March 8, 2025 • 12 mins
It's been almost three decades since Singin’ in the Rain star Gene Kelly died, but his widowed spouse is allowing fans to get a look at his legacy.
Gene Kelly – A Life in Music is part of this year's Auckland Arts Festival and it celebrates the star's life through archival footage, movie clips and personal stories by his wife, Patricia Kelly.
She says her late husband was a romantic who was passionate about many things - but he didn't fully take to dancing until later in life.
"By the time he got into high school, he realised girls liked a boy who could dance... but he never really envisioned that he would be a dancer."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks edb.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Jeen Kelly is one of the greatest movie stars in
Hollywood history. A dancer, actor, singer, director, and choreographer, Jen
revolutionized dancing film. In a tribute to Jean and his career,
his widow and official biographer, Patricia heads to Auckland this
week with her show Jen Kelly A Life in Music.
The show is hosted by Patricia and combines archive film
(00:34):
footage from Jeene's career alongside the Auckland Pnemonia Orchestra and
Patricia Kelly is with me now. Good morning, Patricia.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good morning. Thank you so much for having me with you.
It's a real delight.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh it's lovely to talk to you. To tell me
what kind of man with Gen Kelly.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, I would say that the first two words that
pop into my mind are decent and integrity. Decency and integrity.
He was really a true naissance man. He spoke French,
he spoke Italian, he spoke Yiddish, he read Latin, he
wrote poetry. He was an economics major. He often devoured
(01:17):
a book a day, and he was a true romantic.
I mean, he was the kind of guy who woke
me up in the middle of the night just to
go out on the balcony to see the full moon.
So I'm afraid I have to say he was pretty
much the whole picture.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
He's so iconic that his dancing and his directing, But
he didn't initially want to be a dancing Is it
true that he was bullied for his dancing.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Absolutely he was, and no, he thought it was for
sissies because when he would walk home from dancing class,
his mother dressed him up in little short pants and
polish shoes and winter ties and things, and the boys
would just wait on the corner to beat him up.
So he hated going to dancing class. But by the
(02:03):
time he got into high school, he realized that girl
like a boy who can dance, So he went back
to class on his own and that began. But he
never really envisioned that he would be a dancer. He
wanted to be a hockey player. He wanted to be
a baseball player or anything but dancer, so that came
a little bit later in his life.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's interesting, is that why he brought such ethliticism to
his style of dancing.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Absolutely, and good point because when he looked around, he said,
I wanted to create a particularly American style of dance,
but there was no model for him. Most of the
dancing that you saw on screen was of the European tradition,
and so he looked around, he said, well, how does
the American male move And so he turned to the
(02:52):
things that he loved, which are the sports and gymnastics, baseball, hockey.
You see that the movement is very broad and wide
open strokes, and he quite literally took the dance into
the streets and began to choreograph the camera along with
the dance and just changed fundamentally changed the look of
(03:16):
dance on film.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And that's interesting, isn't it. It wasn't that he had
he sort of revolutionized the style of dancing, but it
was the way it was captured on film as well.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Absolutely, and that was the real challenge because, as you know,
you're taking a three dimensional art form and you're condensing
that and you lose that third dimension. And so that
he was looking at, how do you make it feel
full bodied and round? And so you see him very
often roller skating toward the camera, running toward the camera,
(03:50):
leaping very high and again moving the camera with the dancers,
so you get a sense. I don't think anybody looks
at his movies and they think, oh, gee, he looks
really flat. I think he's basically kind of change that
whole stance and giving you a sense of a third dimension.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
But interestingly, Patricia, he moved the camera to go with
the dancer, but not like we do today. Like the
dance in the choreography was still sort of felt like
the main aspect of it. You didn't have to rely
on the camera and quick edits and doing flash things
with the camera to capture it. He allowed you to
(04:32):
watch the performance, didn't he as opposed to using lots
of sort of camera tricks in editing to keep us engaged.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yes, And he would give you a big hug for
saying that because one of the things that he really
found objectionable was the beginning of MTV and the quick
cuts and the close ups on your hands and your feet,
and Jen insisted on shooting had to toe, use the
(05:01):
full body, and to use long takes so that you
can you really could absorb the dance. And he really
didn't believe. Now you hear that people criticize and saying, oh,
you have to chop it up to make it interesting,
especially for young people, And that's not my experience at all.
