I have never had anything that I can remember in the business - and that includes all the movies and the stage shows and everything - that I didn't enjoy. I didn't like some of the small-time vaudeville, because we weren't going on and getting better. Aside from that, I didn't dislike anything.

Oh, God! That boy moves in a very exceptional way. That's the greatest dancer of the century.

But I do nothing that I don't like, such as "inventing" up to the arty or "down" to the corny. I happen to relish a certain type of corn. What I think is the really dangerous approach is the "let's be artistic" attitude. I know that artistry just happens.

I often take a brand-new suit or hat and throw it up against the wall a few times to get that stiff, square newness out of it.

Some people seem to think that good dancers are born, but all the good dancers I have known are taught or trained.

We attend to his later performances as a dramatic actor with respect, but watching the nondancing, nonsinging Astaire is like watching a grounded skylark.

I had some ballet training but didn't like it. It was like a game to me.