I never tire of that clip.
Every woman who watched you back in 1952 wanted to be Debbie Reynolds. They still do.
You may have been light on your feet, but your swooning fans imagined you in a heavy sweater with your muscled biceps around their shoulders as the fire crackled and the hot toddies blurred all of the world's hard edges.
You made it all look so effortless; and you made dancing sexy and masculine.
You would have been 100 today. The world misses you, Gene, but we'll never forget you.
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6 comments:
I love that clip too! It makes you happy. And it's great that I can do all of those steps. While sitting down, of course.
Made even more amazing when you realize that to appear on camera, the water has to be coming down *WAY* harder than it looks.
That's not "just a little heavier than usual", that's "flooding is happening somewhere torrential downpour!"
And I'm sure they didn't get it in one single take, so he had to change into fresh clothes and do it over again I assume. (Although on watching again, I do notice that after he drops the umbrella and stands in the rain for a moment there is a cut, so the first part needed only be filmed once, and they could do re-takes on the 'already wet' dancing without putting on dry clothes again.)
I also heard on the radio today that Kelly was running a fever of 103 when he filmed the "Singing in the Rain" scene.
What an amazing man he was.
I will take Debbie!
I like Gene Kelly as a dancer and singer. His acting in-between all the dancing and singin has always left me a bit cold, but then, he's not celebrated for that, anyway, is he?
The "Singing in the Rain" scene is justly famous, but my favorite musical number in the film is the "Broadway Melody" sequence. Here's the set-up: Kelly and Donald O'Conner is pitching this movie idea to a studio mogul. As they pitch, the idea plays out before our eyes. Basically a combination (as well as spoof) of 1930s show biz and crime movies, it tells the story of an apiring young hoofer, played by Kelly, who heads to Broadway, achieving success at first in a mob-owned nightclub, where he is sidetracked by a gangster's moll played by Cyd Charisse (there are far worse ways to get sidetracked) She eventually dumps him and he goes on to become a brokenhearted Broadway star. The sight of another aspiring hoofer makes him realize how much he loves show business, and he snaps out of his depression.
At then end of this huge number, we're transported back to the studio chief's office. His opinion of Kelly and O'Conner's pitch? "I can't quite visualize it."
I've never seen this clip the same way since I saw "A Clockwork Orange".
MR
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