TV Radio Mirror (Jul - Dec 1962)

it. From here on out, we'll be home more, I'll be directing more." And, of course, whatever he does, Jeanne is involved. "She's worked with me since 'On the Town.' No, even before. Did you know she went to my dancing school in Pittsburgh? I taught her her first steps. And out here she worked with me, first as a dancer, then as an assistant. Jeanne's absolutely invaluable. No one I've ever known has such a combination of talents." It all adds up to a girl who understood his precision, his desire for perfection. A girl who worked with him all over the world, adapted her life to his and her moods to his, so simply and so ingenuously that she became his living answer. This wasn't always easy. Gene Kelly is a perfectionist, a demanding man, a man who puts forth an incredible effort, and expects a similar effort from those who work with him. For years, he's been a "holy terror" to fellow dancers who have felt the fine edge of his perfectionism. When seventeen-year-old Debbie Reynolds worked with him in "Singing in the Rain," she found Gene the hardest taskmaster she'd ever known. "I couldn't dance around my own big toe — and only two months to learn," Debbie says. "He had me on sound stages day after day, studying modern dancing with Carol Haney, and tap and ballet with Ernie Piatt. . . . But when Gene would come on stage to see what progress I was making, I was scared to death of him! I couldn't dance a step, and he'd just smile and say, 'I guess we'll have to work a little harder.' ... I owe more to Gene Kelly than I can ever repay. He literally willed me to dance." Leslie Caron never worked so hard in her life as she did in "An American in Paris." She says, "He's thoroughly professional and idealistic, a perfectionist. We rehearsed one number every day for one month. He created at least five versions before he was satisfied." For one dream sequence in "On the Town," Vera-Ellen spent weeks during the hottest days of summer on a turntable with Gene, rehearsing strenuous movements which later translated to the screen as the gauziest of fantasies. Cyd Charisse, Judy Garland — every girl who ever worked with Gene — found him difficult, but he proved to them the value of precision. As Gene points out, "If a singer misses a note on television, the audience thinks it sort of cute. If a dancer slips or slides, the audience says, 'Look at that bum, he can't stand up ! ' " In Jeanne, luckily, he has found someone whose sense of perfectionism matches his . . . who understands the dancer's need for discipline . . . and the man's need for love. Like him, she came from Pittsburgh. Like him, she's from a big Irish family. She loves to keep house and she keeps it well, whether it's the big, rambling Beverly Hills home or the little apartment in Paris. Like Gene, she has one foot in fantasy, and a perennial child's ability to imagine. Like him, she grew up with a dream. Gene's dreams began in high school, Peabody High, where — out of a student body of 3700 — a dozen kids got together to form an organization known as the Toreadors ("bull throwers"). "We were typical kids of the '20s," Gene says. "Our dads were all white-collar workers — mine sold records for Columbia— and we sat around once a week at the Y.M.C.A. and yak-yak-yak, we dreamed of doing big things. Throwing the bull "I was the only Catholic, the others were Protestants and Jews, but we could discuss the tenderest subjects and understand each other. We could even criticize each other — and did. The criticisms levelled at me were usually that I was conceited. We all were. We were also deeply religious, atheistic and agnostic, by turns, and pretended we knew too much about sex to even discuss it! "But the big subject was the dream of what we'd do, and a number of the fellows made it to the dream. Chalmers Roberts is on the Washington Post and winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Leon Hochstetter is the film industry's legal representative in Frankfurt, Germany, and all the rest are doing equally interesting things. And. of course, my job chose me." He'd dreamed of being a priest or lawyer. But, during college, when he was cramming his class schedule in from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 and working in a gas station from 3 p.m. until eleven — for $17.50 a week — he discovered that his brother Fred was making more money in two or three nights a week, dancing! They talked it over, Fred taught Gene to tap, and, under the guidance of their mother, they worked up an act together and started the round of amateur nights at local movie houses. There were three prizes: $5, $3, $1. And Fred and Gene did well. On the side, they started teaching at dancing schools, filling in for teachers who were ill. By the time Gene was in law school, he'd opened a dancing school of his own. He says his mother really organized it, but he had some novel ideas that clicked. He gave the boys some basketball practice, as well as dancing, and with new methods, attracted a clientele of dancers who already knew how to dance but wished more instruction. That summer he'd gone to Chicago, he'd seen the Ballet Russe and started studying classical ballet. "I'd seen Pavlova when I was very young, and had fallen asleep. But now I saw 'Les Sylphides.' At one point, a manly figure literally soared onto the stage and I was overwhelmed. But I knew I couldn't stay with straight classical ballet, I had to create something of my own . . ." Nonconformist Kelly! He'd been brought up in Pittsburgh, brought up with jazz music and roughhouse, and he had to express the roots he'd been born with. "Beauty is one thing and loveliness, too. But what I have to say can't be done in fifth position. I had to express manliness and strength and Cokes and hot dogs and football and baseball and jazz. You can't do it with a port de bras. I quit school, gave up the law dream and went to work." (Continued on next page) FEMININE, EXCITING, ALLURING Your moonlight magic in figure flattering, rich textured SILKY BEMBERG CAPRI. •BLUE • GREEN • GOLD •BLACK So Easy to Order By Mail FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY-RUSH COUPON! I PARADE FASHIONS, INC. Dept.483 1313 W. Randolph St., Chicago 7, Illinois Send the following (Quan.). . ."Draped Enchantment" HOW MANY? SIZES 1st COLOR 2nd CHOICE D PREPAID: I enclose payment plus 39c for one dress; (add 20c for each additional dress.) □ C.O.D.* I'll pay postman plus post. & handl. NAME (Print) ADDRESS APT. CITY ZONE STATE '• SATISFACTION GUARANTEED or MONEY REFUNDED" 81