A dance number by fourth and fifth billed Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the 1933 surreal musical "Flying Down to Rio" got the pair noticed. Starting with 1934's Gay Divorcee and ending with 1939's "Story of Vernon and Irene Castle", the two had a series of hit filmed musicals at RKO that are now part of the cultural history of the twentieth century.
This documentary episode was made in 1987, but the interviews were probably done some time before then, as Fred Astaire died in 1987. There are detailed interviews with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and choreographer Hermes Pan.
There is lots of discussion on the creative process, the perfectionism and camera shyness of Fred Astaire, how Ginger Rogers' gowns would often torment Fred, and recollections about Irving Berlin who, in spite of only a grade school education came up with eloquent lyrics to match his music. Berlin wrote the music and lyrics for three of the Astaire/Rogers musicals. So there was just lots of once in a lifetime talent on the set for this collection of musicals.
There is some color footage of Fred dancing, and a number with Fred dancing with a ghostly figure that was cut from one of the films but still survives. But in 1939, the last Astaire/Rogers musical actually lost money and the duo ended their partnership at RKO. Narrator Ed Asner says that maybe the collaborative team had run out of new ideas, or maybe that movie audience tastes were just changing since America was moving out of the Depression and into wartime. Definitely a good detailed look at how the films were crafted, and because of all of the footage of Warner Brothers' owned films, almost impossible to see in the United States.