Shall we dance: The life of Ginger Rogers by Sheridan Morley
Shall We Dance: The Life of Ginger Rogers
A Definitive Photographic Retrospective and Critical Biography of the Silver Screen's Ultimate Dancing Legend
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Shall We Dance: The Life of Ginger Rogers
- Author: Sheridan Morley
- Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
- Publication Date: 1995
- ISBN-10: 0297816715
- ISBN-13: 9780297816713
- Edition Details: First UK Edition, Standard Hardcover Release.
- Binding: Original publisher's premium cloth-bound hardcover boards with gold-foil spine lettering, complete with an unclipped illustrated dust jacket.
- Physical Format: Royal Octavo (8vo), 96 pages. Structured as a lavish photo-biography featuring rare, high-quality full-page production stills, intimate off-screen archival portraits, and definitive performance records.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Exterior / Boards: The cloth-covered boards are exceptionally flat, square, and structurally sound with sharp corners. The spine remains completely uncreased, crisp, and undamaged at the tips, maintaining bright, unblemished gilt stamping.
- Interior: The text block is robustly bound, tight, and completely square. Internal pages, expansive photo layouts, and text margins are clean, bright, and beautifully preserved. Entirely free of aging, foxing, user highlighting, margin notes, or dog-ears.
- Protective Preservation: Professionally enclosed in a heavy-duty, archival cellophane cover, fully shielding the exterior boards from environmental friction or dust accumulation.
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The Dust Jacket: Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Condition details: Present, vibrant, and complete. Displays only very limited, microscopic signs of light storage wear along the extreme edges and extremities, remaining completely free of open tears, heavy scuffs, or significant chips.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1995, Shall We Dance: The Life of Ginger Rogers stands as a poignant visual and biographical tribute published in the very year of the legendary star's passing. Acclaimed theater critic and biographer Sheridan Morley offers a nuanced, highly engaging perspective that goes beyond the glitz of the RKO backlots. While paying rich tribute to her immortal, gravity-defying musical partnerships with Fred Astaire, Morley meticulously examines all aspects of Rogers' varied career—including her Academy Award-winning dramatic triumph in Kitty Foyle—and provides a sensitive look into her complex, sometimes difficult private life and five marriages. This scarce, well-maintained first-edition photo-biography functions as an essential archival keepsake for classic Hollywood preservationists, dance historians, and cinema collectors.
Author Profile: Sheridan Morley
Sheridan Morley (1941–2007) was a highly distinguished British author, biographer, critic, and broadcaster. The son of the celebrated actor Robert Morley, he read English at Oxford University before embarking on a prolific career as a theater critic for The Times, Punch, and The International Herald Tribune. Renowned for his deep insider knowledge of the entertainment industry and his elegant narrative pace, Morley authored over thirty books, specializing in definitive biographies of theatrical and cinematic legends like Noel Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, and David Niven.
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