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
Funny Face (musical) Funny Face (musical) Funny Face is a 1927 musical composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by Fred Thompson and Paul Gerard Smith. When it opened on Broadway on November 22, 1927, as the very first show on the newly built Alvin Theatre, it starred Fred Astaire and his sister Adele Astaire. It was in this show that Fred Astaire first danced in evening clothes and a top hat. Originally called "Smarty", it first opened in Philadelphia on October 11, 1927 to poor reviews. This led to major rewrites and caused critic-humorist Robert Benchley, who had