I think young people get it and they appreciate the
(05:25):
way that it was shot. And I'm just hoping more
people will begin to understand that and look to what
he was doing. It's not old fashioned. He was. He
changed it and then it got all chopped up. So
I think we need to go back to what he
was doing and let people really absorb the movement.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
What's it like for you to watch him up on
the big screen every night when you're performing this show.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
It's interesting because I sit on the screen and we
have done the technicians have done such a beautiful job
in scrubbing the orchestra sound off of the film clips
in those days, instead of having separate tracks, it's all
melded together. And so my guys have the extractionists have
(06:16):
very surgically gone in and removed the orchestra. But you
hear Jeanne's voice, and you hear his taps and the
other movement of his feet. It's just crystal clear, and
it's almost it's an eerie feeling in a sense, in
a positive way. I sit there and sometimes I find
myself turning around very quickly because it sounds like he's
(06:39):
right there. And a lot of people I greet people
after every show, and they line up for sometimes an hour,
hour and a half, and other people have said that
to me too, that they felt that he was right
there performing, and it's just such a He's such a
magnificent presence up on that screen, and to be able
(06:59):
to hear his voice so clearly, as though as though
he's really singing from the stage is remarkable.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
His impact still lingers today on the film and the
dance world. His work really has lived on. I believe
that Ryan Gosling studied Gene and spoke to you when
he was preparing for Lana Land.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
He did. Ryan and Emma Stone and Damien Chazelle and
the choreographer Andy Moore came to the house to see
the archives, and they were really good about They listened
to how Jane used the camera and how he shaped
the dance. And so I get a note from someone
(07:42):
somewhere in the world, I would say at least every day,
and sometimes multiple notes per day from someone saying He's
the reason I'm a dancer, I'm a choreographer. I'm a
camera operator, I'm a magician, a musician. Really, he's touched
(08:03):
such a breadth of people and continues. And even so
he's been gone for twenty nine years, I think because
what he created was so far ahead of its time,
it still resonates and he nobody really kicked him out
of place. He's still the go to guy, and he's cool. Gordon,
He's cool. I'm biased, I know, but I'm really hot,
(08:25):
you know. And so and it's fun for me because
I'm on stage. The orchestra plays live to the film
clips of Jane, and then I'm on stage and weaving
the stories that he shared with me. I had the
privilege of recording him nearly every day for over ten years.
And so those are the stories that the audience hears
(08:49):
as they're listening to the clips and listening to the
orchestra and watching these brilliant clips.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Patricia, speaking of this archive, you know, you're his official barberfah.
When he passed, you inherited an extensive archive of his
belongings and recordings and all sorts of things. I believe
I've read these eighty five filing cabinets there and of
course you were evacuated during the LA wildfires early this year.
What was it like leaving your home and all that
(09:17):
archived material behind, having no idea whether you could be back.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Or not well, And to clarify it, I was prepared
to evacuate. We were waiting and watching. I had packed
up the car because the fires were beginning to one
popped up nearby. We didn't expect it at all, So
I you know, what do you take? What do you
(09:42):
put in your car? Of course my animals, I had
them ready. But I'm looking at Jean's loafers from American
in Paris, looking at the hat from the hatney dear
old father wore his henitated script from Singing the Rain.
I mean, it's really you begin And then I thought, well,
what about the Valentines that he wrote to me and
(10:05):
left for me, and the little notes he left for
me every day around the house. And so I'm very
fortunate that I did not have to ultimately leave, and
that everything is safe. So I need to just basically
live inside a huge safe I think.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, Patricia, we know and love gen Kelly for his
acting and his dancing and his singing and the joy
he's brought us there and how he's revolutionized that. But
he also worked as a director. He directed Hello Dolly,
you know, he directed classics. But we don't often talk
about the directing side of his career as much as
(10:44):
we do the dancing, do we.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
No, And that's one of the reasons he did say
to me, he said, I'd like to be remembered for
being behind the camera as a director and choreographer, and
he really is often sadly lopped off of those lists.
So one of the things that I really try to
do is make sure that people understand that, because I
(11:07):
think they get so engrossed and seeing him up on
the screen they forget he actually created what you're seeing
and how dynamic and how revolutionary his directing and choreography were.
So I think you'll hear me talk about that a lot,
and that's really part of the reason for doing these
(11:27):
shows is to not only just keep him out there,
but also to realign how people understand his contribution and
they see it. Somebody wrote today on one of my posts,
they said, oh, he was a triple threat, and I said, well,
actually he was a septuple threat at the very best,
and maybe octuples so and you mentioned Hello Dolly directing
(11:52):
Hello Dolly, and I have a little hint that I
believe a person who starred in that film by the
name of Michael Crawford might just be showing up at
the show in Auckland since he lives in New Zealand.
