Pick Yourself Up

On a lazy Sunday what better to inspire you to get up and move than Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to "Pick Yourself Up" from Swing Time (1936)? This is one of my favourite Fred and Ginger routines—no elaborate set, the choreography is concise but brilliant, and I've always coveted Ginger's dress (love Peter Pan collars).

Fred plays a former dancer turned gambler who runs into Ginger and promptly gets her in trouble with a police officer. Following her to her job at a dance studio, he pretends to need lessons. Acting the klutz, Fred literally falls all over Ginger while they sing "Pick Yourself Up." Ginger finally tells him "Listen. No one could teach you to dance in a million years. Take my advice and save your money!"  Her boss, played by the always entertaining Eric Blore, hears this and fires her. Fred grabs Ginger and shows the boss what she has taught him, resulting in the dance above to the same song.

"Pick Yourself Up" by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern had a great "can do" message for Americans during the Depression and proved to be a big hit. So go out and conquer those weekend projects, the crowds at the shops, the pile of laundry, whatever you need to do. Just move. And remember to "pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again."