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- Stanley Donen, who co-directed the movie with Kelly (and who will turn 88 on April 13), has said the initial story idea was developed for a movie to be called "Excess Baggage" that would have starred Ann Miller.
- Only two original songs were composed for the film: "Make 'Em Laugh" and "Moses."
- Otherwise, the movie was an excuse for Arthur Freed, the producer who headed the famed "Freed Unit" that made so many of the classic MGM musicals, to recycle songs that he'd written as a lyricist with composer Nacio Herb Brown two decades earlier for some of the studio's earliest musicals.
- The title song originally appeared in "The Hollywood Revue of 1929," performed by Ukulele Ike (a.k.a. Cliff Edwards). It would be sung in four more movies, including by William Bendix in "The Babe Ruth Story," before Freed had Comden and Green build a movie around it.
- Gene Kelly’s Early Life
- Gene Kelly’s Start in Hollywood
- Gene Kelly’s Politics
- Gene Kelly and The Musical Era
- Gene Kelly’s Legacy
Born in 1912 into a large middle-class Irish family in Pittsburgh, Kelly’s father was a traveling record salesman and his mother was possessed with a formidable determination to expose her children to the arts. By his teenage years, Gene and his brother Fred took over a failing dance school with their mother and their father slid deeper into alcoho...
Seeing him on stage, MGM head Louis B. Mayer assured Kelly that the studio would like to sign him without so much as a screen test but, through a series of miscommunications, a screen test is requested and Kelly refused. Writing an acerbic letter to Mayer accusing him of duplicity, Kelly turned down the counteroffer and set the stage for a lifetime...
During his marriage to the actress Betsy Blair, Kelly was radicalized and the couple became well known for their liberal politics. In 1947, when the Carpenters Union went on strike and the Hollywood studios were looking for an intermediary to intervene on their behalf, Kelly was chosen much to everyone’s surprise. He traveled back and forth from Cu...
More mediocre roles in “revue” films followed and Kelly’s frustrations mounted. He was, however, able to continue refining and showcasing his unique appeal and approach to new material with standout numbers in The Pirate and Words and Music, among other films. Determined from the start to differentiate himself from Fred Astaire, Kelly concerned him...
Jeanne Coyne died of leukemia in 1973, leaving Kelly to raise their two young children alone. In his determination to be a better father than he had been to his first daughter, Kelly refused all work that would take him away from Los Angeles, including the offer to direct the film Cabaretin Munich. He tried series television, guest appearances, chi...
2,215. 116. Play trailer 4:02. 4 8. 10 Videos. 99+ Photos. Comedy Musical Romance. A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood. Directors. Stanley Donen. Gene Kelly. Writers. Betty Comden. Adolph Green. Stars.
- Dweck
- 4 min
- Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Mar 30, 2023 · Features. Why Singin’ in the Rain Is Still the Best Movie Musical. We examine the elusive elements that cause Singin' in the Rain to regularly be cited as the greatest movie musical...
Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno, and Cyd Charisse in supporting roles.
Mar 20, 2019 · The Story of Singin’ in the Rain” is running at Winter Park Playhouse through April 13. It looks at the making of the classic movie and the backstage turmoil caused by the tensions between...
Singin' in the Rain (1952) Jeanne Coyne: Chorus Girl. Showing all 1 items. Jump to: Quotes (1) Don Lockwood : [dancers scream as he enters their dressing room] Oh, excuse me. Where'd Miss Selden go? Female dancer : She just grabbed her things and bolted. [flirtatiously] Female dancer : Anything I can do?