So I'm my fingers are cross because he's a dear
friend and Jen really cheered for him when he became
(12:15):
Phantom of the Opera and I'm looking forward to his
popping in. I haven't seen him for several years, even
though we're in touch.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
So oh, Patricia, lovely to talk to you. Thank you
so much for your time. Gene Kelly A Life of
Music is on next Saturday as part of the Auckland
Arts Festival. For more information, head to AAF dot co
dot nz.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks edb.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Jeen Kelly is one of the greatest movie stars in
Hollywood history. A dancer, actor, singer, director, and choreographer, Jen
revolutionized dancing film. In a tribute to Jean and his career,
his widow and official biographer, Patricia heads to Auckland this
week with her show Jen Kelly A Life in Music.
The show is hosted by Patricia and combines archive film
(00:34):
footage from Jeene's career alongside the Auckland Pnemonia Orchestra and
Patricia Kelly is with me now. Good morning, Patricia.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good morning. Thank you so much for having me with you.
It's a real delight.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh it's lovely to talk to you. To tell me
what kind of man with Gen Kelly.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Well, I would say that the first two words that
pop into my mind are decent and integrity. Decency and integrity.
He was really a true naissance man. He spoke French,
he spoke Italian, he spoke Yiddish, he read Latin, he
wrote poetry. He was an economics major. He often devoured
(01:17):
a book a day, and he was a true romantic.
I mean, he was the kind of guy who woke
me up in the middle of the night just to
go out on the balcony to see the full moon.
So I'm afraid I have to say he was pretty
much the whole picture.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
He's so iconic that his dancing and his directing, But
he didn't initially want to be a dancing Is it
true that he was bullied for his dancing.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Absolutely he was, and no, he thought it was for
sissies because when he would walk home from dancing class,
his mother dressed him up in little short pants and
polish shoes and winter ties and things, and the boys
would just wait on the corner to beat him up.
So he hated going to dancing class. But by the
(02:03):
time he got into high school, he realized that girl
like a boy who can dance, So he went back
to class on his own and that began. But he
never really envisioned that he would be a dancer. He
wanted to be a hockey player. He wanted to be
a baseball player or anything but dancer, so that came
a little bit later in his life.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's interesting, is that why he brought such ethliticism to
his style of dancing.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Absolutely, and good point because when he looked around, he said,
I wanted to create a particularly American style of dance,
but there was no model for him. Most of the
dancing that you saw on screen was of the European tradition,
and so he looked around, he said, well, how does
the American male move And so he turned to the
(02:52):
things that he loved, which are the sports and gymnastics, baseball, hockey.
You see that the movement is very broad and wide
open strokes, and he quite literally took the dance into
the streets and began to choreograph the camera along with
the dance and just changed fundamentally changed the look of
(03:16):
dance on film.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And that's interesting, isn't it. It wasn't that he had
he sort of revolutionized the style of dancing, but it
was the way it was captured on film as well.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Absolutely, and that was the real challenge because, as you know,
you're taking a three dimensional art form and you're condensing
that and you lose that third dimension. And so that
he was looking at, how do you make it feel
full bodied and round? And so you see him very
often roller skating toward the camera, running toward the camera,
(03:50):
leaping very high and again moving the camera with the dancers,
so you get a sense. I don't think anybody looks
at his movies and they think, oh, gee, he looks
really flat. I think he's basically kind of change that
whole stance and giving you a sense of a third dimension.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
But interestingly, Patricia, he moved the camera to go with
the dancer, but not like we do today. Like the
dance in the choreography was still sort of felt like
the main aspect of it. You didn't have to rely
on the camera and quick edits and doing flash things
with the camera to capture it. He allowed you to
(04:32):
watch the performance, didn't he as opposed to using lots
of sort of camera tricks in editing to keep us engaged.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yes, And he would give you a big hug for
saying that because one of the things that he really
found objectionable was the beginning of MTV and the quick
cuts and the close ups on your hands and your feet,
and Jen insisted on shooting had to toe, use the
(05:01):
full body, and to use long takes so that you
can you really could absorb the dance. And he really
didn't believe. Now you hear that people criticize and saying, oh,
you have to chop it up to make it interesting,
especially for young people, And that's not my experience at all.
