Singing in the Rain Day is celebrated annually on Gene Kelly’s birthday. Here are 10 things you might not know about Singin’ in the Rain:
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The song Singin’ in the Rain was written by Arthur Freed with music by Nacio Herb Brown.
Only one of the songs featured in the film was written especially for it, and it wasn’t the title number! None of the songs they had already was suitable as a solo number for Donald O’Connor, so Freed and Brown came up with Make ‘Em Laugh.
Singin’ in the Rain had been used in six previous films including its film debut in The Ship from Shanghai in 1930 – performed by a nightclub band and sung in a Chinese dialect; a 1930 film short The Dogville Melody and Buster Keaton’s 1932 comedy Speak Easily.
Debbie Reynolds had no dance experience before she made the movie. The 19 year old had been a gymnast, but was completely new to dancing. Gene Kelley, however, said he’d teach her but it was hard work. Kelley was a perfectionist and reduced Debbie to tears so she ran away and hid under a Piano. Fred Astaire found her there and let her watch him rehearse, something he rarely allowed, so she could see the dance routines didn’t come easy to anyone.
As well as the tensions caused by Debbie’s lack of dancing experience, her relationship with Kelley wasn’t helped by the fact she liked to chew gum, and once left a piece on a Ladder Kelley had to lean against. When he moved away, his toupee didn’t.
Even Donald O’Connor was afraid of making a mistake and having Gene Kelley yell at him. Kelly asked O’Connor to bring back a signature move from his younger days: Running up to a wall and doing a somersault. O’Connor wasn’t as fit then as he once was, but he did it. However, it resulted in him needing a week’s bed rest to get over the exertion. Unfortunately, an accident ruined all of the initial footage, so after a brief rest O'Connor agreed to do the difficult number all over again.
When Kelly danced scenes with Cyd Charisse they are generally leaning towards each other. This is because Kelly didn’t want the audience to see that she was taller than him.
Singin’ in the Rain required a greater number of elaborate, ornately detailed costumes than Gone With the Wind did. Accuracy in the design was more important, too, because there would be people in the audience who remembered the late 1920s.
The Singin’ in the Rain scene wasn’t shot in one day. On the first take, they discovered that people using their garden sprinklers in the neighbourhood on a hot day affected the water pressure so they couldn’t muster a heavy enough shower. Also Gene Kelly had a fever at the time, but refused to go home and rest.
Kelly was not the first choice to play Don Lockwood, actor-singer Howard Keel was.
The first in a new series! It has invading aliens, gladiator-style contests, rivalry and romance.
The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.
Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.
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