Gene Kelly

Happy Birthday, Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly...August 23, 1912-February 2, 1996...Born to a working class family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kelly never lost his sense of belonging to the streets. He brought dance into real life situations in his movies, performing most of the time in street clothes and everyday settings. "All of my dancing came out of the idea of the common man," he explained. His dancing had a casual grace, exciting athleticism and an earthy masculinity that had not been seen in films before. Besides a dancer, he was a singer, actor, film director, producer, choreographer and a major innovator of the musical on film.

Kelly was 8 when his mother enrolled him and his older brother in dance classes which led to a great deal of teasing by the neighborhood boys. Both brothers rebelled and Kelly used his natural athletic ability playing sports and dreaming of playing with the Pittsburgh Pirates instead. He returned to dance on his own initiative because in his words, "At 14 I discovered girls. At that time dancing was the only way you could put your arm around a girl. Dancing was courtship. Only later did I discover you dance joy, you dance love, you dance dreams."

While studying at the University of Pennsylvania, Kelly taught dance classes at the two dance schools opened by his parents. In 1937 he decided to quit law school and head for New York to work as an entertainer and choreographer. He got his first part on Broadway in 1938 in the Cole Porter musical "Leave It To Me". Other small parts followed until his big breakthrough in 1939 in "The Time Of Your Life" where he danced to his own choreography for the first time. His leading role in "Pal Joey" in 1940 made him a star. In an effort to describe his style of dance to reporters he put it this way, "I don't believe in conformity to any school of dancing. I create what the drama and the music demand. While I am 100 percent for ballet technique, I use only what I can adapt to my own use. I never let technique get in the way of meed or continuity."

In 1941 Hollywood came knocking and Kelly made his first film with Judy Garland. "For Me and My Gal" was a popular movie and Kelly remained a big Judy Garland fan, calling her, "The finest all-round performer we ever had in America...There was no limit to her talent. She was the quickest, brightest person I ever worked with." Two more popular movies followed, "DuBarry Was A Lady" and "Thousands Cheer" where he got to dance with a mop in his own choreography for the first time on film.

In 1944 he created an innovative choreography, dancing with himself, in "Cover Girl" which lead to "Anchors Aweigh", a movie filled with a range of his own choreographed routines including a now iconic dance with the cartoon Jerry Mouse. The movie was the most successful film of 1945 and earned him his only Academy Award nomination for best actor. In 1946 Kelly teamed up with the other male dance icon of the era, Fred Astaire, in the film "Zeigfeld Follies". The two men got along well together. Kelly explained their dance differences this way, "It wasn't a battle of the dancers, but our different styles were purposefully made apparent. My style is strong, wide open; Fred's is intimate, cool, easy. He can give an audience pleasure just by walking across a dance floor. Fred Astaire represented the aristocracy, I represented the proletariat."

At the end of 1944 Kelly enlisted in the U.S. Navel Air Service and was sent to Washington, D.C. where he worked writing and directing documentaries; sparking his interest in working in the production side of film making. His first film after returning from duty was a flop but contained two innovative dance scenes, one with a very well trained dog and the other an exciting play on children's games that showed off Kelly's grace and athletic prowess. "The Pirate" followed, another disappointment at the box office, but it did contain a stunning routine with the Nicholas Brothers. Kelly worked steadily through the latter part of the 40's, always struggling to get his ideas about dance into his films. His big opportunity came when he was given the green light for "On The Town".

"On The Town" took dance out of the studio and integrated it with the story line and the place. Kelly directed the film and was the co-choreographer with Stanley Donen. "The film was a milestone," Kelly explained in 1977, "It was the first musical to be shot on location. We took the musical off the sound stage and showed that it could be realistic. The idea of doing such a thing was anathema to the studio moguls. We shot a lot of it in New York and showed sailors getting off their ship in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and singing and dancing through the streets of New York. You can't imagine how crazy everyone thought this was at the time, but it changed the face of musicals. The picture has dated a bit, but it's the closest to my heart." His next big films would secure Kelly's name in the pantheon of major figures in movie musicals.

"An American In Paris", made in 1951, won six Academy Awards, including best picture, and Kelly was given a special award for his contribution to film musicals and choreography. The film introduced Leslie Caron and the 17 minute ballet scene she danced with Kelly was the most expensive production number filmed up until that time and was hailed as a masterpiece.  "Singing In the Rain" came next in 1951, and although it was extremely popular upon release, it's gain in popularity came over time, eventually becoming the most beloved movie musical of all time. During the iconic "Singing in the Rain" sequence, Kelly was suffering from the flu with a 101 temperature. Two blocks of a back lot had to be covered with black tarps to achieve the desired effect of  nighttime and when it was set up Kelly insisted on doing the scene. It was done in one take with most of it improvised.

In an effort to help the general public understand the importance of dance, Kelly directed and choreographed two projects. "Invitation to the Dance", in 1956, was a plot-less, three part dance film that went nowhere in the box office. Movie musicals were on the wain and the timing was wrong. In 1958, "Dancing Is a Man's Game" was shown on NBC television as a way to introduce the sheer physicality, manliness and athleticism of male athletes as dancers to counter the effeminate connotations the art had for men in society in the 50's.

Kelly continued to make films through the 60's and 70's but spent more and more time behind the camera instead of in front of it, directing "Hello Dolly" and "The Cheyenne Social Club". He also spent time working in television and returned to Broadway. In his last performance onscreen he danced in roller skates in the movie "Xanadu" in 1980. Kelly's health declined precipitously during the 1980's. He died from complications of two strokes at the age of 83 in 1996.

Betsy Blair, Kelly's first wife described  Kelly's impact on the male performer in dance this way, "A sailor suit or his white socks and loafers, or the t-shirts on his muscular torso, gave everyone the feeling that he was a regular guy, and perhaps they too could express love and joy by dancing in the street or stomping through puddles...he democratized the dance in movies."