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MGM was the largest and most powerful studio in Hollywood in 1941 when Gene Kelly arrived in town. He came direct from the hit Broadway show "Pal Joey" and planned to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film called for in his movie contract. His first film for MGM was "For Me and My Gal (1942)" with Judy Garland . What kept Kelly in Hollywood were "the kindred creative spirits" he fo ...  show all 

MGM was the largest and most powerful studio in Hollywood in 1941 when Gene Kelly arrived in town. He came direct from the hit Broadway show "Pal Joey" and planned to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film called for in his movie contract. His first film for MGM was "For Me and My Gal (1942)" with Judy Garland . What kept Kelly in Hollywood were "the kindred creative spirits" he found behind the scenes at MGM. The talent pool was especially large during World War II, when Hollywood was a refuge for many musicians and others in the performing arts of Europe who were forced to flee the Nazis. After the war, a new generation was coming of age. Those who saw "American in Paris, An (1951)" would try to make real life as romantic as the reel life portrayed in that musical, and the first time they saw Paris, they were seeing again in memory the 17-minute ballet sequence set to the title song written by George Gershwin and choreographed by Kelly. The sequence cost half a million dollars to make--in 1951 dollars. Another Kelly musical of that era, "Singin' in the Rain (1952)", was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry of movies that are part of the American heritage. Kelly was in the same league as Fred Astaire, but instead of a top hat and tails, Kelly wore work clothes that went with the masculine, athletic dance style he was creating with his "snappy paper-tearing, roller-skating, puddle-stomping footwork."  hide