Stubs – Singin’ In The Rain

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952) Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds. Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. Screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Produced by Arthur Freed. Run Time: 103. Color. U.S. Musical, Comedy.

Okay, it seems to me that I’m starting to let Turner Classic Movies determine the titles I write about for this blog. The film, celebrating its 60^th anniversary is being shown in an encore presentation at movie theaters around the country next week. This isn’t the old revival type of release, either, but a digital cinema presentation, sort of akin to pay per view on a really big TV screen, but with only one start time to choose from. Some things are better left on film.

The first time I saw Singin’ in the Rain, I was in Junior college, taking an English course that was basically watching movies and writing a few papers on what we had seen. At the time, I was not a big fan of musicals (not that I’m a really huge fan now) and I thought the film was rather silly. I remember writing in my critique that I thought the lyric: “Moses supposes his toeses are roses” was exceptionally so.

Several years later, I’m more open to the musical genre on film and have already written praises of a few on this blog. It is time now to write appreciatively about Singin’ In The Rain. I’m not a fan, in that I’ll watch any musical, but if they’re good and star someone other than Barbara Streisand or Jeanette MacDonald, I might give it a go.

While thinking about what to write about this film, I’m struck by the similarities in the story between this film and last year’s Academy Award-winning The Artist. Both films deal with Hollywood’s transition from silent films to talkies and in particular the impact of the change on the leading man, who starts out as an action-adventure star and ends up as a song and dance man. In fact, Jean Dujardin, who played George Valentin, has acknowledged that Gene Kelly inspired his work. [It should be noted that both Dujardin’s Valentin and Kelly’s Don Lockwood are homages to silent swashbuckling star Douglas Fairbanks.] And whereas The Artist dealt with this transition by staying black and white and silent through 99% of the film, Singin’ In the Rain, depicts the change through vibrant Technicolor and music.

One of the differences though is that while The Artist seems to concentrate on the characters over the technology, Singin’ In The Rain actually provides a bit more of a history lesson, actually showing what went on behind the scenes with vocal coaching and microphone placement. And while I’m sure a true film historian might quibble with this, I think the film is fairly accurate with this portrayal.

The films opens, again like The Artist, at a Hollywood movie premiere. Lockwood and his film love interest Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are linked romantically by their studio’s, Monumental Pictures, publicity department. The problem is Lina believes her own publicity, despite Lockwood’s attempts to keep her at arm’s length.

One day, while to get away from his fans, Lockwood climbs into a car driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). Kathy, who claims to be a stage actress, holds Lockwood in disdain. At a party, R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell), the head of Monumental, shows a Vitaphone short demonstrating talking pictures. But no one in attendance is impressed or sees the writing on the wall. When a cake is wheeled out, Kathy, to Lockwood’s amusement, pops out. But Kathy doesn’t appreciate Lockwood’s teasing and throws real cake at him, but hits Lina instead. Later, Lockwood manages to find Kathy, who is working, oddly enough, as an extra on another Monumental production and they begin to fall in love.

But the winds of change are already blowing. Warner Bros.'s success with the Jazz Singer in 1927 turns Hollywood on its ear. R.F. makes the decision that talkies are the wave of the future and decides to turn Lockwood’s and Lamont’s latest film, The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. The problem is Lina’s voice, which is comical at best. The studio hires a diction coach, but they only get exasperated (and where we get “Moses supposes”). A test screening is also a disaster and when the sound gets out of synch, the results are unintentionally funny.

Don’s best friend, the multi-talented Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) gets the idea to dub Lina’s voice with Kathy’s. Together they persuade R.F. to turn The Dueling Cavalier into a musical, The Dancing Cavalier, complete with a modern sequence, called Broadway Melody, which seems out of place from the get-go (if you asked me). Lina finally clues into the romance between Kathy and Lockwood and tries to break them up. She even becomes angrier when she finds out about her voice being dubbed and R.F.’s plans to give Kathy a screen credit and publicity push. Lina threatens to sue unless R.F. forces Kathy to remain anonymous. R.F. reluctantly capitulates.

While The Dancing Cavalier is a crowd-pleaser, the audience at the premiere clamor for Lina to sing live. R.F., Don, and Cosmo convince Lina to lip-synch to Kathy singing behind a curtain. When the audience applauds, R.F., Don, and Cosmo raise the curtain to show Kathy is really doing the singing. Lina is embarrassed and runs away. Kathy starts to do likewise, but Don announces to the crowd that Kathy is the real star of the film. The film ends with Kathy and Don kissing in front of a billboard for their next film, aptly named Singin’ In The Rain.

There are so many things great at work in this film that make it successful. To start off with, Gene Kelly is a tremendously talented dancer. He doesn’t have Fred Astaire’s finesse, but he makes up for it with athleticism. At the time of Singin’ In the Rain, Kelly had just come off starring in the Academy Award-winning An American in Paris, a musical inspired by George Gershwin’s music, especially the orchestral work from which the film got its name.

