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
Stanley Donen profitable, but not as successful as their previous two films. It was Donen's last film with Kelly or Freed. After the its completion he fulfilled his MGM contract agreement by working with other studios. His last project for MGM was completing the final four days of shooting on "Kismet" in July 1955 for director Vincent Minnelli. Donen's next film was at Paramount Pictures for producer Roger Edens. "Funny Face" contains four of the original George and Ira Gershwin songs from the otherwise unrelated 1927 Broadway musical of the same name that had starred Fred Astaire. Loosely based on the life