FILM 1824: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

FILM 1824: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

TRIVIA: Gene Kelly was a taskmaster with Debbie Reynolds, who had never danced to this degree before rehearsals started. Fred Astaire, who was in an adjacent dance studio, found her crying under a piano and reassured her that all of her hard work was worth the effort.

For the "Make 'em Laugh" number, Gene Kelly asked Donald O'Connor to revive a trick he had done as a young dancer: running up a wall and completing a somersault. The number was so physically taxing that O'Connor, who smoked four packs of cigarettes a day at the time, ended up in a hospital bed for a week after its completion. He suffered from exhaustion and painful carpet burns. Unfortunately, an accident ruined all of the initial footage, so after a brief rest O'Connor--ever the professional--agreed to do the difficult number all over again.

Only 19 when cast to play the film, Debbie Reynolds lived with her parents and commuted to the set. She had to wake up at 4:00 a.m. and ride three different buses to the studio; sometimes, to avoid the commute, she would just sleep on the set.

A microphone was hidden in Debbie Reynolds' blouse so her lines could be heard more clearly. During one of the dance numbers, her heartbeat can be heard, mirroring what happens to Lina Lamont in the movie itself.

In the looping sequence, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is seen dubbing the dialogue for Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) because Lina's voice is shrill and screechy. However, it's not Reynolds who is speaking, it's Jean Hagen herself, who actually had a beautiful deep, rich voice. So you have Jean Hagen dubbing Debbie Reynolds dubbing Jean Hagen. And when Debbie is supposedly dubbing Jean's singing of "Would You?" the voice you hear singing actually belongs to Betty Noyes, who had a much richer singing voice than Debbie.

The "Singing in the Rain" number took all day to set up--and Gene Kelly was very ill (some say with a fever over 101). When it was all set up, Kelly insisted on doing a take--even though the blocking was only rudimentary (starting and ending positions only), and co-director Stanley Donen was ready to send him home. He ad-libbed most of it and it only took one take, which is what you see on film.

At the 1972 Academy Awards, Gene Kelly deliberately ignored Malcolm McDowell because he was so offended by the graphic rape scene in A Clockwork Orange (1971) being performed to Kelly's original vocal of "Singin' in the Rain."

The screenwriters bought a house in Hollywood from a former silent film star who lost his wealth when the innovation of sound film killed his career. This was part of the inspiration for the film.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #5 Greatest Movie of All Time.

According to supplemental information on the DVD, the first time they tried to film the "Singin' In The Rain" sequence they shot it in the late afternoon. Unfortunately the homeowners in the area had just come home from work and had turned on their lawn sprinklers so there was not enough water pressure for the "rain" to work. They finally filmed the sequence the next day, early enough so that everyone was at work and the water pressure was adequate for the shot.

Milk was added to the water for the title number to make the rain appear more visible.

Gene Kelly choreographed his dance scenes with Cyd Charisse to hide the fact that she was taller than he was. To keep the height difference from being obvious, Kelly staged the routine so that the two were rarely upright when standing next to each other, always bending toward or away from one another instead.

The soundstage used for the signature "Singin' In The Rain" scene is used for the street scenes for the quintessential 80's & 90's hit TV series sit-com Seinfeld (1989).

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.