GENE KELLY Movie SINGIN IN THE RAIN SOUNDTRACK 78

$

126

WEEK 2 of 4 weeks of great auctions - because of LABOR DAY HOLIDAY, this auction will run through MONDAY September 5 2011

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from MGM Movie SINGIN IN THE RAIN

ORIGINAL CAST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds

SINGIN IN THE RAIN (based on a 1929 song) is famous for Kelly's Dance sequence in the rain. The movie deals with the introduction of Sound in the Talkies in 1929 Hollywood

(see list of major songs in the album at bottom of page)

4x MGM 78 rpm 10" records w original album and notes

Condition: RECORDS are EXCELLENT MINUS, scuffed play very quiet. Album is nice with light rubbing at edges

Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography. It offers a comic depiction of Hollywood, and its transition from silent films to "talkies."

Although it was not a big hit when first released, it was accorded its legendary status by contemporary critics. It is now frequently described as one of the best musicals ever made,[1] topping the AFI's 100 Years of Musicals list, and ranking fifth in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007.

[edit] PlotDon Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer and stunt man. Don barely tolerates his vapid, shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity. Lina herself is convinced they are in love, despite Don's protestations otherwise.

One day, to escape from overenthusiastic fans, Don jumps into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). She drops him off, but not before claiming to be a stage actress and sneering at his undignified accomplishments. At first, she pretends not to know who he is, but later in the film, she admits that she knew who he was all along and is also a big fan. Later, at a party, the head of Don's studio, R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell), shows a short demonstration of a Vitaphone talking picture ("...My voice has been recorded on a record...") which pays homage to the original 1921 DeForest Phonofilm demonstration featuring DeForest himself explaining the system, but his guests are unimpressed. To Don's amusement and Kathy's embarrassment, she pops out of a mock cake right in front of him as part of the entertainment; Kathy, it turns out, is only a chorus girl. Furious at Don's teasing, she throws a real cake at him, only to hit Lina right in the face. Later, after weeks of searching, Don makes up with Kathy after he finds her working in another Monumental Pictures production, and they begin to fall in love.

After a rival studio has an enormous hit with its first talking picture, 1927's The Jazz Singer, R.F. decides he has no choice but to convert the new Lockwood and Lamont film, The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. The production is beset with difficulties that reportedly reflect what actually took place during the early days of talking pictures. By far the worst problem is Lina's grating voice. An exasperated diction coach tried to teach her how to speak properly, but to no avail. A test screening is a disaster. In one scene, Don repeats the line "I love you" to Lina over and over, to the audience's derisive laughter (a reference to a scene by John Gilbert in his first talkie[2]). Then in the middle of the movie, the sound goes out of synchronization.

Don's best friend, Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), comes up with the idea to dub Lina's voice with Kathy's, and they persuade R.F. to turn The Dueling Cavalier into a musical called The Dancing Cavalier, complete with a modern musical number called "Broadway Melody". When Lina finds out, she is furious and does everything possible to sabotage the romance between Don and Kathy. She becomes even angrier when she discovers that R.F. intends to give Kathy a screen credit and a big publicity promotion. Lina, after consulting lawyers, threatens to sue R.F. unless he cancels Kathy's buildup and orders her to continue working (uncredited) as Lina's voice. R.F. reluctantly agrees to her demands.

The premiere of The Dancing Cavalier is a tremendous success. When the audience clamors for Lina to sing live, Don, Cosmo, and R.F. improvise and get her to lip sync into the mike while Kathy, hidden behind the stage curtain, sings into a second microphone. While Lina is "singing," Don, Cosmo and R.F. do the right thing as they gleefully open the curtain. The deception becomes obvious when Cosmo replaces Kathy at the microphone. Now exposed as a fraud, Lina flees in embarrassment. Kathy tries to run away as well, but Don introduces the audience to "the real star of the film." The final shot shows Kathy and Don in front of a billboard for their new movie, Singin' in the Rain.

