On the 71st Anniversary of
Singing in the Rain
Gene Kelly (c) Barbra Paskin.
HOLLYWOOD, California--- That beloved musical Singin’ In The Rain celebrates its 71st anniversary this month. Gene Kelly died in 1996 but his films have continued to entertain audiences around the world. An artist ahead of his time, he revolutionised the world of dance on screen with his stunning choreography and created some of the most iconic dance numbers in American cinema, from Singin In The Rain to An American In Paris.
And that leads me into a remarkable trip down Memory Lane from the mid-70s before my move to Los Angeles.
It was a late wintry morning and Gene Kelly and I were ambling along Pimlico Road. Gene was on the loose at the time. En route to see his daughter in Ireland, he’d been grounded in London for a few days by an Aer Lingus strike. We’d met a few months earlier in Hollywood when I’d interviewed him for a book I was writing about actors and now he’d rung me and suggested lunch, an offer that was warmly welcomed. It was early days in my career and the charm of the bedsit had given way to the usual pangs of hunger that typically struck by week’s end.
So there we were, strolling down the road towards a little trattoria I knew at the end of the street. As we started to cross over to the other side it began spitting with rain, which fast gave way to a downpour that whipped my umbrella inside out. Barely out of my teens and normally rather inhibited and well-behaved, something irrepressible suddenly washed over me. On a whim I grabbed Gene’s hand and began humming, singing and skipping across the road in front of a London bus that screeched to a crunching halt. I can’t imagine what the passengers thought, watching the two of us as we splashed about in the deluge, our melodic voices drowned by the sound of heavy rain.
But I’ll never forget that day when I achieved the rare status of having gone singing in the rain with Gene Kelly.
There’s another landmark birthday to celebrate when the incomparable Barbra Streisand turned 81 on April 26th.
The quintessential Jewish actress of our time, she has created some unforgettable Jewish characters on the screen – from Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and Funny Lady, and Dolly Levy in Hello Dolly to the Jewish psychiatrist in The Prince of Tides and the girl who disguises herself as a yeshiva boy in order to study the Talmud in Yentl. She also directed those last two films, as well as A Star Is Born for which she made the lead role Jewish.
Barbra supports numerous Jewish causes in America and Israel, many in honour of her father, a scholar and teacher who died when she was just 15 months old. It was a loss she has always mourned. A longtime friend of Israel, she established the Emanuel Streisand School of Jewish Studies, named after her father, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. And she’s been awarded Israel’s Freedom Medal in recognition of her exceptional service.
When I was writing Dudley Moore’s biography, Barbra broke her rule of keeping a closed set (especially to the press) and graciously allowed me to accompany him during filming of The Mirror Has Two Faces which she was directing in New York. And although often described as a diva, I found her to be kind and inordinately patient with Dudley who had difficulty remembering his lines. (Though we didn’t know it then, he had begun suffering from a terminal brain disease and after a few days he had to withdraw from the film.)
Streisand’s next milestone may be the publication of her autobiography, which she’s been working on for several years, with occasional input from first husband Elliott Gould who has a photographic memory. One thing’s guaranteed – it’ll be an instant bestseller and make riveting reading as she reflects back over six decades as an actress, director and musical performer.
NOTE
This letter was first published just over a year ago. Barbra is very busy at the moment but will have a new Letter from Hollywood very soon