Harriet Kelly with (left to right) two-year-old Gene, Harriet Joan, baby Louise, and James Jr. in 1914. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Youngsters James Jr., Gene, and Fred Kelly do n police uniforms for a local neighborhood revue, 1922. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene at eighteen, a senior in high school, 1930.
Gene the college graduate, 1933. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene as Harry the Hoofer in William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life, 1939. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
The program for Pal Joey, 1940, Gene’s breakthrough show on Broadway.
Gene with another future MGM star, Van Johnson, and a chorus girl in Pal Joey. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
Gene in an early publicity shot for MGM, 1942. The caption calls him a “male magnet.” (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene hoofing with Judy Garland in his first film, For Me and My Gal, 1942.
Gene and Judy Garland performing the lively “Ballin’ the Jack” in For Me and My Gal.
Gene and Betsy Blair; inset, Gene and newborn daughter, Kerry, 1942. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
A debonair profile shot of Gene, 1943. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene in his first stand-out solo, the “mop dance,” in Thousands Cheer, 1943. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
Gene showing off one of his trademark moves, bouncing across the stage on the balls of his hands (while wearing a tuxedo, no less), in Du Barry Was a Lady, 1943.
Gene dancing with Rita Hayworth to the emotive “Long Ago and Far Away” in Columbia’s Cover Girl, 1944.
Gene, Phil Silvers, and Rita Hayworth making use of props to the tune of “Make Way for Tomorrow” in Cover Girl.
Gene’s famed double-exposure “Alter Ego” dance routine in Cover Girl.
Advertisement for Anchors Aweigh, 1945. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene singing “The Worry Song” to Jerry the Mouse in Anchors Aweigh.
Betsy, Gene, and their two-year-old daughter, Kerry, in a series of publicity photos, 1944. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene and close friend Danny Kaye at a rally for President Harry Truman, 1945. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene in his pioneering short film for the US Navy addressing post-traumatic stress disorder, Combat Fatigue Irritability, 1945.
Gene with Betsy during his service in the US Navy, 1945. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
The screen’s masters of dance, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, performing “The Babbitt and the Bromide” in Ziegfeld Follies, 1946. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Gene’s home on North Rodeo Drive, where he lived from 1946 until his death in 1996. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene dancing with a dog to “Fido and Me,” a number he choreographed with Stanley Donen for Living in a Big Way, 1947.
The Kellys’ home was the site of famous and at times raucous house parties. The lower image shows Betsy in the extensive library. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Executives of the Conference of Studio Unions and the Screen Actors Guild engage in a telephone conference regarding an impending strike: from left, James Skelton, Herbert Sorrell, Ronald Reagan, Edward Arnold, Roy Tindall, George Murphy, and Gene Kelly, October 26, 1946. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene acting out Judy Garland’s fantasy in the elaborate “Pirate Ballet” in The Pirate, 1948.
Gene dancing in the sensual “Nina” routine, The Pirate.
Gene dancing with Harold and Fayard Nicholas in the athletic “Be a Clown” routine, The Pirate. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Gene and Judy in their favored “tramp” attire in The Pirate.
Gene, Betsy, and Stanley Donen entering Ciro’s restaurant, 1947. Gene broke his ankle during a fit of temper on his volleyball court. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene as D’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, 1948.
Gene and Vera-Ellen in the controversial “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” in Words and Music, 1948. Notice the “fishbowl” effect of the twenty-eight-millimeter camera lens.
Gene performing “The Hat My Dear Old Father Wore,” an Irish-themed tune in which he wears a kelly green hat in Take Me out to the Ball Game, 1949.
Gene, Jules Munshin, and Frank Sinatra sing on location in On the Town, 1949.
Gene and Vera-Ellen in the “Day in New York Ballet,” On the Town.
Gene and Kerry skiing in Klosters, Switzerland, Gene’s favored vacation resort, 1950. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene in his favorite solo dance of those he choreographed, Summer Stock, 1950. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene dancing atop a table in the rousing “Dig, Brother, Dig” routine in Summer Stock. Jeanne Coyne is seated in the front left corner. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Director Charles Walters, Judy Garland, and Gene behind the scenes of Summer Stock. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene rehearsing with Leslie Caron on the set of An American in Paris, 1951. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Gene with Vincente Minnelli and Leslie Caron between takes of An American in Paris. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Leslie Caron and Gene in the “American in Paris Ballet.”
Gene singing “I Got Rhythm” with a group of children in An American in Paris.
An informal family picture, circa 1951. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene and Donald O’Connor wreak havoc in the “Moses Supposes” number in Singin’ in the Rain, 1952. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
Gene in arguably the most iconic number ever in a Hollywood musical, “Singin’ in the Rain.”
Gene and Cyd Charisse in the “Broadway Ballet” in Singin’ in the Rain.
Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, and Gene in the “Good Morning” number in Singin’ in the Rain.
