He Can't Keep Getting Away With It: The Contradictions of Gene Kelly and His Persona

foreign [Music] Gene Kelly was a bankable leading man to many movie musicals in the 1940s and 50s and most famously known for his dancing and iconic film Singing in the Rain that cemented itself within pop culture history while Kelly's skills and Feats as a performer are mostly attributed to him being the consummate professional and an expert in his craft his star Persona was one of an average guy relatable attainable and like Kelly said himself a rascal they always cast me in Rascals while seemingly contradictory I will try to answer the question of how Gene Kelly's Persona as the average Joe was successful but I too was truthfully shy I couldn't go into a room and say may I have the next dance Gene Kelly was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on August 23 1912 to Father James Kelly and mother Harriet Curran Kelly's mother enrolled all her children including Jean in dance lessons at a young age Gene while quitting Dancing at some points due to peer pressure taught dance and improved his skills into his adulthood when his mother decided to open her own dance studio Kelly later studied economics and University and had been admitted into law school until he decided to pursue dancing full-time in New York City two months into studying law at the University of Pittsburgh law school Kelly's stage career on Broadway culminated with Gene originating the lead role in the Rogers and heart musical Pal Joey this is where he met Judy Garland who saw him on stage and insisted he be in her next movie in the biography Gene Kelly a biography Clive hirschhorn says Gene's staunches Ally during his initiation into movies with Judy Garland he had first met during the Run of Pal Joey Kelly would then go on to Hollywood and star in his first motion picture opposite Judy Garland the war of musical for me and my gal however Kelly always assumed that he would return to the stage after he completed his contract with MGM appearing in some B movies and the star-studded thousands cheer however he changed his mind after MGM loaned him out to Colombia to work on the 1944 film Covergirl starring Rita Hayworth Kelly was then given artistic license to choreograph his own dances but as well to have these dances have significant into the plot of the film this was a game changer to Kelly who then insisted on staying in Hollywood to push the limits of dance on film Kelly continued to push the limits of his roles in choreography he went on to be featured in many successful movie musicals of the 1940s and the 1950s starring in films like anchors away on the town An American in Paris rigidoon it's always fair weather Summer Stock singing in the rain and more he was situated within a star network of popular Musical actors and directors of the time including Frank Sinatra Judy Garland Phil Silvers Stanley Donan and Vincent Minnelli the star network was very collaborative Kelly was often cast of the same leading men and women multiple times in films like Garland and citris he also worked very closely with directors like fitzsimonelli as he became increasingly interested in directing his roles turned him into the average Joe the likable Rogue who resembled more of an athlete than any dancer usually featured in Hollywood musicals in the book movie musical Lee Edward Stern says Kelly was a natural with his crocodile grin limber athletic body and engagingly impish personality in which there was an occasional hint of Menace he played sleazy characters and hammy self-centered ones Kelly's dancing was distinctly masculine he moved with the grace of a dancer but with the force of an athlete coming from his youth playing various Sports Kelly even remarked how important Athletics was to his style of dancing and how similar dance and sports were Kelly is quoted as saying there's a strong link between sports and dancing and my own dancing Springs from my early days as an athlete I think dancing is a man's game and if he does it well he Does It Better Than a Woman even his singing voice was especially non-threatening it sounded untrained and gave off the impression that an average everyday kind of guy was singing to his favorite lady Kelly's Persona soon made him a bankable leading man which enabled his creative control of his dance sequences but then also the films he starred in Kelly then moved to directing first directing with his assistant turned partner Stanley Donan then moving on to direct his starring film solo and then moving to leave starring roles to just direct films most notably the film version of Hello Dolly starring Barbra Streisand Kelly then left Hollywood working with Parisian Productions and then later left the film industry altogether to raise his children after his second wife passed away Kelly would sporadically come back into the public eye and even for a notable cameo in 1980 in the film Xanadu but Kelly stopped working in Hollywood full time in the late 70s onward Singing in the Rain with Eugene as previously stated Gene Kelly's star image was the average Joe and revolved around him taking roles that appealed