Actually, let’s change the billing to Starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, because of the nine musicals made for RKO by our greatest-of-all dance teams, this is the only one that justifiably can be called “her” film. It’s quite a piece of work from a performer hellbent on becoming a dramatic actress, and in Carefree she’s right on the cusp.

But that’s only one reason why you need to see this film—and if you haven’t you’re not alone. Carefree has had less currency than any of the other eight in the series, and undeservedly so. Fred plays (ready for this?) a psychiatrist who analyzes Ginger for reasons I won’t detail here, and the content and style of the movie are so unusual for them that it’s been called more of a “screwball comedy” than a musical. (There are only three songs and one instrumental.)

But the score, after all, is by Irving Berlin, and two of the songs remain standards: “I Used to Be Color Blind” and the sublime “Change Partners.” The third, “The Yam,” was at least a loopy hit in 1938.

My co-host, LIZ BAUMGARTNER, will be making her second appearance with TMTP in that role. Liz pleases me tremendously: she’s a much younger fanatic about the art form who is a dancer, choreographer and educator, and it happens that her true love is classic material.