I think young people get it and they appreciate the
(05:25):
way that it was shot. And I'm just hoping more
people will begin to understand that and look to what
he was doing. It's not old fashioned. He was. He
changed it and then it got all chopped up. So
I think we need to go back to what he
was doing and let people really absorb the movement.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
What's it like for you to watch him up on
the big screen every night when you're performing this show.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
It's interesting because I sit on the screen and we
have done the technicians have done such a beautiful job
in scrubbing the orchestra sound off of the film clips
in those days, instead of having separate tracks, it's all
melded together. And so my guys have the extractionists have
(06:16):
very surgically gone in and removed the orchestra. But you
hear Jeanne's voice, and you hear his taps and the
other movement of his feet. It's just crystal clear, and
it's almost it's an eerie feeling in a sense, in
a positive way. I sit there and sometimes I find
myself turning around very quickly because it sounds like he's
(06:39):
right there. And a lot of people I greet people
after every show, and they line up for sometimes an hour,
hour and a half, and other people have said that
to me too, that they felt that he was right
there performing, and it's just such a He's such a
magnificent presence up on that screen, and to be able
(06:59):
to hear his voice so clearly, as though as though
he's really singing from the stage is remarkable.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
His impact still lingers today on the film and the
dance world. His work really has lived on. I believe
that Ryan Gosling studied Gene and spoke to you when
he was preparing for Lana Land.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
He did. Ryan and Emma Stone and Damien Chazelle and
the choreographer Andy Moore came to the house to see
the archives, and they were really good about They listened
to how Jane used the camera and how he shaped
the dance. And so I get a note from someone
(07:42):
somewhere in the world, I would say at least every day,
and sometimes multiple notes per day from someone saying He's
the reason I'm a dancer, I'm a choreographer. I'm a
camera operator, I'm a magician, a musician. Really, he's touched
(08:03):
such a breadth of people and continues. And even so
he's been gone for twenty nine years, I think because
what he created was so far ahead of its time,
it still resonates and he nobody really kicked him out
of place. He's still the go to guy, and he's cool. Gordon,
He's cool. I'm biased, I know, but I'm really hot,
(08:25):
you know. And so and it's fun for me because
I'm on stage. The orchestra plays live to the film
clips of Jane, and then I'm on stage and weaving
the stories that he shared with me. I had the
privilege of recording him nearly every day for over ten years.
And so those are the stories that the audience hears
(08:49):
as they're listening to the clips and listening to the
orchestra and watching these brilliant clips.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Patricia, speaking of this archive, you know, you're his official barberfah.
When he passed, you inherited an extensive archive of his
belongings and recordings and all sorts of things. I believe
I've read these eighty five filing cabinets there and of
course you were evacuated during the LA wildfires early this year.
What was it like leaving your home and all that
(09:17):
archived material behind, having no idea whether you could be back.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Or not well, And to clarify it, I was prepared
to evacuate. We were waiting and watching. I had packed
up the car because the fires were beginning to one
popped up nearby. We didn't expect it at all, So
I you know, what do you take? What do you
(09:42):
put in your car? Of course my animals, I had
them ready. But I'm looking at Jean's loafers from American
in Paris, looking at the hat from the hatney dear
old father wore his henitated script from Singing the Rain.
I mean, it's really you begin And then I thought, well,
what about the Valentines that he wrote to me and
(10:05):
left for me, and the little notes he left for
me every day around the house. And so I'm very
fortunate that I did not have to ultimately leave, and
that everything is safe. So I need to just basically
live inside a huge safe I think.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, Patricia, we know and love gen Kelly for his
acting and his dancing and his singing and the joy
he's brought us there and how he's revolutionized that. But
he also worked as a director. He directed Hello Dolly,
you know, he directed classics. But we don't often talk
about the directing side of his career as much as
(10:44):
we do the dancing, do we.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
No, And that's one of the reasons he did say
to me, he said, I'd like to be remembered for
being behind the camera as a director and choreographer, and
he really is often sadly lopped off of those lists.
So one of the things that I really try to
do is make sure that people understand that, because I
(11:07):
think they get so engrossed and seeing him up on
the screen they forget he actually created what you're seeing
and how dynamic and how revolutionary his directing and choreography were.
So I think you'll hear me talk about that a lot,
and that's really part of the reason for doing these
(11:27):
shows is to not only just keep him out there,
but also to realign how people understand his contribution and
they see it. Somebody wrote today on one of my posts,
they said, oh, he was a triple threat, and I said, well,
actually he was a septuple threat at the very best,
and maybe octuples so and you mentioned Hello Dolly directing
(11:52):
Hello Dolly, and I have a little hint that I
believe a person who starred in that film by the
name of Michael Crawford might just be showing up at
the show in Auckland since he lives in New Zealand.
So I'm my fingers are cross because he's a dear
friend and Jen really cheered for him when he became
(12:15):
Phantom of the Opera and I'm looking forward to his
popping in. I haven't seen him for several years, even
though we're in touch.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
So oh, Patricia, lovely to talk to you. Thank you
so much for your time. Gene Kelly A Life of
Music is on next Saturday as part of the Auckland
Arts Festival. For more information, head to AAF dot co
dot nz.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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