Multi-talented actor/dancer/vocalist Fred Astaire introduced this Gershwin number in the 1937 film, A Damsel in Distress. Astaire’s recording, accompanied by the orchestra of Ray Noble (who had a part in the film), rose to first place on the charts the following year:

• Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm (1937, #8)
• Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra (1937, Billie Holiday, vocal, #20)
• Fred Astaire (1938, vocal, #1)
• Maxine Sullivan (1938, vocal, #10)
• Andrew Sisters (1939, vocal, #12)

A Damsel in Distress, with a screenplay by noted author and playwright P.G. Wodehouse, was Fred Astaire’s eighth musical for RKO pictures and his third without dancing partner Ginger Rogers. In addition to Astaire, the film included Joan Fontaine as English aristocrat Lady Alyce Marshmorton and the husband-wife comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen. Predictably, Rogers’ absence hurt the film immeasurably (both financially and critically), since Fontaine, although born in England and right for the part, was unable to sing, and her dancing in the film is nothing special. One sequence in the picture features Astaire and Allen dancing a routine made famous by Astaire and his sister Adele, and although it is competent and amusing, it was certainly a let down for those expecting the terpsichorean magic of Rogers and Astaire.

Undoubtedly the highpoints of the film are the brilliant songs by George and Ira Gershwin and the singing and dancing of Astaire. Long-time Astaire choreographer Hermes Pan won an Oscar for the routine on the number “Stiff Upper Lip,” the feature dance by Astaire and Allen. Astaire’s dancing sequence with the song “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” is executed by him dancing and playing around a drum set, a marvelous routine that got rave reviews and is still a high point of the film.

A Damsel in Distress was the second RKO/Astaire picture with music by the Gershwin brothers. “Nice Work” was one of the first tunes completed for the film; in fact it had been, in songwriter’s parlance, a “trunk” song--a piece of music written and then filed away for future use. Its first incarnation was a nine-bar phrase written in 1930 with the tentative title of “There’s No Stopping Me Now.” The team had begun writing the music in early 1937 and finished May 12, submitting nine songs, one of which, “Pay Some Attention to Me,” was not used in the film.

Almost immediately the songwriters began work on their next film, The Goldwyn Follies. Although the team was to complete three songs for the film, it was during this period that George began exhibiting symptoms of the brain tumor that would end his short but brilliant career. Initially doctors felt his symptoms were due more to overwork and stress than to something physical, but by early July his condition had worsened. He lapsed into a coma and had emergency surgery to remove the tumor, but it was to no avail, and he expired on July 11, 1937, just 38 years old. George never saw the finished version of A Damsel in Distress.

Two more of Astaire’s numbers made the hit parade during 1938, including the flip side of “Nice Work,” “Things are Looking Up,” and what many consider the best number from the film, “A Foggy Day,” which the Gershwins completed in less than an hour.

The term “nice work if you can get it” was a popular phrase in England, and undoubtedly Ira Gershwin felt it an appropriate tune title considering the English setting of A Damsel in Distress. “Nice Work” is a lighthearted reminder that enjoying life and love should be more important than striving for money and fame. The admonition set up in the verse, “the man who lives for only making money, lives a life that isn’t necessarily sunny,” leads into the chorus, extolling the virtues of holding hands, loving one who loves you, and eventually “taking that vow.” In a typical lyricist’s ploy, Ira “stole” a line from his lyric for “I Got Rhythm”: “who could ask for anything more.”