to men through Kelly's character characterizations of men and his masculine presence softness towards Sue's female leads in the musicals that he starred in while Kelly was quite popular among fans much like his Average Joe Persona Kelly did not attract a lot of media attention around him being in scandals Kelly for the most part managed to avoid tabloid ridicule while still being extremely popular among film fans Christine Garrity in the book chapter re-examining stardom questions of texts bodies and performance at stardom and celebrity describes how certain celebrities fit into categories of stardom saying celebrities may be contrasted to professionals these are people whose Fame rests on their work in such a way that there is very little sense of a private life and the emphasis is on the seamlessness of their public Persona this perhaps is how Kelly managed to avoid Scandal and tabloid drama for much of his career Kelly's public life seemed to evade the tablets for the most part of his career until he was in his 80s when he married his third wife who was 50 years younger than himself Patricia Ward Kelly this of course attracted media attention but again it was probably the only time that Kelly was ever involved with Scandal however this is largely not remembered in the public eye anymore and Ward Kelly has moved on to keeping Gene's Legacy alive writing a one-woman show about her life and also being in charge of Kelly's official autobiography co-written by herself regardless before and after the Scandal Kelly was mostly regarded by his profession and is seen as a master of his craft in fact incidents that Kelly was involved in that should have caused Scandal like when Kelly broke Lana Turner's elbow were spun into a talking point or behind the scenes story when Gene went on late night shows it was trying she was trying just to do the scene better it wasn't what movie was that Three Musketeers she was playing Lady to Winter the idea was if I didn't throw her hard enough it wouldn't uncover the brand on her shoulder and I was like this is and she's strong for a girl and she kept playing she'd say harder hard finally I went what as she slipped on like that you just broke yours didn't you okay but perhaps this also showcases a contradiction in Kelly's star Persona Kelly is perceived as an every man or a regular guy but at the same time he is seen more than just as a professional dancer but as an expert in his craft Richard Dyer explains showing that the star is not really like she he appears to be May itself be taken up into the image it's further construction and re-reading but it could shatter the illusion altogether there is more to authentication there is more to rhetoric of authenticity in reality Kelly isn't an average Joe Kelly has been training since the age of eight to be able to dance the way that he does his performances come off as natural or effortless because they are but these performances could only come off as natural if highly trained and seriously disciplined dancers do them Kelly's Signature Smile and is energetic but forceful movements make his dance look like an extension of his character's emotions in happy scenes and dances he looks like he's enjoying himself and when he's dancing in a sad scene he looks like he's still engaging with those emotions in a cathartic way the conflict in Kelly's image is that Kelly's realism in naturalism comes off as completely authentic while consistently engaging in high-level dance choreography that in other contexts would look Fantastical so why does Kelly Star Persona work how is Kelly able to maintain his Persona as a regular guy while clearly not being a regular guy Richard Dyer also writes the book chapter heavenly bodies from Stardom and celebrity stars articulate what it is to be a human in a contemporary society that is they express the particular notion we hold of the person of the individual they do so complexly variously they are not straightforward affirmations of individualism on the contrary they articulate both the promise and the difficulty that the notion of individuality presents for all of us who live by it this may be the reason that Kelly's contradictory image Works he represents what it means to be a human in society in a complex open and emotional way his roles connect to the men he portrays say working artists men trying to make it in society through hard work Kelly dance is an extension of his characters and seemingly to the viewer his own emotions Kelly's image while contradictory works and allows an audience to believe that Gene Kelly is just an average American man trying to pursue his own happiness dancing and Singing in the Rain [Music] thank you

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Keywords: gene kelly, genekelly, singing in the rain, singin' in the rain, singin in the rain, film, film analysis, music, education, star, celebrity, video essay, music video essay, film video essay, golden age, golden age of film, 1950's, 1960's, music history, film history, history of film, history

Id: tg0U6e6D1GI

Length: 9min 34sec (574 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 10 2023