Vinton Freedley A. Aarons with whom he formed a long term producing partnership. Their first major hit was "Lady Be Good!" (1924) with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and featuring Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire. Over the next ten years the pair produced some of the most important works in the Broadway musical canon, featuring some of the most famous songs ever to emerge from the tin pan alley era, part of what is commonly referred to as "The Great American Songbook." The shows that followed included "Tip-Toes" (1925), "Oh, Kay!" (1926), and "Funny Face" (1927), again starring the
Adele Astaire about all the details of their day-to-day work. While Fred might come to a venue two hours early to finish preparing for their show, Adele was more likely to arrive only a handful of minutes before she was due onstage. After 1917, they developed it into a celebrated adult career on Broadway and, beginning in 1923, on the London stage. Peter Pan creator J. M. Barrie asked Astaire to play his creation; contractual reasons forced her to turn down the part. Astaire became an Episcopalian, like her younger brother. Back in New York the duo appeared in Jerome Kern's "The