Gene Kelly dances on roller skates.

[trof]

Just absolutely INCREDIBLE balance.
From "It's Always Fair Weather".

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[sarge43]

1. That man had some secret unnatural control over gravity. n/t

[mopinko]

2. swoon.

[redwitch]

3. He was wonderful.

I can’t believe I have never seen this before, simply amazing!

[whistler162]

4. And again 25 years later

[hlthe2b]

5. Oh, I so adored Gene Kelly--what a handsome, eligant man even in his old age...

I'd never seen this before. Thanks!

[rurallib]

6. like giant taps - Jeez, Kelly was amazing

liked him so much more than Astaire.

[brush]

10. Just appreciate both. Different styles, both great.

I can't believe he could do all that on skates. Without the skates it's incredibly hard.

[Staph]

19. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced on skates

in Shall We Dance in 1937, eighteen years before Gene Kelly. It's one of the few times that Rogers seems to have difficulty keeping up!

[brush]

20. Thanks for posting. I hadn't seen that before. The OP spurred me to look up...

whether Astaire and Kelly liked each other but I could've find anything. I did find though that Astaire and Rogers both just tolerated each other.

Astaire was kinder about it. He just didn't want to be a team, and was once quoted as saying: "Ginger always wants to be the boss."

She was once being interview about their Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers pairings in movies and she corrected the reporter by saying something to the effect that it should be "Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire..."

That was a little disappointing to me as I always thought they got along well.

I couldn't find anything about whether Kelly and Astaire liked and respected each other's work though.

Their styles were such a contrast — Astaire with the graceful, classical lines and Kelly with the supreme physicality and athleticism. I leaned towards Astaire as my favorite for years but have come to realize they were equals.

[trof]

22. Possibly her most famous quote:

"I did everything Fred did, only backwards...and in heels."

[brush]

23. Yes, that's a good one.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. He was my mother's favorite dancer n/t

[hlthe2b]

8. My hips and thighs are burning just watching that performance...

damn! Incredible

[Sneederbunk]

9. People on the street dressed better then.

[Stuart G]

11. Singing in the Rain, with Gene Kelly is an incredible movie.

[Vadem]

14. I saw a documentary on Gene Kelly about singing in the rain and it said that

Gene had the flu and had a temperature of about 104 degrees and insisted on doing the part! What an incredible actor! The very best!

[Demoiselle]

21. I read somewhere that the studio lights made things very warm...

…and that his water-soaked (wool) suit kept shrinking, which meant they had to get him into another one every so often during the shoot. I can't remember where I saw this….but it makes quite a story, anyway.

[Stuart G]

12. Gene Kelly, Donald O Connor, Debbie Renolds..in "Good Morning" Singing in the Rain (1952)

[Docreed2003]

15. Great videos! Both from a phenomenal movie!

Kelly was an exquisite dancer...and actor! For those that don’t know, he had the flu and a fever during the “Singin in the Rain” theme! The shoot was so expensive and they couldn’t afford a break so Kelly either had to perform or the shot wouldn’t make the film! Here’s another gem from that movie, one I’ve always loved with Donald O’ Conner!

The comedic timing alone in this is priceless, but as a kid, it made me dream of dancing up walls!!

[Docreed2003]

17. One other tidbit...

“Good Mornin’” seems so seamless now, but it took from 8am to 11pm to film and Reynolds’ feet were bleeding at the end from her shoes! Later she’d say childbirth and filming “Singin’ in the Rain” were the two hardest moments of her life!

[Vadem]

13. Thank you Trof! I love Gene Kelly--that was wonderful!!! n/t

[Docreed2003]

16. He made dancing with a cartoon seem realistic in 1945!

It’s a silly song by modern standards but it was a special effects feat for its time!

[malthaussen]

18. Donald O'Connor tap dancing on roller skates...

... two years before Gene Kelly. Yes, he's using a wire.

I like Donald more than Gene, but it's not like I'd want to live on the difference.

-- Mal