the Munich Putsch. In the United States, the new immigration law excluded Japanese, while, in a gesture of gracious condescension, Congress declared native-born Indians citizens. The country was shocked by the Teapot Dome scandal, and the G.O.P. nominated Calvin Coolidge, who during his campaign asserted: “This is a business country, and it wants a business government.”
Despite an emphasis upon the pragmatics of business and government, the arts in America were doing well. O’Neill’s Desire under the Elms opened on Broadway, as did Maxwell Anderson’s What Price Glory? Serge Koussevitsky was appointed conductor of the Boston Symphony, and Georgia O’Keeffe achieved recognition as a painter of great originality.
Music was in a state of flux, with avant-gardists Carl Ruggles and Henry Cowell attracting some attention while George Gershwin attracted considerable attention, both positive and negative, through the premiere of his Rhapsody in Blue, a jazz-influenced orchestral work. Indeed, this period is often characterized as the “Jazz Age,” for it was then that the rhythmic vitality of jazz, together with its characteristic harmonies, began to invade the music of the Broadway stage, influencing dance styles and even couture. “Fascinating Rhythm” epitomizes this extraordinary development in American popular song, which was to bring about changes that exerted a considerable influence in the years to come.
