The Big Picture
- Singin' in the Rain was a challenging film to make, with the cast and crew enduring health repercussions and injuries during production.
- Debbie Reynolds, who wasn't a professional dancer, had to spend two months learning complex dance sequences for the film.
- Donald O'Connor's iconic "Make 'Em Laugh" scene required him to perform dangerous stunts, leading to three days of hospitalization.
Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's Singin' in the Rain is an iconic film, and its cast ensemble consisting of Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, among others, went on to cement their positions in Hollywood as legends in cinema following their performance in the cult-following film. Many remember the famous and unforgettable "Singin' in the Rain" scene. The scene is a perfect harmony between actor Gene Kelly's portrayal of fictional actor Don Lockwood's rhythmic movement with an umbrella in tow, the music, and the soft sound of rain beautifully mixed with the tapping of his feet splashing through puddles of water on the cemented floor. The now legendary Singin' in the Rain scene's artistry combines three elements: picture, sound, and dance. It is a spectacle. But the making of the iconic film was not without its share of side drama, including the hospitalization of one of its main cast members.
Debbie Reynolds Had "Blood in Her Shoes" During the Filming of 'Singin' in the Rain'
Like all good things, the making of Singin' in the Rain wasn't a walk in the park. In fact, it came at a cost, in addition to its over-budget production, in terms of health repercussions for its cast and crew. The impeccable stunts and dance movements in the film were not easy to make. In an interview with TCM Classic Film Festival, the film's star, Debbie Reynolds said that making Singin' in the Rain was one of the two hardest things she has ever done, the other being childbirth. She revealed that they spent an entire day filming the "Good morning" scene which had about forty takes, only for Kelly to print the first take. The meticulous synchronization of the dance between the three leads of Singin' in the Rain left her with "blood in her shoes".
Before Singin' in the Rain, Reynolds, who was still a teenager, just wasn't a professional dancer like O'Connor and Kelly, and she had to spend two months working eight hours a day learning the complex sequence prior to filming. While Kelly and Reynolds' on-screen chemistry was impeccable as depicted in their romantic interest roles as Don Lockwood and Kathy Selden respectively, their behind-the-scenes relationship was much harder. In her memoir, Unsinkable: A Memoir, Reynolds has described working with Kelly as being difficult as he was a "cruel taskmaster who constantly criticized" her. Reynolds had shed tears a lot on the set of Singin' in the Rain and would hide under a piano to run away from Kelly's torturous training. After filming, Reynolds was forced by doctors to be bed-bound for two days. Kelly on his part, was magnanimous in his response, admitting responsibility, saying he was shocked that she still even talked to him after all he had put her through. In the TCM interview, Reynolds suggests that she understood why Kelly had to be tough given that, as the film's director, the weight of the film was on his shoulders, and that, the lessons she learned from that tough training were what kept her in the film industry for more than fifty years.
'Singin' in the Rain' Had a Stunt Man for Stunts That Were Too Dangerous
It wasn't just Reynolds whose performance was marked with behind-the-scenes drama. Donald O'Connor said in an inteview with Roger Ebert that the film's stunt person, Russel M. Saunders, who was brought in to perform stunts that were considered too dangerous for the actors, ended up injuring himself, and the actors would have to do the dangerous acts themselves. Even Kelly's iconic "Singin' in the Rain" scene performance was marked by illness. Kelly performed the eye candy scene with a fever. His temperature was reported to have been 103 °F during the performance. Actress Cyd Charisse, who performed a remarkable dance sequence in the film alongside Kelly, said in a documentary on the making of the film that it was a lot of work performing her part, and she left feeling like her shoulders "were a wreck!"
Donald O'Connor Was Hospitalized for Three Days for His "Make 'Em Laugh" Performance
But there is a frighteningly hilarious sequence in the MGM musical that mainly features Don Lockwood's bud, Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor). In the "Make 'Em Laugh" scene, O'Connor performs a musical dance with all sorts of stunts—darting dangerously from one prop to the other, climbing walls, throwing himself on the ground, doing backflips, being hit by what looks like a bench that is being moved, swiveling on the floor. O'Connor performs the scene as the main act with other characters providing extra role support. To make matters worse, O'Connor had to film the scene at least twice, as the first time it didn't work due to a camera malfunction. As noted in his interview with Roger Ebert, addicted to cigarettes at the time, O'Connor wasn't suited for the double performance he had to endure. While the scene is perhaps one of O'Connor's most memorable of the many playful roles in the many films in his career, it came at a cost, and he had to be hospitalized for three days due to the physical distress of filming the dance sequence.
Donald O'Connor explained that, unlike the other dance scenes in the film in which Kelly had control over their choreography, Kelly let him take charge of "Make 'Em Laugh". O'Connor then decided to try out several dance stunts while performing the song, and he wrote down the ones the small audience in the crew laughed at the loudest, birthing the iconic sequence as we know it now.
Singin' in the Rain, a movie about movies, follows the characters of legendary actor Gene Kelly playing the role of a fictional actor, Don Lockwood, caught up in the murky transition between the era of silent films and the advent of sound in cinema. Lockwood hopes his best friend, Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), will help him leapfrog the transition. The film also stars Debbie Reynolds portraying aspiring actress Kathy Selden, who is Lockwood's love interest.
Singin' in the Rain is a film you can watch repeatedly. Often considered the best musical ever done, it is not surprising that the making of the film wasn't a walk in the park, what is surprising is the noxious sacrifices the crew and cast made. But the beautiful film that Singin' in the Rain is, despite the chaos that its behind-the-scenes presented, proves that sometimes the best things in life come at a cost, even if it means tears, blood, and hospitalization.
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