GENE KELLY, THE LEGACY: AN EVENING WITH PATRICIA WARD KELLY

 

As a former dancer myself, and a major fan of old movies, I’ve always admired Gene Kelly. Who hasn’t? And then I saw him do something in the mid-’80s that made me respect him even more.

He was a judge for (or had some role in) a stupid televised Miss Hollywood contest. It was truly one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. For her talent, the eventual winner came on-stage pulling a toy duck who quacked. I kid you not. She told some lame jokes, and that was that. When she was announced as the victor, Mr. Kelly looked at her creepy hunched-over stance, the farthest thing from how a “star” should conduct herself, and he told her to “stand-up straight, for goodness sake!” He seemed annoyed and befuddled about her victory. And he was already an older gent! I immediately loved him for that!

But I never really knew much of his history. (Except for the few stories that my friend Fayard Nicholas, of the fantabulous Nicholas Brothers, had shared with me over the years.) I believe that everyone just comes out of the womb being aware of Gene Kelly’s exalted role in film, and doesn’t dig deeper.

I hadn’t heard of him in what seemed like a hundred years, so when I was invited to this one-woman show about him at the Pasadena Playhouse, I didn’t know why we were hearing about him now. I didn’t know what to expect, but I went in with an open mind, and was treated to a wonderful tutorial on Gene Kelly’s work.

So, this is what the show is: Gene Kelly’s third, (and last,) wife, Patricia Ward Kelly, lets us in on some of his show business work, both in front of the cameras and behind them. She shows clips and tells us what went into each one, and what to pay attention to in each scene. (She wasn’t in his life in those early days, so she must have been an apt pupil he shared all his secrets with.)

The two and half hours, (with no intermission, so be prepared,) were really about Gene’s work, which is the way it should be, and not his personal life. It was almost like Patricia was a college professor and this was a specialized cinema class. I loved it like that!

There were only two parts about them as a couple; at the beginning, Patricia told how they met, and at the end she went through some material remembrances. (Mr. X could never do a show about me because if he went through boxes of my stuff, the audience would be there for a month, not an evening!)

My favorite part of the presentation was the extensive opening dance montage, which was just fantastic! I kept thinking about how my father would have loved it! I, of course, had never seen any of this footage on a big theatre screen, and my mouth was hanging open. As a matter of fact, I had never even seen any on a big TV screen, having viewed most of Mr. Kelly’s work when I was a kid, when screens were just normal-size. (As much as I still love old movies, I just don’t have time to watch them anymore, even though now I have a giant screen to view them on! Shame.)

I really have nothing to criticize about Gene Kelly: The Legacy. But I do have a few constructive suggestions to make.

The main one is that, in addition to the many fabulous motion picture clips we were treated to, they should have had still projections. Even Mike Tyson had them in his one-man show! When Patricia was showing notes that Gene left around the house, just her looking at the little papers herself does not play. We were sitting very close, and it was frustrating for us to not see them for ourselves, since she’s sharing what the missives said, so what about the people in the back? If the movie screen was the problem, (maybe it can’t be used for film and stills,) they could have another screen drop down below it. It would totally have helped to have “visual aids,” (as I called them on my show, back in the day,) because it’s hard to hear about the one-of-a-kind mementos and see her just holding them, without viewing them for ourselves. And then she could have also shown snaps of them together, (so we could have visualized the relationship,) or at least share one of her when they first met because she described it in such detail. And you know what a visual society we’ve become, with so much technology and social media.

Secondly, Patricia was holding a black rectangular object the entire time, that looked like the case a restaurant check comes in. It was very distracting. I thought it might be a cheat sheet, but even though she was wearing reading glasses during the entire show, she never referred to it, so I have no idea what it was. But half the time my friend and I were staring at it, and wondering what it was and when she would refer to it, rather than listening to what she was saying, so, unless it’s something necessary, she should lose it. Or at least tell us what it is!