Kelly co-directed and co-choreographed the film with Stanley Donen. Donen had come to Hollywood to work for Kelly as an assistant choreographer. They had previously co-directed On The Town (1949) together. Despite their working relationship, the two did not end up as fast friends. Part of the problem was that Donen didn’t feel Kelly gave him the respect and credit he deserved and part of it was the fact the two men both married the same woman, dancer Jeanne Coyne.

Donen was a talented director on his own, included in his canon are Royal Wedding (1951), Funny Face (1955), Indiscreet (1958), Charade (1963), Two For the Road (1967), Bedazzled (1967) and Movie Movie (1978).

You wouldn’t know to look at her on the screen, but at the time she made Singin’ In The Rain, Debbie Reynolds was not a dancer. While she had been a gymnast, Kelly was upset with her lack of experience. Fred Astaire, who happened to be hanging around the studio, offered to help her with her dancing.

Reynolds is a little force of nature. She can sing and dance, as demonstrated in this film and many others; she could also act. In the epic Cinerama western How the West Was Won, Reynolds’ character Lilith Prescott is the thread that holds the film together. She has also proven to be a smart businesswoman, buying warehouses of movie costumes and props, which she has recently been selling for a profit. She is also the mother of Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher. She continues to act, appearing in Albert Brook’s Mother (1996) and has an appearance in One For the Money (2012).

Donald O’Connor began acting in films at the age of 12, appearing with Bing Crosby in Sing, You Sinners (1937). He worked at Universal in 1942, hitting it big with Mister Big (1943). After serving in the Army during World War II, O’Connor returned to Hollywood and got a unique co-star, Francis (1949), the talking mule.  He would make a Francis movie every year until 1955. He got an illness from Frances that prevented him from appearing again with Bing Crosby in White Christmas (1954), a part that would go to Danny Kaye. O’Connor is the comedy relief in Singin’ In The Rain and is perhaps best remembered for the dance number Make ‘Em Laugh from that film.

And what is a musical without songs? Singin’ In The Rain recycles many songs from previous MGM musical films, including the title track, which originally appeared in Hollywood Revue of 1929, itself an early talkie and only the second musical produced at the home of Hollywood musical’s MGM. “Fit as a Fiddle (And Ready For Love)” was originally in College Coach (1933); Going Hollywood (1933) provided “Temptation” and “Beautiful Girl”; “Good Morning” is from Babes in Arms (1939), and so on and so on. There are only two original songs; “Moses Supposes” and “Make ‘Em Laugh”, with the latter considered by many to plagiarized from Cole Porter’s “Be A Clown”.

But it is the production numbers that this film is best known for. Who can forget Kelly sloshing his way through a downpour in “Singin’ In The Rain”, O’Connor’s athletic dancing in “Make ‘Em Laugh” or Kelly, O’Connor, and Reynolds dancing their way through “Good Morning”. Reynolds danced so hard in the latter that her feet began to bleed. “Broadway Melody Ballet” always seems a little tacked on to me, but it is still a very impressive number featuring Cyd Charise, whom Kelly chose over Reynolds.

There is very little not to like about Singin’ In The Rain. If you’ve never seen it, you are in for a real treat. One of the last great MGM musicals, Singin’ In The Rain, is something to behold.

Stubs - On The Town

ON THE TOWN (1949) Starring: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin and Vera-Ellen. Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. Written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, based upon the Broadway Musical. Produced by Arthur Freed. Run Time: 98 minutes, Color. U.S. Musical, Comedy

Three sailors, Gabey (Gene Kelly), Chip (Frank Sinatra), and Ozzie (Jules Munshin) are in New York with a 24-hour leave. Starting at 6 AM, they have until the same time the next day to see all the sights of the city that none of the men has ever been to before. All of them are from small towns and visiting New York is like going to Oz for them. Chip, armed with an outdated visitor’s guide from his grandfather, has a long list of sights, but the other two are more interested in meeting girls while they’re onshore.

Gabey falls in love with the photo of the June Miss Turnstiles, Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen). And while they quickly run into her on a publicity shot, she disappears into the city and the boys take chase. Using the publicity poster for clues, they flag down a cab driven by Brumhilde “Hildy” Esterhazy (Betty Garrett), who takes a keen interest in Chip. Even though her shift is over and the cab is overdue, Hildy takes up the chase with the boys, so she could be with Chip.

Following the clue that she goes to museums, they head to the closest one they can find, a museum dedicated to Anthropology. There they run into Claire Huddesen (Ann Miller), a scientist who thinks Ozzie looks like a caveman. While Ozzie isn’t thrilled with the comparison at first, he does like the attention Claire pays to him. After accidentally bringing down a huge dinosaur skeleton, the five escape to the streets.

