Gene Kelly - Early Musicals of This Musical Man

The Road That Led to The Greatest Screen Musical of All Time

Aug 10, 2009

Gene Kelly was a Broadway performer destined for the success only Hollywood could offer. It's no wonder his name became synonymous with the movie musical.

Gene Kelly wasn't interested in becoming a movie star. He saw his craft best suited to the intimacy of a Broadway stage. There, the lights, the greasepaint and the hush or applause of the audience could feed his perfectionist persona. That sort of creative freedom couldn't possibly be welcomed in a place as seemingly cold and mechanical as Hollywood ... or could it?

From Stage Musical to Screen Musical

Having just completed a run on Broadway in the musical Pal Joey, Gene arrived in Hollywood with the intention of fulfilling his contract’s one-movie obligation, For Me and My Gal (1942) and then turning right back to New York. Musical lovers everywhere are forever grateful he didn’t stick to his original plan. The world would have been deprived of what is widely considered to be the best movie musical ever made, Singin’ in the Rain (1952). This inevitable ascension took about ten years to complete.

Eugene Curran Kelly (1912-1996) couldn’t have arrived in Hollywood at a better time. Musicals were gleefully being welcomed as the perfect antithesis to the harsh realities of war. His earliest releases even though silly in story line (DuBarry Was a Lady, 1943), or overly sentimental (Pilot #5, 1943) or simply overstuffed star showcases (Thousands Cheer, 1943) could not diminish his incredible talent.

Nor could he be overshadowed by the likes of early co-stars Lucille Ball, Judy Garland (twice), Mickey Rooney, Red Skelton (also twice) or Kathryn Grayson. He may not have wanted movie stardom but it definitely wanted him.

His defining test of screen appeal came in his first true starring role, opposite the lovely Rita Hayworth and the irrepressible Phil Silvers in Cover Girl (1944). It is here that Gene Kelly shows us what he is made of. The athleticism of his style while never losing his grace of movement is the genius that many dancers were intent on copying. Yet, we had just begun to see him dance.

Gene Kelly’s First Introduction to Oscar

The impression that gave the public pause to realize this man was here to stay was made in his only Academy Award nominated performance; a sailor named Joe on leave in Anchors Aweigh (1945). Matched with Grayson a second time and in the first of three musicals he would share with Frank Sinatra, Kelly danced in ways that hadn’t yet been seen or even attempted.

The performance appeal he would later have with children became evident in one very special dream-like sequence. Here, in the setting of a classroom, Joe tells the kids a truly “fantastic” story about how he won his medal. Aided by Jerry, the famed Hanna-Barbera cartoon mouse matching every dance step, the end result is pure entertainment, extremely clever and very convincing for the time.

Later in the film when he tries to share his true feelings with Grayson by describing the ideal setting he would need to do so, he helps her imagine one of the most provocative dance solos ever seen. As a bandit in gold, red and black silk, he floats and glides his way through a sensual tango. Anyone doubting this Broadway hoofer’s abilities suddenly no longer did and as the genius of the artist unfolded, no one could possibly predict that his best work still lay ahead.

Bring on Fred Astaire, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra: All The Best of The Best

Additional films followed, each more innovative and inspiring than the last. First came The Ziegfield Follies (1946, the only time he danced alongside Fred Astaire), then The Pirate (1948, a third of four with Judy Garland), Take Me Out To the Ball Game (1949, a second with Sinatra, also starring Esther Williams and Jules Munshin) and On The Town (1949, the final Sinatra pairing, again with Munshin). Other efforts found their way in between the preceding list but these films are what made the lasting impact with audiences.

Gene Kelly had often been quoted saying On The Town was his personal favorite and, considering the man’s attention to detail, it’s easy to see why. Gene’s efforts made it the first major movie musical to be filmed entirely on location; in this case, New York City. After one final movie with Judy Garland (Summer Stock, 1950), Gene was ready to make true movie history. His next two major screen contributions were as different as could be but each fabulous in its own right.

Take George Gershwin’s music, Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron and Paris, put them together and what do you have? You have the stuff dreams are made of. Literally.

An American in Paris was ambitious, artful and classic in every detail. Even the opening sequence of Gene’s Jerry going through the motions of rising for another day is so meticulously choreographed, you feel compelled to watch it repeatedly, appreciating the sublime timing of every movement.

George Gershwin’s musical score paints the perfect backdrop for this surreal after-the war bit of reality. Gene makes us love his carefree, overgrown schoolboy alter ego and has us secretly wishing him just the right amount of luck to stay happy.

At the end of That’s Entertainment (1974), narrator Frank Sinatra ominously states, “We saved the best for last”. That film ends with An American in Paris’ final ballet, which ran almost twenty minutes long and took five weeks to stage. Co-director Vincent Minelli stood by so long for the completed set up that he directed the entire film Father’s Little Dividend (1951), while waiting! There was little surprise when An American in Paris earned the year’s Best Picture Oscar.

The copyright of the article Gene Kelly - Early Musicals of This Musical Man in Classic Film Musicals is owned by Deborah Read. Permission to republish Gene Kelly - Early Musicals of This Musical Man in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.