Fred Astaire — classy, charming, elegant — was born one hundred years ago this spring, and by the time of his death in 1987, he had become one of the most vivid cultural images of the century.

His character in the 1935 Top Hat is typical: The debonair young Jerry Travers, cane in hand, shimmers onto the screen in top hat, white tie, and tails, to dance and sing, “I’m steppin’ out, my dear, / to breathe an atmosphere / that simply reeks of class,” while a line of supporting dancers in evening clothes becomes a shooting gallery for his pantomime with the cane.