Fred Astaire, RIP
ONE CAN'T really say that one mourns the deathof an artist who, like Fred Astaire, ended his career 18 years ago. Not since then had the camera viewed his body at dance: He had been dead ever since then, for all his fans--for all who have eyes to see. The mourning is a formality; the public is supposed to regret the death of anyone, at whatever age, who, at an earlier age, gave the world an enduring gift. One of the few reasons to feel gratitude to the ...