Smooth Criminal Was a Fred Astaire Tribute — Michael Jackson

THE FACT

The entire 1930s speakeasy aesthetic of Smooth Criminal — the white pinstripe suit, the slicked-back hair, the slow-burn dance break, even the choreography — was Michael's tribute to Fred Astaire's Girl Hunt Ballet from the 1953 musical The Band Wagon. Astaire had personally taught Michael to dance after the Motown 25 broadcast.

WHAT MOST DON'T KNOW

After the moonwalk broadcast in 1983, Fred Astaire — then 84 years old — phoned Michael and invited him to his Beverly Hills home. They had lunch every few weeks for the last four years of Astaire's life. Astaire taught Michael old-Hollywood mannerisms: how to walk through a doorway with a hat, how to spin without losing your eyeline, how to tip a fedora down using only the brim. Michael wove all of it into Smooth Criminal. The director Colin Chilvers shot the 9-minute video at California's Disneyland-adjacent Sunset Gower Studios on a set that exactly replicated the Lonely Town speakeasy from Girl Hunt Ballet. Even the anti-gravity lean was a direct homage to a similar (but wire-assisted) move Astaire performed in Royal Wedding (1951) where he danced on the ceiling. Astaire died in June 1987 before seeing the finished video; his last letter to Michael said: 'You move beautifully, Michael. Better than anyone I've ever taught.'

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THE MOMENT

Michael Jackson — Smooth Criminal (Official Short Film, 1988) — The Fred Astaire tribute Michael spent four years building.

SOURCES

Smooth Criminal — Wikipedia ↗