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Eugene Curran Kelly aka Gene Kelly is, with Fred Astaire, the greatest dancer andchoreographer in the history of musicals. Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on August 23, 1912, he wasintroduced to dance by his mother Harriet Curran Kelly at the age of eight. Gene is then much moreattracted by sports of any kind. His dream is to become a professional baseball player. Harriet doesnot stop, Eugene and his four brothers will be dancers. She forces her offspring to perform in publicunder the name The Kelly Brothers. She will eventually run her own dance school where Gene becamea teacher in 1932. In 1938, he left for Broadway and landed a small role in ’Leave it to me’. The followingyear it will be much more prominent in ’One for the money’. He gets his first real success with ’The Timeof Your Life’, which he toured for 22 weeks. In 1940, he is the star of Pal Joey during 270 performances!This piece will earn him to be spotted by the producer David Selznick who proposes him to start acareer in Hollywood. He was signed to MGM. His first film will be ’For me and my Gal’ staring JudyGarland. It will then be used in B-series musicals and wartime films. In 1944, Columbia recruited him forCover Girl a musical with Rita Hayworth, which will be a great success. The MGM then offers ’AnchorsAweigh’ where he shares the lead with Frank Sinatra. Gene is then nominated at the Academy Awardsin the Best Actor category. In 1945, he made an extraordinary appearance in ’Ziegfeld Follies’ as aduet with Fred Astaire. Their ’comedy song’ The Babbitt And The Bromide, written by George andIra Gershwin, is the occasion of a breathtaking choreography of which the two accomplices sharedthe creation. In 1946, he joined the Navy. On his return, he will successively perform in ’Living in a BigWay’ (1947), ’The Pirate’ (1948) again with Judy Garland, and ’Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ (1949),where he meets Frank Sinatra. The same year, he shared with Stanley Donen the realization of anadaptation for the musical ’On The Town’ He teamed up again with Sinatra. He now masters the artof adapting for the screen a discipline originally intended for the stage. He took on a role as JudithGarland’s stooge in ’Summer Stock’ (1950), before embarking on Vincente Minnelli’s ’An American inParis’ adventure, alongside a fantastic newbie, Leslie Caron. This great production is the occasion of adreamlike ballet loan of 20 minutes that will remain etched in all memories. Best film of the year 1951,it will get 6 Oscars. Gene Kelly continues with ’Singin’ in The Rain’, which will be voted＂Best Musicalof all Time＂. His partner was Cyd Charisse, whose first major role since his debut in 1943. MGM willrefuse to give him the means to fully achieve his most ambitious project ’Invitation to The Dance’. Afilm without spoken dialogue where everything is only dance and mime, which will end up going offwith five years behind. Too much absorbed in his choreographic creations, Gene Kelly will put in thebackground, a promising career of actor and a singing career that would inevitably make him one ofthe most beautiful voices in America between Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
CD 1 Singin’ in the Rain 1. Singin’ in the rain 2. You were meant for me 3. All I do is dream of you 4. Fit as a fiddle 5. Moses 6. Would you? 7. Broadway melody 8. Good morning 9. You are my lucky star 10. When you wore a tulip 11. Ballin’ the Jack 12. Long ago and far away 13. We hate to leave 14. I begged her 15. If you knew Susie like I know Susie 16. The babbitt and the bromide 17. Fido and me 18. Take me out to the ball game 19. Yes indeedy 20. O’Brien to Ryan to GoldbergCD 2 An American in Paris 1. Tra-la-la 2. Love is here to stay 3. I got rhythm 4. ’S wonderful 5. Almost like being in love 6. The heather on the hill 7. There but for you go I 8. Nina 9. Main Street 10. You, wonderful you 11. Heavenly music 12. Grand old flag / Yankee doodle boy 13. Moonlight Bay 14. The daughter of Rosie O’Grady 15. Let yourself go 16. Ida, sweet as apple cider 17. Doin’ the new low-down 18. I like myself 19. Les girls 20. A very precious love