At Hildy’s suggestion, they break up into groups; she and Chip, Claire and Ozzie, and Gabey to go in search of elusive Ivy Smith. They agree to regroup on the Empire State Building at 8:30 that night. But while Gabey is determined, the others are more interested in each other than finding Miss Turnstiles. However, Gabey does find her at the next place he looks, Symphony Hall, in one of the practice rooms.

Ivy and Gabey agree to meet and Gabey goes away happy. But the title Miss Turnstiles is not as prestigious as he thinks it is. Ivy also has a real job to do, a cooch (burlesque) dancer on Coney Island. Her dance teacher, Madame Dilyovska (Florence Bates) insists on it so that she can get paid for the lessons. She threatens Ivy that if she doesn’t go to work on time, Madame will have to write to her parents for money, which Ivy doesn’t want. Ivy agrees to leave her date with Gabey at 11:30 to get to work and Madame promises she’ll check up on her.

Everyone meets up on the Empire State Building at the appointed time and everyone is happy, at least for a while. They hit the down and few well-placed bribes by Hildy and Claire get Ivy special attention at the nightclubs, keeping alive Chip’s vision of her as a celebrity. But at 11:30 Ivy abruptly disappears. Hildy tries to fill Chip’s void by inviting her roommate, Lucy Scheele (Alice Pearce) to join them. While Lucy is no substitute for Ivy, Gabey is nice to her and walks her home. After that, the five go out in search of Ivy, once again. But now, they’re running just ahead of the law as the museum is after Ozzie for damaging the dinosaur and the cab company is after Hildy for stealing the cab.

But they make it to Coney Island and find Ivy again. At this point, Gabey finds out that Ivy is from his same hometown in Indiana. Before things can go further, the police converge on them. The sailors try to disguise themselves as dancers in the show and when the police see through their costume malfunction, the boys narrowly escape but run right into a Shore Patrol van, which takes them back to the ship. The girls, meanwhile, caught by the police, talk their way out of their charges and take off for the docks.

There the three couples each share one last kiss, before the next group of sailors get their leave at 6 AM.

The movie is a fairly straightforward boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back type of story. But what makes it so much fun to watch are the musical numbers, some written by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and others from the original show with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and the sheer talent of the cast. Perhaps the best-known song from the movie is “New York, New York”, not the other song of the same name that Frank Sinatra would popularize 31 years later. In this case, it is the Bronx is Up and the Battery’s Down song. But no matter how memorable the song is the cast always seems to be their all into every number.

One of the things that made ON THE TOWN such a unique film is that much of it was actually shot on location in New York City. There were soundstage sequences, but in many cases, the cast is singing and dancing in the Big Apple, not on MGM’s backlot New York set. Kelly and Donen share the credit for directing and the choreography is very inventive and interesting to watch throughout.

The clear star of the film is Gene Kelly. Kelly is the second greatest dancer in film history, only behind Fred Astaire in stature. Where Kelly is a physical dancer, Astaire is more about finesse and grace. Not only could Kelly dance, but like Astaire, he could sing. Comparing them is like apples and oranges and there were definitely roles that each was perfect to play. Gabey is the perfect part to showcase Kelly’s talents. But while both were great artists, Kelly seemed to make the artistry look more serious. There is a fairly long dance sequence, in which Kelly’s Gabey, retells the plot of the story up to that point in dance. While it shows off Kelly’s artistry, it also, momentarily, grounds the fast-paced story to a halt.

Frank Sinatra, best known as a singer, made ON THE TOWN just before his career stalled in the 1950s. But he was not only a great singer but a great actor as well. (He would go on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY in 1954.) In this film, he plays the overly shy Chip as if he really was uncomfortable around women. History would prove that he wasn’t.

In addition to Kelly and Sinatra, the cast includes Vera-Ellen, who was an accomplished dancer, and Ann Miller who was a legend in her own right, having danced in movies since 1938. Betty Garrett is another Broadway actress who successfully made the move from the stage to film and later in her career to television. Her Hildy nearly steals the movie.

It is worth noting that the two women Miller and Garrett portray are much more sexually aggressive than the men they chase. Maybe it’s the case of big city girls and small-town boys, but this wasn’t something that was seen all that often in Hollywood films up to that point. But it works well with this story and gives it a more timeless quality.

All the attention to the others in the cast is not to leave out Jules Munshin. Of all the cast, there is probably less known about him, but he is more than a competent song and dance man and perfect for the role of Ozzie.

This is a fun film to watch and one that I would recommend to see if you have not already. And see it again, if it’s been a while since you last did. Watch it for the talent of the cast and for the quality of the songs, but also appreciate its comedy, which is still fresh 62 years after its initial release. ON THE TOWN’s sense of joy is contagious.