The Films of Gene Kelly, Song and Dance Man

The Films of Gene Kelly, Song and Dance Man PDF Author: Tony Thomas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description

The Films of Gene Kelly, Song and Dance Man

The Films of Gene Kelly, Song and Dance Man PDF Author: Tony Thomas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description


The Mythology of Dance

The Mythology of Dance PDF Author: Harry Eiss
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443852880
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
The lights dim and soon the theatre becomes dark. The audience conversations end with a few softly dissipating whispers, and the movie begins. Nina Sayers, a young ballerina, dances the prologue to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, a ballet expressing a story drawn from Russian folk tales about a princess who has been turned into a White Swan and can only be turned back if a man swears eternal fidelity to her. However, this is not that ballet. This is the beginning of Black Swan, a controversial movie employing symbolism in a complex interweaving of dance and film to reveal the struggles and paradoxes of everything from a female rite-of-passage to questions about where artistic expression should demand self-sacrifice and whether such sacrifice is worth the price. The dance floor is the stage of life, the place where physical actions take on the symbolic meanings of mythology and express the deepest archetypes of the human mind. This book explores how dance gives shape to those human needs and how it reflects, and even creates, the maps of meaning and value that structure our lives. Though the volume looks at all the forms of dance, it focuses on three main categories in particular: religious, social, and artistic. Since the American Musical and subsequent Musical Videos have both reflected and influenced our current world, they receive the most space—such acclaimed performers as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, such important composers and lyrists as Gershwin, Rodgers-and-Hammerstein, Porter, Berlin, Webber, Bernstein, the Beatles, and the Who, and such choreographers as Graham, Balanchine, Robbins and Fosse are examined in particular detail.

He's Got Rhythm

He's Got Rhythm PDF Author: Cynthia Brideson
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813169347
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
He sang and danced in the rain, proclaimed New York to be a wonderful town, and convinced a group of Parisian children that they had rhythm. One of the most influential and respected entertainers of Hollywood's golden age, Gene Kelly revolutionized film musicals with his innovative and timeless choreography. A would-be baseball player and one-time law student, Kelly captured the nation's imagination in films such as Anchors Aweigh (1945), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), and Singin' in the Rain (1952). In the first comprehensive biography written since the legendary star's death, authors Cynthia Brideson and Sara Brideson disclose new details of Kelly's complex life. Not only do they examine his contributions to the world of entertainment in depth, but they also consider his political activities -- including his opposition to the Hollywood blacklist. The authors even confront Kelly's darker side and explore his notorious competitive streak, his tendency to be a taskmaster on set, and his multiple marriages. Drawing on previously untapped articles and interviews with Kelly's wives, friends, and colleagues, Brideson and Brideson illuminate new and unexpected aspects of the actor's life and work. He's Got Rhythm is a balanced and compelling view of one of the screen's enduring legends.

Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain PDF Author: Earl J. Hess
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700617574
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
There is no movie musical more fun than Singin' in the Rain, and few that remain as fresh over the years. . . . It is a transcendent experience, and no one who loves movies can afford to miss it.—Roger Ebert America's most popular film critic is hardly alone in singing the praises of Singin' in the Rain. This quintessential American film-made in Hollywood's Golden Age, showcasing the genius of Gene Kelly, and featuring what Ebert calls "the most joyous musical sequence ever filmed"-has inspired love and admiration from fellow critics, film scholars, and movie buffs worldwide for more than half a century. Indeed, its reputation continues to grow: the American Film Institute now ranks it number 1 on its list of the Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time and number 5 on its list of the Greatest American Films of All Time. Echoing the enthusiasm of the film's most devoted fans, Earl Hess and Pratibha Dabholkar embrace and illuminate both the film and its reputation. Combining lucid prose with meticulous scholarship, they provide for the first time the complete inside story of how this classic movie was made, marketed, and received. They re-create the actual movie-making experience, on the set and behind the scenes, and chronicle every step in production from original concept through casting, scripting, rehearsals, filming, scoring, and editing. They then trace its distribution, critical reception, and enduring reputation. The book is brimming with human interest, bursting with anecdotes and quotes by and about the film's stars and makers. Here are Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor at the top of their form, along with Debbie Reynolds and Cyd Charisse in their breakthrough roles. Here, too, are fascinating tidbits-about censorship troubles, continuity flaws, stunt doubles for Kelly, voice doubles for cast members, the dubbing of taps, and genealogy of all the songs. Hess and Dabholkar also provide in-depth analyses of each of the major song-and-dance performances, including details of everything from the dynamics of "Gotta Dance!" to the physical challenges of the remarkable title number. Based on exhaustive research in oral histories, studio production records, letters, memoirs, and interviews, their book is factually impeccable, compulsively readable, and indispensable for anyone who loves movies at their absolute best.

Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly PDF Author: Jeanine Basinger
Publisher: Jove Books
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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The Films of Gene Kelly, Song and Dance Man

The Films of Gene Kelly, Song and Dance Man PDF Author: Tony Thomas
Publisher: Virgin Books Limited
ISBN: 9780863695209
Category : Actors
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
A film biography of one of the greatest figures in Hollywood musical history which covers films such as Singin' in the Rain, For Me and My Girl and An American in Paris. The author has also written The Films of Kirk Douglas.

Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly PDF Author: Earl J. Hess
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700630171
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 576

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Book Description
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 differences of race, ethnicity, and gender. 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; and at his solo directing. 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.

Charles Walters

Charles Walters PDF Author: Brent Phillips
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813147220
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
A “lively biography” of the director who choreographed Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds and more: “a real backstager” on the making of Hollywood musicals (Wall Street Journal). From the trolley scene in Meet Me in St. Louis to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers's last dance on the silver screen to Judy Garland's tuxedo-clad performance of "Get Happy", Charles Walters staged the iconic musical sequences of Hollywood's golden age. The Academy Award-nominated director and choreographer showcased the talents of stars such as Gene Kelly, Doris Day, and Frank Sinatra—yet Walters's name often goes unrecognized today. In the first full-length biography of Walters, Brent Phillips chronicles the artist's career from his days as a Broadway performer to his successes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Phillips takes readers behind the scenes of beloved musicals including Easter Parade, Lili, and High Society. He also examines the director's uncredited work on films like Gigi, and discusses his contributions to musical theater and American popular culture. This revealing book also considers Walters's personal life and explores how he navigated the industry as an openly gay man. Drawing on unpublished oral histories, correspondence, and new interviews, this biography offers an entertaining and important new look at an exciting era in Hollywood history.

What the Eye Hears

What the Eye Hears PDF Author: Brian Seibert
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429947616
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 670

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Book Description
The first authoritative history of tap dancing, one of the great art forms—along with jazz and musical comedy—created in America. Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction Winner of Anisfield-Wolf Book Award An Economist Best Book of 2015 What the Eye Hears offers an authoritative account of the great American art of tap dancing. Brian Seibert, a dance critic for The New York Times, begins by exploring tap’s origins as a hybrid of the jig and clog dancing and dances brought from Africa by slaves. He tracks tap’s transfer to the stage through blackface minstrelsy and charts its growth as a cousin to jazz in the vaudeville circuits. Seibert chronicles tap’s spread to ubiquity on Broadway and in Hollywood, analyzes its decline after World War II, and celebrates its rediscovery and reinvention by new generations of American and international performers. In the process, we discover how the history of tap dancing is central to any meaningful account of American popular culture. This is a story with a huge cast of characters, from Master Juba through Bill Robinson and Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and Gene Kelly and Paul Draper to Gregory Hines and Savion Glover. Seibert traces the stylistic development of tap through individual practitioners and illuminates the cultural exchange between blacks and whites, the interplay of imitation and theft, as well as the moving story of African Americans in show business, wielding enormous influence as they grapple with the pain and pride of a complicated legacy. What the Eye Hears teaches us to see and hear the entire history of tap in its every step. “Tap is America’s great contribution to dance, and Brian Seibert’s book gives us—at last!—a full-scale (and lively) history of its roots, its development, and its glorious achievements. An essential book!” —Robert Gottlieb, dance critic for The New York Observer and editor of Reading Dance “What the Eye Hears not only tells you all you wanted to know about tap dancing; it tells you what you never realized you needed to know. . . . And he recounts all this in an easygoing style, providing vibrant descriptions of the dancing itself and illuminating commentary by those masters who could make a floor sing.” —Deborah Jowitt, author of Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance and Time and the Dancing Image

Dance Me a Song

Dance Me a Song PDF Author: Beth Genné
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195382188
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
Traces the history of famous Hollywood collaborations as the palimpsest of dance, film, and musical techniques were developed over time. Provides lively and necessary scholarship for all dance enthusiasts