Broadway Melody of 1940 Broadway Melody of 1940 Broadway Melody of 1940 is a 1940 MGM film musical starring Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and George Murphy. It was directed by Norman Taurog and features music by Cole Porter, including "Begin the Beguine". The film was the fourth and final entry in MGM's "Broadway Melody" series of films, and is notable for being the only on-screen pairing of Astaire and Powell, who were considered the finest film musical dancers of their time. Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are a dance team so down on their luck they're working in a dance
Albertina Rasch a "ballet" in which only her hands could be seen to the Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz song "Dancing in the Dark". Rasch also helped establish Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" as a popular standard by choreographing it to an ethnic dance in "Jubilee" (1935). Additional Broadway credits include "The Three Musketeers", "Show Girl", "The Bohemian Girl", "The Great Waltz", and "Lady in the Dark". Rasch served as choreographer and/or dance director for a number of musical films, including "The Merry Widow" (1934) with Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, "Broadway Melody of 1936" (1936) with Jack Benny and Eleanor Powell,