mostlydaydreaming

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Carl Sandburg wrote a poem for Gene Kelly to dance to, which he did in his first TV special.

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Donald O’Connor, 1955

“Somehow I have learned what prayer is, that to ask for the specific is meanness and only to seek the all good should be the purpose of such communication from the soul. One’s conscience, one’s sense of good and evil make this all plain in time. And all this I learned in my own sort of Sunday School … the dingy theaters of the country … where I started off by worshiping the plain people who attended them!”

#donald o'connor #quotes #🫶😊

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Gene Kelly writing as guest columnist for “The Voice of Broadway”

“Here I am sticking my neck out. Which reminds me not so many months ago in this column, Dorothy Kilgallen stuck it out for me and I am still hearing about it.

Dorothy had chosen me as one of her ‘ten favorite dates’ which was a nice convienient columnist gimmick to turn her spotlight on me and nine other fellows. She wrote a swell piece.

I feel myself blushing whenever I think about it - but oh, that last sentence which ran ‘And girls if you should ever meet Gene, take a look at the back of his neck’ - oh, murder!

So there it was - the charm of Gene Kelly in the eyes of the feminine contingent was the back of his neck. And I thought it was my footwork all the time.

Dorothy’s observation about the back of my neck has haunted me since then, although I can’t see to this day what La Kilgallen saw in my neck. Believe me I’ve tried to find out, but keeping a eye on one’s neck is most difficult even with double and triple mirrors.

It does explain though, why, whenever a visiting party from the East is brought to the set to watch us do a scene for a picture, I feel conscious of feminine eyes peering, not at my bread-and-cake providing feet, but at my neck.

One sweet young visitor, when I was introduced to her, even reached up, placed her hand at the back of my neck, and said, “Why your neck isn’t different at all. I don’t know what Dorothy Kilgallen saw in it.”

And speaking of mirrors, when I was in the Navy in the recent worldwide unpleasantness, at least half the gobs I met opened up the conversation with almost the same question - and answer.

‘Say Gene, how did you do that dance with Jerry the Mouse in Anchor’s Aweigh? It was done with mirrors wasn’t it?’

It wasn’t done with mirrors. In fact I didn’t meet Jerry until I saw him on the screen after I had done my part of the dance. That can be easily figured out. But since then I have done some dancing for films for which I would have welcomed mirrors. Perhaps in time we can get mirrors to do all our work for us - that will be the millennium.

Right now - with Judy Garland - I’m in the midst of a pleasant chore at the Metro Goldwyn Mayer studios in the shape of a Cole Porter musical, a Technicolor production of ‘The Pirate’ based on the S. N. Bergman play. For choreographic strenuousness it tops anything I have been called upon to do for pictures. But I like it.

Consider one sequence: A Caribbean street set, fifty yards long, buildings on each side, and I do a number where I dance (and sing) down one side of the street, climb a couple of balconies en route, then up to the top of a building, a leap to another building then down a water spout, and a dance down the other side of the street.

That is 100 yards of dance. Okay, there’s no kick there. But do that fifty times a day, counting rehearsals and camera takes, and one gets somewhat tired by the end of the day. Incidentally, the studio day is from 9 to 6.

What a cinch the stage used to be - 8:30 to 11, two matinees a week and the rest of the time to myself. That’s a loafers routine compared with the work on a picture during production and during pre-filming rehearsals.

For one thing, I don’t have to worry about my diet. I came out of the Navy weighing 180(?) lbs. I drop ten lbs every picture and pick up the poundage - with feasting a sort of malice aforethought between pictures.

Right now the scale reads 165 but it will be around 160 before the time ‘The Pirate’ is finished. Then I’ll put the ten pounds back, then lose it and then - “

-Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette May 3, 1947

#cute article

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Omnibus: Dancing is a Man’s Game (1958)

Gene Kelly dancing with 15yo Patrick Adiarte on his TV special, as he tried to reduce the stigma associated to men dancing by comparing it to sports/athletics.

Gene often used this technique when he taught dancing school in Pittsburgh. If parents brought in reluctant boys, he might start the class with a basketball game.

#gene kelly #omnibus #tv special #dancing is a man’s game

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An American in Paris (1951) - The ballet that almost wasn’t

Curiously, the big ballet to the music of Gershwin’s tone poem that gave the picture its title almost was omitted from the picture.

The concept was to stage it in sets resembling the work of painters the Jerry Mulligan character supposedly admires, Rousseau, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Utrillo, and Dufy among them. This presented enormous challenges to Preston Ames, the art director, and Keogh Gleason, the set designer, and their workers.

The problem was compounded by the fact that Vincent Minnelli, who had a commitment to direct another film at the time, would not be there to complete the picture.

That duty would devolve on Gene Kelly, who had a great respect for Minnelli’s eyes and taste and who already had the responsibilities of choreographer and dancer. Caron would be in much of the ballet, but Kelly had to be in all of it.

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Gene Kelly on Donald O’Connor

I remember one evening when he was making ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ He came home that night and said, “Bets! You should see that Donald O’Connor. Boy! Can that kid dance! He’s really out of this world.”

- Betsy Blair, Modern Screen June 1952

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Gene Kelly & Judy Garland in “The Pirate” (1948)

#gene kelly #judy garland #the pirate #old hollywood

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Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor

#singin’ in the rain☔️ #gene kelly #debbie reynolds #donald oconnor

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Thousands Cheer (1943) starring Kathryn Grayson & Gene Kelly

#gene kelly #kathryn grayson #thousands cheer

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Phil Silvers & Gene Kelly performing “Dig, Dig, Dig” from Summer Stock (1950)

#gene kelly #summer stock #phil silvers

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Gene Kelly & Judy Garland in The Pirate (1948)

#gene kelly #judy garland #the pirate

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"Singin' In The Rain" is on tonight at 8PM, Eastern time. TCM, of course.

Thanks for the update. I’ll post for everyone

#love TCM💕

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Gene Kelly performing the title song in “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952)

As Kelly recalled, he approached the performance by tapping into his inner child:

“The whole thing had to be done like a child in a state of euphoria,” he said. “Your mother says, 'Don't jump in the puddles.' (We) wanted to do that all our lives. The guy was so much in love, he did it.”

#gene kelly #Happy Singin’ in the Rain Day!!!☔️ #I like how he choreographed this number down to even getting in trouble at the end😉 #March 24th Don’s Lucky Day😊 #singin’ in the rain

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Singin’ in the Rain (1952)☔️

Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Conner

#Happy ​singin’ in the rain day!!!☔️ #Don’s lucky day March 24th😊

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Happy “Singin’ in the Rain” Day!!! ☔️☔️☔️

#happy singin’ in the rain day!!!☔️☔️☔️

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Gene Kelly & Fred Astaire at “The Bandwagon” (1953) premiere

#gene kelly #fred astaire #the bandwagon #loved their friendship #old hollywood #cuties💕

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Rita Hayworth & Gene Kelly in Cover Girl (1944)

"That tough Irish face! He can't be in the same frame as Rita, my Rita!"

- Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures

#cover girl #gene kelly #rita hayworth