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
Fred Thompson (writer) Gershwin, and starring Fred Astaire and his sister Adele (also playing strongly in London in 1926). This was followed in swift succession by two more Broadway shows with Gershwin songs, "Tell Me More" and "Tip-Toes" (both 1925). Bolton and Thompson followed these with a string of further Broadway successes. In 1927 they had three shows running on Broadway simultaneously: "Rio Rita" (songs by Harry Tierney and Joseph McCarthy), and two Gershwin shows, "Funny Face" and "The Five O'Clock Girl" (which also played in the West End in 1929). Another Gershwin musical the next year was "Treasure Girl" (1928). Thompson's last