Musicals showcase the talented triple threats who can act, sing, and dance, transporting viewers to the utmost fantasy lands where characters break into song when emotions overflow, sometimes accompanied by elaborate, synchronized dancing. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers partnered for multiple movies with theatrical flair, emotional performances, and beautiful songs that account for some of the most entertaining musicals of all time.

The duo took the lead in The Gay Divorcee with Rogers as Mimi, a woman seeking divorce by hiring someone to make it appear like she’s cheating and Astaire as Guy, the man Mimi mistakenly thinks has been sent to her for the faux affair. The pair kept up with each other through flirtatious jabs, romantic miscues, mistaken identities, a flurry of complex dance routines, and upbeat melodies and heartfelt ballads, crafted to make the audience smile.

The movie was helmed by Mark Sandrich, a director who had established his talent for directing comedy musicals like Melody Cruise and Hips, Hips, Hooray! It was based on the Gay Divorce Broadway musical written by Dwight Taylor, and featured the Cole Porter songs “Night and Day” and “The Continental.”

The Gay Divorcee also marked the first time that Astaire and Rogers were joined by actors Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore. The duo had great comedic chemistry, often trading bits of dialogue centered on perplexed confusion and misunderstanding. In The Gay Divorcee Horton played Rogers’ bumbling, incompetent lawyer and Blore was a waiter who has the crucial information about the adulterer husband.

The movie was released 90 years ago on October 19, 1934, and became a hit with both audiences and critics. The Gay Divorcee was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Porter’s song, “The Continental.” The movie’s success was a springboard to eight more Fred and Ginger movies, showing off their alluring chemistry and dynamite dancing skills.