Happy 100th Birthday to Gene Kelly, Song and Dance Man Extraordinaire
Today marks the centenary of Gene Kelly's birth. The movies' song-and-dance man, who mesmerized us all with his terpsichorean skills in films like On The Town, Anchors Aweigh, Cover Girl, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, and It's Always Fair Weather, was born one hundred years ago today. Some critics found his ear-to-ear grin a bit smarmy, but I always felt that Kelly represented a kind of brashness and earthiness that exemplifed the American spirit. And was there ever an art form as quintessentially American as that of the musical?
Kelly's turn in Singin' in the Rain will be featured as part of my Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! film series coming up on Wednesday afternoons at 1:00 P.M. at the Barrington Library, beginning on September 26th. (Look for more information about this series in a blog post next month.)
In the meantime, I offer this heartfelt recognition of one of the premier exponents of the Hollywood film musical. Happy birthday, Gene Kelly! You may be gone from our temporal world, but you live on in film--and in our hearts.
Doug Swiszcz
Jack Baillargeron
3:15 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Gene Kelly one of the best dancers ever and not equaled yet, along with Fred Astaire of course ;-}
Emcee of Seekonk
3:34 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Some of the best musicals came out in the 1950's. Wonderful, happy songs that reflected the giddyness of surviving and winning a long war. The GI bill. The baby boomers. Gene Kelly's grin smarmy? No way !!
deb of see-attleboro
3:56 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
What do critics know anyway? The man was "hot";)!!
Peter A. Filippi III
3:48 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
I love all those old movies. My mother use to keep us in when it got dark and made a big hop-de-doo about the actors and their greatness, Errol Flynn was the man,
Harmony
3:57 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
what a wonderful era , with great times!
English first
5:01 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Michael Jackson got dance ideas from him.
Mike Burk
5:54 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
And his family carries on his tradition and love of dance. His niece teaches at her studio in Alabama and her daughter (my niece and god daughter ) teaches dance in Boston. Unfortunately they were never able to get my two left feet to work well on the dance floor. I guess it isn't in my genes! My parents and sister had a chance to see him and meet him when he did a show in Ohio and they loved the show and enjoyed meeting him. A very down to earth and friendly man.