Final night time, I used to be unwinding by enjoying via the Pyramid Scheme archive and watching previous musicals. Each time I activate an previous MGM movie, I am floored by the expertise of the Golden Age of Hollywood, so listed here are 16 actually fascinating info about Singin’ within the Rain.
1.
Gene Kelly carried out the titular dance quantity with a 103º fever. The director wished to ship him residence, however Gene insisted on one take to keep away from wasted preparations.
2.
They needed to reschedule filming the scene to attain the water strain they wanted. Once they first tried to movie within the afternoon, everybody was coming residence from work and watering their garden, so their synthetic rain was only a drip. They needed to revisit within the morning when everybody was at work so they might get ample water strain.
3.
It was Debbie Reynolds’s first film. She was 17 years previous and had no dancing expertise beforehand.
5.
Within the “Broadway Melody” sequence, there’s a minimize in the course of the dance sequence as a result of Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse’s strikes have been slightly too risqué.
6.
“Singin’ within the Rain” is not an unique music. It was truly carried out as early as 1928. Many of the songs within the film are covers, making it a jukebox musical akin to Moulin Rouge!.
7.
One among two “unique” songs for the movie, “Make ’em Snort,” is definitely, the director admitted, a ripoff of “Be A Clown” from The Pirate.
8.
Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor ended up doing a whole lot of their very own stunts. In an interview with Roger Ebert, O’Connor stated, “[Russ Saunders] was the stuntman. If a stunt was too troublesome, they thought I’d get damage, or Gene would get damage, so they might name in Russ. And 90 occasions out of 100, he would get damage, and we would need to go in and do it. “
9.
Two blocks of outside units have been coated in tarps to make it darkish sufficient for the “Singin’ within the Rain” quantity.
10.
Actual-life Hollywood personalities impressed characters within the film. Actual-life gossip columnist Louella Parsons impressed Dora Bailey; Cyd Charisse is dressed up like ’20s movie star Louise Brooks; and the Dueling Cavaliers director Roscoe Dexter is modeled after Busby Berkeley.
12.
Rita Moreno, who performs Zelda within the movie, is the final surviving member of the principle forged.
13.
The premier of “The Royal Rascal” within the movie is definitely footage taken from MGM’s The Three Musketeers with Gene Kelly, which got here out 4 years prior. You may briefly see Lana Turner from the unique Three Musketeers movie earlier than it cuts to Lina Lamont.
14.
For the “Broadway Ballet” quantity, Cyd Charisse’s scarf is 40 toes lengthy and manufactured from China silk.
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