Gene in the climactic sequence to the “Broadway Ballet” in Singin’ in the Rain. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Gene, the debonair American in London, living abroad in 1952. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene singing “It’s Almost Like Being in Love,” a high spot in the ill-fated Brigadoon, 1954.
Cyd Charisse, Gene, his choreographic assistant Carol Haney, and producer Arthur Freed on the set of Brigadoon. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene at the piano, rehearsing with his brother Fred on the set of Deep in My Heart, 1954. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Michael Kidd, Gene, and Dan Dailey Jr. dancing with garbage can lids on their feet in It’s Always Fair Weather, 1955. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Gene dancing on roller skates in It’s Always Fair Weather. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Images from each vignette in Gene’s all-dance film, Invitation to the Dance, 1956.
Gene directing on the set of Invitation to the Dance. The caption reads: “Through films, Gene Kelly is teaching the world to know what dancing can be when it’s freed from the bounds of convention.” (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene dressed as the tragic clown in Invitation to the Dance. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Young French actress Brigitte Fossey at her tenth birthday with Gene on the set of The Happy Road in 1956. Hairdresser Jean Clement is cutting her hair for the film. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene (second from left) spoofing Marlon Brando in Les Girls, 1957. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
A lobby card depicting a serious moment between Natalie Wood and Gene in Marjorie Morningstar, 1958.
Gene directing Pat Suzuki and Miyoshi Umeki on the set of the Broadway Rodgers and Hammerstein show Flower Dru
m Song, 1958. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
Gene rehearsing with a group of athletes on the set of the television special Dancing: A Man’s Game, 1958. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
Gene with Jeanne and Kerry, circa 1960. (Courtesy of Media History Digital Library.)
Gene with an actor he greatly admired, Spencer Tracy, in Inherit the Wind, 1960. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Gene spoofing an old-style production number with Shirley MacLaine in What a Way to Go! 1964.
Gene in his superior television special, Gene Kelly in New York, New York in 1966. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
Gene demonstrating his dancing skill with a group of French youngsters on the set of The Young Girls of Rochefort in 1967.
Gene and Bobby Riha on the album cover of Gene’s Emmy Award–winning Jack and the Beanstalk, 1967.
Gene with Walter Matthau and Barbra Streisand during a rare moment of fun on the troubled set of Hello, Dolly! 1969. (Courtesy of the Everett Collection.)
Gene and Fred Astaire reunite thirty years after their first onscreen pairing to narrate and dance in That’s Entertainment! Part II, 1976. (Courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store.)
A lobby card showing Gene as the has-been actor in 40 Carats, 1973, wearing a false mustache that Natalie Schafer seems to be examining.
Gene in a nostalgic number with Olivia Newton-John on a lobby card for Xanadu, 1980.
Gene and his third wife, Patricia Ward, in 1990. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
Gene Kelly, eighty-two, in That’s Entertainment! Part III, 1994, his final film appearance. (Courtesy of Photofest.)
Gene and Betsy resumed their roles as Jeanne’s surrogate parents. They ensured that she drank the ginger ale and cream her doctor prescribed to restore her weight and included her in their yearly trips to Europe. Because he was so close to both Jeanne and Donen, Gene found himself in an uncomfortable position. Both of them were necessary to him in his work, and thus he tried not to let their personal differences interfere with his professional activities. Donen, however, was showing signs that he wished to dissociate himself from Gene. Asked to describe how he and Gene co-directed, Donen replied, “If you substitute the word ‘fight’ for co-direct, then you have it. It wasn’t always like that with Gene, but it gradually came to be that.”52 Donen was delighted when Arthur Freed granted him his first solo directorial project in 1950, Royal Wedding, a plum assignment starring Fred Astaire. The film made Donen one of Hollywood’s top musical directors, primarily due to its iconic “Dancing on the Ceiling” routine.
Jeanne Coyne also took on more responsibility at MGM. Once she went under contract, she began to act as assistant to many stars during rehearsals. Jeanne was indispensable not only as an assistant but as a source of perspective for Gene. Betsy explained, “Most of the women who worked with Gene seemed to adore him unquestioningly; Jeannie, for all her sweetness, was often rather sharp and curt with him, and would think nothing of deflating him if she thought he needed it.”53 For a man who had difficulty admitting he was wrong, Gene found Jeanne’s honesty at once unnerving and refreshing.
Gene especially needed Jeanne’s support in his next musical project, which to him was a rather depressing step down. Though he later observed that after On the Town, MGM let him do virtually anything he wished, his new picture, Summer Stock, was not something he would have chosen. A second-tier film by producer Joe Pasternak, it was a blatant throwback to the dated backstage genre of musical. Simultaneously with Summer Stock, the studio assigned him to The Black Hand. The picture, though a mere programmer, actually enthused Gene; in fact, he had requested the straight dramatic role after fretting that he had done musicals and light comedies for too long.
