During his years as dancer, choreographer and director Charles Walters was highly regarded, and well-paid. He began working on Broadway in the 1930s and directed his first film in 1947, Good News. He was then part of the Arthur Freed unit at MGM and was nominated for an Academy Award for directing Lili (1954). He did choreography both on the films he himself directed as well as on other films, including Meet Me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli 1944) and Gigi (Vincente Minnelli 1958), sometimes having sole responsibility, including for the camera movements, for those scenes he choreographed. Walters was also, unusually at the time, an openly gay man, living with his partner John Darrow. He made his last film in 1966, Walk, Don't Run, after which he worked for television for ten more years. He died in 1982.
I had planned for this week's post to be about Walters and his films alas, due to a remarkable number of technical difficulties and lost books, that will not happen. It will have to wait for another day. And as I had nothing else planned, this is pretty much all you are going to get this time.
Well, and this scene from High Society (1956), with music by Cole Porter. I love it.
