Funny Face (musical) contributed to the script, to walk out. The rewrites and changes continued as the musical moved from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. (October 31); to Atlantic City (November 7); to Wilmington (November 14); before reaching Broadway and the Alvin Theatre on November 22, now renamed "Funny Face". It became a major Broadway hit, and after 244 performances, the whole company transferred it to London, where Fred and Adele Astaire had a successful run of "Lady, Be Good!" just before starting the rehearsals of "Smarty" in Philadelphia. Jimmy Reeve is the legal guardian of three pretty sisters, Dora, June and Frankie, whose
Fred Astaire teaming of Astaire with Gene Kelly to "The Babbit and the Bromide," a Gershwin song Astaire had introduced with his sister Adele back in 1927. While "Follies" was a hit, "Yolanda" bombed at the box office, and Astaire, ever insecure and believing his career was beginning to falter, surprised his audiences by announcing his retirement during the production of "Blue Skies" (1946), nominating "Puttin' on the Ritz" as his farewell dance. After announcing his retirement in 1946, Astaire concentrated on his horse-racing interests and in 1947 founded the Fred Astaire Dance Studios, which he subsequently sold in 1966. Retirement didn't