Gene applied his customary perfectionism to both forthcoming parts, his restlessness and need for constant mental stimulation propelling him into action. In a 1950 interview, Gene elucidated his passion for his work, no matter if it matched his expectations: “I . . . don’t believe anyone is really alive unless he is connected with it [show business] in some way.”54
After the release of The Black Hand in March 1950, a writer for the Saturday Evening Post commented that “a number of folk have phoned the Pittsburgh Kellys to say, ‘I didn’t know that your family was Italian.’”55 Such assumptions attested to the conviction Gene put into his role in The Black Hand, a film that biographer Clive Hirschhorn asserted was not one for which Gene or anyone else involved would be remembered.56 The picture, set in 1908, cast Gene as Johnny Columbo, an Italian immigrant from New York’s Little Italy seeking revenge after his father is murdered by the Mafia. Richard Thorpe directed.
Gene’s first concern was whether he could pass as Italian. Jack Dawn, head of makeup, suggested he wear a curly wig. It was not the first time Gene had worn such an item. Since The Pirate, he had worn a toupee to cover his thinning hair (a similarity he shared with Fred Astaire; the elder dancer had worn a hairpiece since the early 1940s). Though the wig helped make Gene appear more Mediterranean, his knowledge of both the Italian language and Italian immigrants were what truly aided him in his performance. A journalist visiting the set during rehearsals observed, “He was rattling off Italian dialogue when I entered the set.”57 Gene had picked up much Italian from the owner of his old hometown haunt Bakey’s.
The public more readily associated Gene with Ireland rather than Italy, but Kerry asserted that in his personal life, “Irish identity wasn’t enormously important for him.” His grandson Ben explained that professionally his Irish identity held even less importance. “He wanted to avoid being typecast as a drunk or as comic relief.” Though he did not identify himself as an Irishman, in the 1940s and 1950s, Gene did donate money to Ireland as well as other sidelined countries, including Israel. Ben remarked, “He was motivated by . . . helping the underdog.”58
Whether he played an Irishman or an Italian, Gene’s characterizations, as ever, were credible. According to a writer for Newsweek, Gene was “as graceful when throwing a knife as when hoofing. . . . [He shows] a dramatic restraint and facial vocabulary that exceed the requirements of either dancer or comedian.”59 Though admirably acted and executed, The Black Hand failed to turn a profit. Budgeted at a mere $774,000, it grossed only $1,210,000. On paper, the picture turned a profit, but MGM actually lost $55,000 on the project due to publicity and other overhead costs.
Audiences still preferred to see Gene sing and dance, which he did plenty of in Summer Stock. Gene went into rehearsals for the musical in August 1949 directly after filming wrapped on The Black Hand. Summer Stock follows the story of a farmer, Jane Falbury (Judy Garland), whose stagestruck sister, Abigail (Gloria DeHaven), invites her theater troupe to put on a show in Jane’s barn. When Abigail runs off to New York with her leading man, the show’s director, Joe Ross (Gene), persuades Jane to take over her sister’s role.
The light musical comedy that Gene thought would be a quick filler between better assignments monopolized almost six months of his life. Though Gene was pleased to be working with old friends like Charles Walters (as director), Saul Chaplin, and Phil Silvers (cast as Gene’s comic sidekick), his affection for Judy Garland remained his primary reason for accepting and sticking with the assignment when other cast and crew members began leaving. She had recently suffered another nervous breakdown and Summer Stock was her last chance to “prove she could function through the grueling shooting schedule of an entire musical.” As Saul Chaplin noted: “This was an opportunity for him [Gene] to show his gratitude. As it turned out, he was really put to the test.” Judy, initially certain that she could do the picture without any trouble, fell into the same erratic behavior patterns she had displayed on the set of The Pirate. She “obviously could not cope with the daily demands of shooting a film,” Chaplin commented. “Her absences became more frequent and of longer duration. Gene, who was forced to endure all kinds of inconveniences, never said a word.”60
Being surrounded by people who
believed in her was not enough to make Judy feel prepared for work. Charles Walters explained that during shooting, “together, we [Gene and himself] literally tried to keep her on her feet.”61 If Judy was aware of the pains Gene and Walters took to help her, she felt guilty rather than comforted. During a wrap party that was, oddly, held in the middle of shooting, Judy threw herself into Saul Chaplin’s lap, put her head on his shoulder, and began crying uncontrollably “about how ugly and untalented she was.”62
Pasternak was ready to abandon the film, but Louis B. Mayer stepped in, declaring, “If we stop production now, it’ll finish her [Judy].”63 Gene concurred and encouraged Pasternak to be patient. “I’ll do anything for this girl, Joe,” he told the producer. “If I have to come here and sit and wait for a year, I’d do it for her.”64 Film critic Pauline Kael later observed that “there was a vulnerability both Gene and Judy brought out in each other and which neither had with anyone else.”65 Indeed, the empathetic Gene that Judy knew and loved was a far cry from the sarcastic, belittling Gene that Esther Williams had known. Lela Simone found it remarkable that Gene and Judy, who, she claimed, were “absolutely impossible temperaments,” got along “relatively well.” Perhaps this was because both were temperamental, although “in totally different ways.”66
He's Got Rhythm: The Life and Career of Gene Kelly (Screen Classics) Page 31