Cinderella For A Day

~by Nancy Lapierre

Tomorrow, November 19, Upper Montclair FADS teachers Kostadin Bidjourov and Carrie Babcock, as well as their adorable daughter, are definitely looking forward to a good morning, America!

Emi, with dad, Kostadin Bidjourov

We join them in being so excited that their little girl, Emi, is appearing on the ABC television show, Good Morning America, for a Disney promotion! We suggest that you tune in by 7:45 A.M. so you don’t miss her television debut, which is scheduled sometime between 7:50 and 8:15 A.M.


Emi will appear in Times Square with Cinderella, and she will also get to wear a Cinderella costume. We’d like to know which part of the performance our little star of the show likes best of all!


Emi’s casting call came when a close family friend, a director/producer from Disney, phoned to say they needed “a beautiful little girl.” Well, he knew who to call, alright.






So, grab your Saturday-morning cup of coffee, adjust your dial, and enjoy the show!

Fred Astaire Commemorative Postage Stamp Petition

Born Frederick Austerlitz (1899) in Omaha, Nebraska, Astaire was the quintessential American innovator in film and stage, as well as a master dancer, choreographer, actor and singer. His career spanned a total of 76 years, during that time he made 31 musical films, ten of which he made with Ginger Rogers (whose name is practically synonymous with Astaire).


Named as the fifth “Greatest Male Star of All Time” by the American Film Institute, Gene Kelley (another innovator in filmed dance) said that “the history of dance on film begins with Astaire.” Others have acknowledged Astaire’s greatness, including Rudolph Nureyev, Michael Jackson, Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine.


Astaire has been credited with two important innovations in early film musicals: the use of a semi-stationary camera to film a single shot which allowed the dancers to be in full view at all times, and the seamless integration of song and dance routines into the plotlines of the films.


An Astaire performance was prized for its elegance, grace, originality and precision and drew upon a variety of influences including tap, and classical dance which greatly influenced the American Smooth style of ballroom dance.


Please take a moment to click on the link below and sign the petition.  Thank you.



For these reasons, we believe Astaire should be honored with a commemorative postage stamp.

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

We wish to petition the U.S. Postal Service and the members of the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee to consider issuing a commemorative postage stamp marking the 115^th birthday (2014) of the legendary film great, Fred Astaire.