On Sleeping in Gene Kelly’s Pajamas (Quote of the Day)

Betsy Blair and Gene Kelly, courting in Central Park, 1941

“A ritual developed at the end of each evening. They [pianist/playwright Dick Dwenger and Gene Kelly] would escort me to my door and I’d say, ‘Thank you. No, I’ll walk you to your hotel, and you can walk me back. I promise I’ll go in and go to bed then.’ And we usually did just that. But when I was alone with Gene I’d leave out the promise and manage to prolong it to another round trip.

And toward the end of the summer, when it was almost dawn and we’d done the back and forth of the five blocks about six times, Gene said, in front of his hotel, ‘Okay, I’ll lend you a toothbrush,’ and I said, ‘And pajamas?’ And so I spent my first night with him, sleeping in his arms, in his pajamas.

I don’t know what he thought. I don’t know when he fell in love with me. I only know what I saw and felt, and how he behaved.

I was sixteen and a half. I was in love. I was eager for life. I never questioned it at all. It seemed inevitable to me. Dick called me and my innocence the ‘irresistible force.’

But Gene was an honorable young man. What remained of his Catholicism manifested itself in his attitude to women. There were ‘good girls’ and ‘bad girls’ — and I was an exaggeratedly good girl. He never made me feel rejected, rather that he was taking care of me. He let me spend the night sometimes, but he didn’t make love to me. He’d kiss me gently and explain that I was too young for more than that. I was happy. I felt secure. I just waited with no impatience — or, at least, not much…”

– Betsy Blair, The Memory of All That: Love and
Politics in New York, Hollywood, and Paris (2003)

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