Stanley Donen remembering Gene Kelly, TCM Classic Film Festival

Stanley Donen with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly had persuaded Charles Walters, who has been signed by MGM as dance director of the film version of "Best Foot Forward", to find something in it for Stanley Donen. "I was nothing at the time," Donen said. "A shlepper. A real zero." Stanley Donen was virtually adopted by the Kellys.

Phil Silvers, Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly in "Cover Girl" (1944) directed by Charles Vidor

COVER GIRL (1944) Dir. Charles Vidor is featured in the TCM Film Festival Schedule - Friday, April 13 9:30AM Chinese Multiplex 4

If this Technicolor confection stands among Columbia Pictures' best musicals, a major share of the credit goes to the talent producer Arthur Schwartz, costume designer Travis Banton, songwriters Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin, and choreographers Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.

Banton was a natural for the story of a chorus girl (Rita Hayworth) who finds stardom as a supermodel, creating contemporary gowns that perfectly captured the star's allure.

Kern and Gershwin, who had never worked together before, created one of the best scores ever for a musical, including the jazzy "Put Me to the Test" and the dreamy, romantic "Long Ago and Far Away." For Kelly and Donen, the film pointed to the musicals they would later create at MGM. In particular, the "Alter Ego" routine, which Kelly developed with Donen, used trick photography so he could dance with himself as an expression of his character's inner conflicts. This Columbia picture convinced MGM to finally let Kelly stage his own numbers. In Attendance: Patricia Ward Kelly

Patricia Ward Kelly is the widow of Gene Kelly. She has worked as a writer at a film production company, as a contributing scholar for the authoritative Northwestern/Newberry Writings of Herman Melville, and as a freelance journalist.

She and Gene Kelly met at the Smithsonian in 1985, when he was the host/narrator for a television special for which she was a writer. Soon after, he invited her to California to write his memoirs and they were together until his death in 1996. Currently, she serves as Trustee of The Gene Kelly Image Trust and Creative Director of Gene Kelly: The Legacy, a corporation established to commemorate Kelly's centenary worldwide. She lives in Los Angeles and is completing the book about her late husband. Source: www.tcm.com

Liza Minnelli and Patricia Ward Kelly at TCM Classic Film Festival Opening Night for 40th Anniversary of "Cabaret" at Graumann's Chinese.

Patricia shared exciting news, “Gene’s hundred birthday would be August 23rd, 2012, and so we’re going to roll out a big celebration. He doesn’t need a birthday party, but we thought it was a way to show how relevant he continues to be and see how he continues to inspire young people. It’s going to be a global dance experience, and…we’ll have a big exhibition….We’re going to post everything on the website in just a little bit...We want everyone in the world to participate so all the fans can be part of the celebration.” Source: www.examiner.com

Gene Kelly in the "Broadway Ballet" number in "Singin' in the Rain" recreating his early vaudeville experiences in New York

Previous to "Pal Joey" in Broadway, Gene Kelly's big break had come starring as Harry the Hoofer in William Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life". The play ran for 22 weeks and won the Drama Critic's Award that year.

Fred Kelly and Gene Kelly

When the show began to tour, Fred Kelly replaced Gene as the lead on the road and won a Donaldson Award for his performance.

William Saroyan on Gene Kelly: "The tapping of his feet was not unlike a drum roll at a funeral; an end that was both a loss and a welcome beginning of something else - almost anything else. Gene Kelly is a great man of the theatre."

Gene Kelly and Leila Ernst in "Pal Joey" (1941)

“I was a very young man, as he was. I came to New York to get into showbusiness and I auditioned for Pal Joey. Gene was Pal Joey and I was a dancer. He was a big success in the show. George Abbott asked Gene to be choreographer of Best Foot Forward and I was in that show. Gene came in and said would I be his assistant. I was 16 or 17 at the time. So from that moment on, the relationship grew slightly. We worked together quite well.” -Stanley Donen

Asked what was Gene’s genius, what was his talent: “The big part of it was what he called himself, a song and dance man, and there was only one other, Fred Astaire.

Gene had his own manner and charm, and he was good at singing and dancing and he had this wonderful Irish-American brash quality which was so winning and so full of energy that it was an irresistible charm. He had a desire to change what musical films had done, to explore other avenues.”