[edit] CastGene Kelly as Don Lockwood. Although his performance in the song "Singin' in the Rain" is now considered iconic, Kelly was not the first choice for the role—Howard Keel was originally cast. However, Keel was replaced by Kelly as the screenwriters evolved the character from a "Western actor" to a "song-and-dance vaudeville" performer.[2]
Donald O'Connor as Cosmo Brown. The role was based on, and initially written for, Oscar Levant.
Debbie Reynolds as Kathy Selden. Early on in production, Judy Garland (shortly before her contract termination from MGM), Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell, Leslie Caron, and June Allyson were among the names thrown around for the role of the "ingenue." Yet, Director Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly insisted that Debbie Reynolds always was first in their mind for the role.[3] Although the film revolves around the idea that Kathy has to dub over for Lina's voice, even in the talking scenes, it was actually Jean Hagen's normal voice. Reynolds herself was dubbed in "Would You?" and "You are My Lucky Star" by an uncredited Betty Noyes.[4] Also, when Kathy is supposedly dubbing Lina's voice in the live performance of "Singing in the Rain" at the end of the film, Jean Hagen is actually dubbing Reynolds' speaking voice.[5]
Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont. Judy Holliday was strongly considered for the role of Lina, until she suggested Hagen, who had been her understudy in the Broadway production of Born Yesterday. Fresh off her role in The Asphalt Jungle, Hagen read for the part for producer Arthur Freed and did a dead-on impression of Holliday's Billie Dawn character, which won her the role. Her character was based on the silent picture star Norma Talmadge who bombed during the transition to talkies.
Millard Mitchell as R.F. Simpson. The initials of the fictional head of Monumental Pictures are a reference to producer Freed. R.F. also uses one of Freed's favorite expressions when he says that he "cannot quite visualize it" and has to see it on film first, referring to the Broadway ballet sequence, a joke, since the audience has just seen it.
Cyd Charisse as Don's dance partner in the "Broadway Melody" ballet.
Douglas Fowley as Roscoe Dexter, the director of Don and Lina's films.
Rita Moreno as Zelda Zanders, the "Zip Girl" and Lina's informant friend. Considered to be based on Clara Bow.
King Donovan (uncredited) as Rod, head of the publicity department at Monumental Pictures.
Judy Landon (uncredited) as Olga Mara, a silent screen vamp who attends the premiere of The Royal Rascal. She is considered to be based on Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson.
Madge Blake (uncredited) as Dora Bailey, a radio show host. Considered to be based on Louella Parsons.
Kathleen Freeman (uncredited) as Phoebe Dinsmore, Lina's diction coach.
Jimmy Thompson (uncredited) as the singer of Beautiful Girl
[edit] SongsSingin' in the Rain was originally conceived by MGM producer Arthur Freed, the head of the "Freed Unit" responsible for turning out MGM's lavish musicals, as a vehicle for his catalog of songs written with Nacio Herb Brown for previous MGM musical films of the 1929-39 period.[6] Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green contributed lyrics to one new song.[7]

All songs have lyrics by Freed and music by Brown, unless otherwise indicated.[7] Some of the songs, such as "Broadway Rhythm," "Should I?" and most notably "Singin' in the Rain," were featured in numerous films. The films listed below mark the first time each song was presented on screen.

"Fit as a Fiddle (And Ready for Love)," from College Coach (1933)[8] (music by Al Hoffman and Al Goodhart)
"Temptation" (instrumental only), from Going Hollywood (1933)
"All I Do Is Dream of You," from Sadie McKee (1934)[7]
"Singin' in the Rain," from Hollywood Revue Of 1929 (1929)[7]
"Make 'Em Laugh," considered an original song, but a near-plagiarism of Cole Porter's "Be a Clown", used in another Freed musical, The Pirate (1948). In the lead in to the song, O'Connor/Cosmo sarcastically references the tragic line "ridi pagliaccio" ("Laugh, clown") from the opera Pagliacci.
"Beautiful Girl Montage" comprising "I Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'" from Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935),[7] "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" from The Broadway Melody (1929)[7] and "Should I?" from Lord Byron of Broadway (1930)[7]
"Beautiful Girl," from Going Hollywood (1933)[8] or from Stage Mother (1933)[7]
"You Were Meant for Me," from The Broadway Melody (1929)[7]
"You Are My Lucky Star," from Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)[7]
"Moses Supposes" (music by Roger Edens, lyrics by Comden and Green)
"Good Morning," from Babes In Arms (1939)[7]
"Would You?," from San Francisco (1936)[7]
"Broadway Melody Ballet" composed of "The Broadway Melody" from The Broadway Melody (1929)[7] and "Broadway Rhythm" from Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)[7] (music by Nacio Herb Brown and Lennie Hayton)

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