American actress-dancer Barrie Chase’s first appearance as Fred Astaire’s hand-picked television partner on NBC’s An Evening with Fred Astaire (17 October 1958) proved a turning point in her young career. Personally invited by the legend himself, she—a modest small screen fixture since the early 1950’s—stepped into the shoes of Ginger Rodgers, Rita Hayworth, Cyd Charisse, and Vera-Ellen, among others, just three days shy of her 25th birthday. Their silken dance routine to the 1938 Academy Award-