The last thing is something she said throughout, that she may not even realize she’s doing. But it drives me, and many others, crazy. I have a friend who does the same thing, and I always reprimand her, as well, for the pretentious affectation. Patricia kept referring to famous pals and colleagues of Gene’s by saying, “And he was a man by the name of…” Just say the name! We know that’s the name he went by! Everyone in the world who uses that expression should lose it! So, let that be a lesson to everyone, not just Patricia (and my friend, who I hope is reading this!) (Some of you may also not even realize you’re doing it, so you’re welcome for pointing it out!)

But, since this show is really all about Gene Kelly, let me give you some of my observations that came to me while I was in awe of the clips we saw. I’ve rarely seen such a talented person! I’m so grateful that his widow gave us the opportunity to view them, and learn the behind-the-scenes skinny.

I’ve always been one to respect my elders, and history, especially of Hollywood, and Gene Kelly fits all those bills. I’ve always revered him as being a major institution. But, I hadn’t noticed that he was a “cute guy” until I saw all these clips in a row. I guess I was just too young when I saw them originally to realize how hunky you was!!! How did I ever miss that?! That dude was built, and had a great little butt, to boot! I can’t believe that I never thought to have a posthumous crush on him, like I do on the young Cary Grant. Now I’m going to star wasting some of my time wondering which one I would’ve rather gone out with if I lived when they did. (Yes, I do know that I’m nuts to be worrying about stuff like that. But have you met me?)

I also never appreciated just how handsome Gene Kelly was. What a gorgeous nose on him!

But the biggest attraction of him, by far, is that incredible dancing talent. He never missed a step, and his obvious joy of dancing made everything he did that much more attractive. I could’ve easily sat in the Pasadena Playhouse and watched many more hours of just Gene Kelly dancing. (And when I heard that, way back in the day, he used to have game nights at his house, I realized he would’ve definitely been my best friend if we had lived at the same time. A charming, happy, hunky dancer who also plays games and has a lot of parties? It’s a hard combination to beat. Mr. X is a hermit, but at least he can dance! Does krumping count?)

I was glad that Patricia pointed out the variety of Gene Kelly’s dance styles. She said that many people thought of him as just a tap dancer, which I never did, but it might not have occurred to me that he could dance in any genre because when I originally saw his movie numbers, I thought that that was a style in and of itself. (I told you I was young.) He got more impressive in my eyes as the evening in the Playhouse wore on.

I have a couple of final notes on the show. First of all, I was glad to see a woman who appears to have loved her man as much as I love Mr. X; before this, the only other show biz female I identified with was Sally, (who’s nuts about Linus!) I could do a whole show quoting all of Mr. X’s funny lines over the years, but he keeps telling me not to talk about him. He once said that it’s hard to be as private as he is when he’s living with the town crier! Oh well. At least I don’t call him my Sweet Baboo!

Another note is that I was so grateful that Patricia cleared something up for me near the end. During the whole show, I kept flashing on an item I had had in my own apartment when I first came out here. It was a green and white cap that had “Kelly and Company” printed on it, and I know that I had it earmarked to give Gene Kelly. I usually remember everything that ever happened to me, but I was wondering why I had something to give to a movie star I had never met just because it said his last name on it! When she was doing the show-and-tell-of-some-of-his-possessions portion of the show, she mentioned that he had lost so much in a fire at his Beverly Hills home. And then I remembered that, in the naïveté of my youth, I thought at least I had a cap I could give him. (Okay, even I’m laughing at that concept. I considered just taking out this whole paragraph, but you know I never mind sharing my own stupidity with you guys.) So, I was relieved to hear about the fire from her. (I mean I was glad she mentioned it, not that it happened, of course!)

So, even though the Pasadena Playhouse run of Gene Kelly, The Legacy is over (for now,) I believe the show tours around the country. (Check out the website below.) If you’re a Gene Kelly fan, or even a dance or film one, it’s totally worth your while.

By the way—Patricia told us that, after meeting in Washington, D.C., Gene had originally brought her out to L.A. to write his memoir. Now I really want to read it, but can’t find it anywhere. If any of you have any info on it, please send it my way.

For more information on the show, please go to: www.genekelly.com