Asked what was the nature of their relationship: “It started when he was a star and I was a dancer."

By the time we did "Singin’ in The Rain" we were co-directors. He was an actor and I was a director really. He was in front of the camera and I was behind so it did complement each other. But we had our differences of course. No collaboration would be worth its salt without differences of opinion. The clashes have to be done in private because if done in front of others they’re very disturbing, but new things came because of it.”

Gene Kelly with wife Jeanne Coyne and child.

In 1948, Jeannie Coyne had married Stanley Donen. They were divorced the following year, but continued to work together. "Jeannie's marriage to Stanley", Gene said to Clive Hirschchorn, "was doomed from the start. Because every time Stanley looked at Jeannie, he saw Betsy, whom he loved; and every time Jeannie looked at Stanley, I guess she saw me. One way and another it was all pretty incestuous."

Gene Kelly and Jeannie Coyne married on 6 August 1960, in the County Court House, at Tonopah, Nevada. They had planned to marry in secrecy because Gene felt that by underplaying the marriage he was protecting his daughter Kerry, whom he did not want involved with reporters.

During three months in Paris, Gene and Jeannie stayed in an expensive apartment on the Avenue Foch. One of his nightly rituals in Paris was walking to the Invalides and into a nearby bar for a beer and a few games of pinball. "I usually won", Gene said, "because I used to cheat outrageously. Well, one night Jeannie and I were playing, and a stranger came over to watch us. All of a sudden, he turned on Jeannie and started to call her the foulest names in the French language - of which the nicest I think was 'whore.' So naturally, I slugged him. He fell, and when he staggered up, the bartender came over and broke it up and threw the guy out, because he'd heard the names he was calling Jeannie."

The ‘rain dance’ was shown, and Donen was asked if it brought back memories: “Indeed it does, it’s a great loss, not to have him around any more.”

Gene Kelly serenading Debbie Reynolds with 'You are my lucky star' number in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952)

Did Gene appreciate his talent? “I think so, he was aware that he had a very special gift and that he wanted to show it in the best possible way. He drove himself very hard. He was very nervous about his singing voice though, and would get hoarse from nerves when he had to record.”

Marie McDonald and Gene Kelly in "Living in a Big Way" (1947)

Stanley and Gene worked together on Cover Girl, Anchors Aweigh, Living In A Big Way, Deep In My Heart, Take Me Out To The Ball Game (also jointly writing the story and getting $25000 for it), On The Town, Singin’ In The Rain, and It’s Always Fair Weather.

How do you remember Gene Kelly? “Like in that moment in Singin’ In The Rain. When one is down and wants to be cheered up, watch Gene Kelly.” -Stanley Donen, interviewed by Charlie Rose on the day of Gene Kelly’s death, 2nd February 1996.


The 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival will cover a wide range of programming themes, including “Style in the Movies.”

THE FILMS OF STANLEY DONEN: Charade (1963), Funny Face (1957), Singin' in the Rain (1952), Two for the Road (1967)

ESSENTIALS: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Annie Hall (1977), Auntie Mame (1958), Black Narcissus (1947), Cabaret (1972), Casablanca (1942), Dr. No (1962), Duck Soup (1933), Elmer Gantry (1960), Grand Illusion (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), High Society (1956), The Longest Day (1962), Moonstruck (1987), The Pink Panther (1963), Rio Bravo (1959), Sabrina (1954), The Searchers (1956), Singin' in the Rain (1952), Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (1937), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), To Catch a Thief (1955), Vertigo (1958), Wings (1927), The Women (1939), Young Frankenstein (1974)

THE LEGENDARY COSTUMES OF TRAVIS BANTON: Cleopatra (1934), Cover Girl (1944), I'm No Angel (1933), Letter from and Unknown Woman (1948), Nothing Sacred (1937), The Scarlet Empress (1934)

NOIR STYLE: Criss Cross (1949), Cry Danger (1951), Gun Crazy (1950), Night and the City (1950), Raw Deal (1948)

BUILT BY DESIGN - ARCHITECTURE IN FILM: Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Fountainhead (1949), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), My Architect: A Son's Journey (2003), Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Source: www.tcm.com