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Gene Kelly: The Making of a Creative Legend - Hardcover | Diverse Reads

Gene Kelly: The Making of a Creative Legend

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Whether as a curiosity or a beloved idol, Gene Kelly (1912-1996) lives on in our cultural memory as a fantastic dancer in MGM musicals, especially Singin’ in the Rain. But dancing, however extraordinary, was only one of his many gifts. This book, for the first time, offers a full picture of Gene Kelly as the Renaissance man he actually was—dancer, yes, but also choreographer, actor, clown, singer, director, teacher, and mentor. Kelly was star of radio and television as well as film, avant-garde as artist and auteur but also ahead of the curve in opening the world of dance to different races, ethnicities, and genders.

Gene Kelly: The Making of a Creative Legend takes us from Kelly’s youth in Depression-era Pittsburgh through his years on Broadway and ascendance to stardom in Hollywood. Authors Hess and Dabholkar pay particular attention to his work with the US Navy, solo directing, and lesser-known but considerable accomplishments in television, radio, and on the stage in later years. The book gives us a rare inside look at Kelly’s relationships with dancing partners and peers from Leslie Caron, Vera-Ellen, and Cyd Charisse to Fred Astaire, and at his directorial collaboration with Stanley Donen and Vincent Minnelli. The authors show us significant but little-examined facets of Kelly’s character and career, such as the political convictions that got him graylisted in Hollywood; his passion for creating cine-dance and serving as an ambassador of dance in America; and his forging of links between dance, civil rights, and the “common man.”

Steeped in research and replete with photographs, this career biography uniquely encompasses all phases of Gene Kelly’s life and work—and finally gives us a full portrait of this central figure in the history of the film musical during Hollywood’s Golden Age.

ISBN-13: 9780700630172

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Publication Date: 10-02-2020

Pages: 552

Product Dimensions: 6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.70(d)

Earl J. Hess is Stewart W. McClelland Distinguished Chair in History at Lincoln Memorial University. Pratibha A. Dabholkar is emerita professor at the College of Business at the University of Tennessee. Their book Singin’ in the Rain: The Making of an American Masterpiece is also published by Kansas.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xiii

1 Son of Pittsburgh, 1912-1929 1

2 Dancing through College, 1929-1933 23

3 Dance Master of Pittsburgh, 1933-1938 43

4 Starting on Broadway, 1938-1940 53

5 Triumph on Broadway, 1940-1941 73

6 Taking on Hollywood, 1941-1944 97

7 Dancing Sailor, 1944-1946 131

8 Restarting His Career, 1946-1948 166

9 Red Scare-First Wave, 1946-1949 189

10 Surging to the Top, 1948-1949 207

11 Zenith, 1949-1952 233

12 Turning Point, 1951-1953 259

13 Red Scare-Second Wave, 1950-1954 280

14 Sunset of the Golden Age, 1953-1955 290

15 New Directions, 1956-1960 304

16 New Life, 1960-1969 327

17 Kelly Resurgent, 1970-1979 358

18 Finale, 1980-1996 382

19 Renaissance Man 404

Appendix 448

Notes 457

Bibliography 523

Index 535