Song:Singin' In The Rain
Album:Singin' In The Rain: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Who was the better dancer, Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly? Of course they were different. Astaire was a tap dancer and Kelly was a ballet dancer. Both were huge stars and Singin' In The Rain may be Kelly's most beloved performance. He was born Aug. 23, 1912 in Pittsburgh and Kelly started teaching dance while attending college at his own dance studio. In 1938, he went to New York to establish himself as a choreographer. After a couple of hit shows including Pal Joey, Kelly signed with David O. Selznick and went to Hollywood in 1941. Ultimately his contract was sold to MGM. His 1942 film debut For Me And My Gal did well enough that producer Arthur Freed used him in other films. MGM loaned Kelly to Columbia for the 1944 film Cover Girl co-starring Rita Hayworth. Freed saw enough to start letting Kelly do his own choreography. His dance routine with the cartoon mouse Jerry in the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh won Kelly a Best Actor Oscar nomination. He also got to work with Fred Astaire in Ziegfield Follies before going into the service. When he returned, he floundered a bit until Freed let him direct On The Town in 1948. It was a huge hit and Kelly and co-director Stanley Donen did several more films together including Singin' In The Rain. Because the film was about the early days of talkies in Hollywood, it allowed Freed to use the MGM song catalog. Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote the script with that in mind. Singin' In The Rain was written in the 20s by Freed and Nacio Herb Brown. It first appeared in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, the kind of standard hodgepodge musical that MGM produced for most of the 30s. Singin' In The Rain was performed by Cliff Edwards AKA Ukelele Ike AKA Jiminy Cricket along with The Brox Sisters. Jimmy Durante performed the song in the 1932 film Speak Easily and Judy Garland performed it in the 1940 film Little Nellie Kelly. One of the myths of Kelly's performance of Singin' In The Rain is that he filmed it in one take. The scene was filmed over three days. The soundtrack is available from Rhino as a budget release and there is also a 2CD deluxe edition. After Kelly's success with Singin' In The Rain and An American In Paris, he declined in the 50s. Musicals were losing steam anyway. Gene Kelly continued to do all kinds of film and TV until his death on Feb. 2, 1996 at age 83. He was one of the greatest musical performers in Hollywood history and an innovative choreographer. Here's Gene Kelly performing Singin' In The Rain in the 1951 film Singin' In The Rain.
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