Backwards in High Heels Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide

GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY
Abott and Costello: A famous comedy duo who worked
extensively in radio, fi lm and television in the 1940s and 1950s.
Their most famous routine, “Who’s on First” is perhaps the most
well-known comedy routine of all time and set the bar for all
comedians that followed.
Bette Davis
Backwards in High Heels
Comedy duo Abbott & Costello
Bette Davis: An actress well-known for her intense portrayal
of dramatic roles (and her forceful nature both on and offscreen)
made Bette Davis one of the most iconic fi lm stars
of her day. Though Ginger Rogers and Bette Davis had very
different onscreen personas for many years, they were good
friends.
Busby Berkeley: A highly infl uential Hollywood movie
director and musical choreographer, Berkeley’s musical
numbers are still some of the most famous screen moments
of all time. He was known for using shots that looked down
from above on his dancers while they created complex
geometric patterns with their bodies.
Ethel Merman: An actress and singer who dazzled both
Busby Berkeley
stage and screen with her powerful voice and persona. She
appeared in Girl Crazy alongside Ginger Rogers in 1930,
as well as in I Got Rhythm in 1930, Anything Goes in 1936, and There’s No Business Like
Show Business in 1954. A star of both the stage and the screen, she has been called "the
undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage."
Feathers: A nickname that Fred Astaire used for Ginger. It came about on the set of Top Hat,
perhaps their most famous fi lm, made in 1935. For the principal number “Cheek to Cheek,”
Ginger insisted on wearing a lavish ostrich feather dress. While the dress moved well, it
would scatter feathers when she danced - all across the fl oor, in front of the cameras, and in
Fred’s hair and clothes. Fred Astaire and Hermes Pan jokingly rewrote the lyrics to “Cheek to
Cheek” to say “Feathers, I see feathers…” In the end, Fred apologized to Ginger with a gold
feather charm and a note reading “You were right.”
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 19