A Tribute to A True Entertainer: Gene Kelly

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Gene Kelly was born August 23, 1912 and passed away February 2, 1996 at the age of 84. A true entertainer that could do it all: sing, dance, act, and direct. He was a perfectionist in his work and uncompromising when a vision was in sight. Throughout his career he was always breaking boundaries where no one thought could be possible.

Early Life

Ever since Gene and his siblings were young their mother wanted them to take part in the arts. Unfortunately, their mother’s dream had to wait due to the family’s income. It was not until Gene started school that his mother enrolled him and his siblings into Dance School.

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At first, Gene and his siblings loathed dance classes; he and his brother Fred would often get into fist fights on account of bullying. Gene would later say, “if anyone had told me I’d grow up to be a dancer, I’d have socked him in the jaw.” Gene grew to like dancing as he got older, the praise from his teachers at school encouraged him to continue .

To pay his tuition, he would stage shows at the YMCA and would help teach at Lou Bolton’s Dance Studio with his mother and brother. When finances became better, they opened up the Gene Kelly Studio of Dance where they had two studios in Pittsburgh. Gene was quick to find that teaching was a true love of his, even becoming well known throughout the country.

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A New Beginning

Gene moved to New York in 1938 to jump start his career on Broadway. The story goes that

Gene’s mother gave him an envelope with his tickets inside, only to find out there was only one ticket to get there. Gene knew that this was his moment and was not going to come back.

He found work in productions like ‘Leave It to Me’ and ‘The Time of Your Life’ (which he also choreographed.) Kelly’s big break on Broadway was the show ‘Pal Joey,’ a role that brought him success. The success of ‘Pal Joey’ took Gene’s career to Hollywood. The first major motion picture that Gene Kelly did upon his arrival was ‘For Me and My Gal’ where he co-starred with the talented Judy Garland. The film did wonderful in the box office and got the attention of MGM Studios. They soon offered Gene a seven-year contract, where he would go on to create some of his most memorable work.

Gene’s contract from MGM had him starring in B films that didn’t get much recognition. It was not until he was loaned out to Columbia Pictures to do the 1944 film ‘Cover Girl’ that MGM would realize what they had on their hands. The film’s ambiance forebodes the future of what Gene Kelly’s future would be. During the filming of this Kelly was able to learn how to dance for the camera.

One of Kelly’s innate abilities was to take on characters through dance and make them come to life through another art form. ‘Cover Girl’ granted Kelly’s freedom in work moving forward.

The Hits

The next big film that Kelly did was called ‘Anchors Aweigh!’ Gene’s first chance to choreograph an entire film himself. One original idea was to dance with the animated mouse Jerry from ‘Tom and Jerry.’ At the time, something like this had never occurred before; he was able to convince MGM to spend one hundred thousand dollars on the animated mouse. ‘Anchors Aweigh!’ also provided Gene with his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, but would go on to lose to Ray Milland.

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MGM would go on to put Gene into roles that did not have as much dancing. ‘The Pirate’ and ‘The Three Musketeers’ both were able to show his athletic abilities and physicality. Although Gene liked the strict acting roles, he wanted more.

‘On the Town’ was Gene’s opportunity to do something himself. Not only was Kelly going to star and choreograph the film, but he was also directing alongside Stanley Donen. Kelly wanted all his films to be natural so he persisted that the movie be shot primarily on location in New York City. A musical primarily shot on location had never been done before, but it was this inventive thinking that led Kelly to dominate the genre.

The film he made two years later caused him to be considered a great. Gene starred in ‘An American in Paris,’ with his own discovery Leslie Caron. Kelly choreographed a seventeen minute, one take sequence that at the time was considered to be the most expensive musical number. Alas, it was also one of the most successful musical numbers! The extended dance scenes in the film included modern dance that strayed away from the traditional Hollywood staple dance pieces. The film received six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.

Kelly’s last picture for MGM was ‘Singin in the Rain’; where once again he directed alongside Stanley Donen. It is uncertain whether or not Kelly wanted Debbie Reynolds to play his love interest, but one thing for certain is that Debbie Reynolds needed some dance lessons. Kelly was already used to teaching his co-stars how to dance, so for Kelly it was just part of the job.

