As Ginger Rogers with a notorious Playboy in the Grand Slam Tennis

Under the Wimbledon Museum collection there is a stylish Louis Vuitton thug bag, which used to be owned by the Hollywood legend Fred Astaire.

It is one of several objects that indicate the glorious days of the California tennis scene: a vertebrae of Gatsby-like glamor and excess. In the 1920s and 30s, actors and studio bosses danced regularly, drank and ate with famous champions such as Big Bill Tilden, Helen Wills Moody and Alice Marble.

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But while Astaire is remembered as a stylish amateur player, who of course had quick feet, his regular dance partner Ginger Rogers went better. In 1950 she teamed up with the former second place in Wimbledon, Frank Shields, in the Mixed-Doubles Ununctions in Forest Hills. These were the US Open, or – as we would know better now.

For Rogers, who was known that he had “done everything Astaire did backwards and in high heels”, it must have been quite a leap from the social games that she regularly played on her own homemade farm in Beverly Hills.

Mind you, this house has seen some famous tennis seeds over the years. Your autobiography Ginger reports that “I had the only dish in Southern California”, which sounds like artificial tone. As Rogers added:

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The mixed double escape was short-term when Rogers and Shields lost in the first round in Forest Hills. But then the tennis may not be the whole story. Other star names, which were part of the Hollywood Racket -Crowd, are reminiscent of Rogers as very competent but still limited players who would never go too deep in the event. Budge Patty, who won Wimbledon this summer, once said: “There was only one reason why Frank had played with her” and gave a meaningful look.

Rogers certainly preferred a sportsman. In GingerShe reports that her third husband – a grumpy navy named Jack Briggs – had thrown her on the pitch and adds that “I would not have ended with him if he hadn’t liked tennis.” Even her fourth husband, Jacques Bergerac, was often found, which she worked together on tennis and golf.

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But Shields, who performed in 10 own films without ever building a real screen career, was at a different level. His world ranking, which was calculated by the world tennis ponders at the time, reached a highlight in No. 2 in 1931 and he was a long-time captain of the USA Cup team before the mid-1930s seems to have a preference for drinks.

Schilde, simply put, was a Hellraiser. Remains and scratches, including a notorious occasion, when he disappeared after he had disappeared from 1934 in the quarter -finals of the French Open, and finally at sea without money and without possessions as the smoking in which he had the ship on board.

I mentioned that in 1931 Shields was a second place from Wimbledon. Technically speaking, he was not a finalist. To quote the American cultural critic Jeffrey hard: “Shields was the only player in history to not performed for a Wimbledon final. [Jean] Borotra – although the explanations are not mutually exclusive. “

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In the same article-one review of the biography, which was published in 1986 by Shield’s son William-Hart describes him as a “natural athlete, surprisingly quickly and strongly with six Six and drop-down good-looking, a dark apollo”. He used these attributes to marry three rich heirs one after the other, including a Spanish princess who was happy in the name Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi.

Through her and her son Francis Alexander, Frank became the grandfather of Brooke Shields, the actress and the early “IT Girl”, who was the first woman as Andre Agassi’s.

In view of the fact that we know about Shields and the progress of his rake, it is perhaps surprising that his son’s biography – which is divided, “the last great amateur” – almost does not mention his partnership with Rogers. Only a boring sentence appears: “Ginger Rogers and Pop were buddy from his Hollywood Days and occasionally played mixed double. They teamed up in Forest Hills for a year.”

When we turn GingerThere is no mention of signs on its 560 pages and its detailed index, in which Hollywoods are carried out great and well. Whatever the exact nature of its connection is, my money is on one thing: it didn’t end well.