Fred Astaire wartime drama "The Sky's the Limit" (1943), in which he introduced Arlen and Mercer's "One for My Baby" while dancing on a bar counter in a dark and troubled routine. This film, which was choreographed by Astaire alone and achieved modest box office success, represented an important departure for Astaire from his usual charming happy-go-lucky screen persona, and confused contemporary critics. His next partner, Lucille Bremer, was featured in two lavish vehicles, both directed by Vincente Minnelli: the fantasy "Yolanda and the Thief", which featured an avant-garde surrealistic ballet, and the musical revue "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946), which featured a memorable
An Evening with Fred Astaire "Another Evening with Fred Astaire". Not all media coverage was so positive however. After the show won an unprecedented nine Emmy awards, Ed Sullivan queried whether Astaire should have been awarded the Best Actor Award. Astaire promptly offered to return the award protesting: "I'm an actor, and this Emmy is for a performance by an actor, isn't it? When I do a difficult pantomime in a dance which tells a story, what do they think it is? Tiddlywinks?". He kept the award, but when "Variety" reported that MCA had lost $75,000 on the show he retorted angrily: "Kindly retract erroneous