Here’s a high quality version of the video that I posted over a year ago. It was the first of my MJ trilogy videos, made on March 2008. It got about 450,000 views in 14 months.

I don’t know whether MJ had ever watched this, but I wished that he would see it on YouTube and just smile… which would have been definitely my biggest pleasure.

Some things I wanted to say by this video are:

1) Fred Astaire was such a great dancer and he could dance beautifully to every type of music… even to a MJ song.

2) MJ is not an originator but such a great successor who inherits various musical legacies and creates his own style.

We must always learn the history.
And now, the next generation must go on just like him.

May you dance in peace with Astaire, MJ.
I will adore you, always.

Fred Astaire in Smooth Criminal (LQ)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gB0UNey-Uk

More about Astaire’s influence on MJ:
http://strongerthanparadise.blog122.fc2.com/blog-entry-65.html
About films used in Smooth Criminal 2009 (This Is It, Noir version):
http://strongerthanparadise.blog122.fc2.com/blog-entry-70.html

The following is the original description I wrote for the video.
————————————-

I love both Astaire and Michael Jackson. I want young people to know Astaire stuff, that is why I made this. The video features scenes from the Girl Hunt ballet in The Band Wagon (1953) starring Astaire and Cyd Charisse (those supreme legs!! The most perfect body a woman could have. So sensual, so elegant), to which MJ gave homage in his Smooth Criminal vid (also in a performance of Get Happy on the Jacksons show in the 70s as well as You Rock My World in 2001), and, as an intro, a sequence from Daddy Long Legs (1955) featuring Leslie Caron (in motion pictures, you mustn’t put a coin into a jukebox in an ordinary way!).

My initial idea was using also Yolanda And The Thief (1945) where Astaire appeared with the same costume, a white suit, hat and a blue shirt, but I eventually omitted it.

Michael Kidd worked with Janet in the Alright vid in 1990, featuring Cyd Charisse (in the red dress!), the Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway.

If you want to see Astaire at the top of his game, watch his ’30s and early ’40s films.
————————————-

The other two of my MJ trilogy videos:
Origins of the Moonwalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZcLWAmdco
West Side Story (Somebody Call Michael mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWTrFVEnaU

Fred Astaire + Robert Palmer – Let’s Face The Music And Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWCijZ-A54M

Duration : 0:7:33

[youtube RKanPsUjP7w]

Drop Dead Fred is a 1991 comedy film released by New Line Cinema, produced by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Working Title Films and directed by Ate de Jong. Rik Mayall stars as the title character, the imaginary friend of Elizabeth, played as an adult by Phoebe Cates.

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:2:28

[youtube g1zPrVT59o0]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:9:45

[youtube PQ3dU0IXW0I]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:9:58

[youtube 8LmMsL_nCaM]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:9:23

[youtube Yz4AnkSr2sU]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

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Duration : 0:9:42

[youtube PGrY7-2NVIU]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:9:54

[youtube 66o0T7iJB4E]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:9:53

[youtube IDf-zUxQ600]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:9:48

[youtube D1xgOyoCkzM]

The supporting cast includes Marsha Mason, Tim Matheson, Carrie Fisher, and Ashley Peldon as young Elizabeth. The film centers on an introverted young woman who is reunited with the imaginary friend of her youth, often with manic and unpredictable results.

*No Copyright Intended*

Duration : 0:9:27

[youtube uoxURntpPmg]