Production was strenuous for all three lead roles played by Gene, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor. Gene was struck with a 103-degree fever while filming the title song. After each take he would go outside and lay in the sun so he could “sweat it out.”

Debbie on the other hand had quite the daunting task preparing to be in a Gene Kelly musical. While filming the ‘Good Mornin’ routine, her feet were bleeding afterwards and all she could do was smile and go to work the next day. Donald O’Connor may have had the worst of it when being put in a hospital bed after filming the ‘Make Em Laugh’ sequence; his four packs of cigarettes a day did not help him on the set of this film.

Nevertheless, all of the cast’s injuries proved the work they did was groundbreaking, just not right away. The film did not get the best reviews and it did not perform to standards at the box-office. Kelly knew he had done something special as his dancing was some of his finest. Gene’s numbers were lightyears ahead of what was being seen in musicals on the big screen.

The Final Curtain

Even with the raving big three movies: ‘On the Town’, ’ An American in Paris’, and ‘Singin in the Rain’, Gene struggled after his MGM years. He went to France to make the movie ‘Invitation to the Dance.’ The film included no dialogue, a budget that was thrown out the window, and was found to be hard to produce. The film is an ironic piece of work because Kelly used modern ballet that we see. Unfortunately for Kelly, his audiences were not ready for it, and MGM would shelf the film.

Even though the American audience may not have been happy with Gene at this time, France loved him. Kelly went to France where The Ballet Company of the Paris Opera commissioned him to choreograph a full-length ballet.‘Pas de Dieux’ opened in 1960; it was granted a fifteen-minute ovation and twenty-seven curtain calls. In later years, Gene would receive the highest honor an artist can get in France.

During the same time, the Hollywood musicals were changing. The numbers he did that were innovative and modern were the days of the past. Kelly took to directing for the next chapter of his life, for as a dancer, his body was getting old. At the age of 55, Kelly directed the biggest box-office and critical success for the film ‘A Guide for the Married Men.’ This film was the opening for him to direct more famous films like ‘Hello Dolly!’ with Barbara Streisand.

Leaving a Legacy

The start of Gene’s legacy was already taking place when Francis Ford Coppola asked him to choreograph his 1982 film ‘One from the Heart.’ Francis wanted to bring back the vibe from the studio era and knew the only person that could do it was Gene. When Gene was asked, he was 70 and was quick to say yes.

Gene Kelly had an affinity for the craft that made it seem like anyone could do it. Gene saw what musicals were and enhanced them. Kelly began his own style that took into account camera set ups and how the routine should be edited together. Gene’s creations were able to revolutionize dance and subsequently helped a contemporary movement come to life.

He was a workaholic that would spend hours choreographing and going over every micro detail of a dance number. He wanted his numbers to look natural; when you watched them, the dancing felt right for the moment and scene, rather than like a forced number.

Kelly set the tone for his films that are still prevalent today. In the 2016 film ‘La La Land,’ Damien Chazelle used similar choreography that Gene invented. Kelly has said that all he wanted to do was make people happy. He realized in his later years that his dancing did the best job at making people happy. When on the subject of his career he said, “If I can make you smile by jumping over a couple of couches or by running through a rainstorm, then I’ll be very glad to be a song and dance man, and I won’t worry that the Pittsburgh Pirates lost one hell of a short-stop. We may not realize it, but Kelly has influenced not only modern dance, but Cinema as we know it.

By Devon James

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Devon James

Devon James is a screen and media writer determined to provide readers with engaging and informative content. His film industry background gives him an adept knowledge in the entertainment industry. This complies with The Hollywood Insider's mission to educate readers. Devon likes seeing hidden voices in film that provide new cultural perspectives. He enjoys the conversations cinema creates; hoping through his writing to open up topics for discussion.
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Devon James

Devon James is a screen and media writer determined to provide readers with engaging and informative content. His film industry background gives him an adept knowledge in the entertainment industry. This complies with The Hollywood Insider’s mission to educate readers. Devon likes seeing hidden voices in film that provide new cultural perspectives. He enjoys the conversations cinema creates; hoping through his writing to open up topics for discussion.

Devon James

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A Tribute to A True Entertainer: Gene Kelly

Early Life

A New Beginning

The Hits

The Final Curtain

Leaving a Legacy

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