Beg, Borrow, and Steal... That's how you make a movie musical about movie musicals. And that's exactly how this quintessential movie musical was crafted. While the movie "Singin' in the Rain" was created in the 1950s, most of the songs you hear in the show were written in the 1920s, many by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown. In fact, they provided the basis for the entire show. In 1950, Arthur Freed approached Betty Comden and Adolph Green about writing ab story about his songs. Because Freed had originally written the songs for early talkie films Comden and Green based ...Read More
Beg, Borrow, and Steal... That's how you make a movie musical about movie musicals. And that's exactly how this quintessential movie musical was crafted. While the movie "Singin' in the Rain" was created in the 1950s, most of the songs you hear in the show were written in the 1920s, many by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown. In fact, they provided the basis for the entire show. In 1950, Arthur Freed approached Betty Comden and Adolph Green about writing ab story about his songs. Because Freed had originally written the songs for early talkie films Comden and Green based their production around the Hollywood of the 1920s and the transition from silent film to talkies. Among other interesting facts about the making of the movie: - The original negative of this film was destroyed in a fire. - Gene Kelly preformed his signature dance number with a 103-degree fever. - Donald O'Connor was hospitalized after filming "Make 'Em Laugh," then had to do it all over again because the raw film was bad. - Debbie Reynolds remarked many years later that making this movie and surviving childbirth were the two hardest things she'd ever had to do.
-- Keith Dixon
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