Kelli’s latest blog posts, photos, publications, interviews, and conference presentations. Also, for students: class assignments, syllabus changes, and general reminders.
Ambitious, Creative, and Indispensable: RIP, Gene Kelly (Pic of the Day)
This entry is part 12 of 12 in the series Pic of the Day. Sixteen years ago today, the world lost one of Hollywood’s greatest entertainers, dancers, choreographers, innovators, cinematographers, and genuine stars. What follows is a brief tribute to Gene Kelly including an explanation of his death and the industry’s response(s) thereafter. In July 1994, Gene Kelly suffered the first of two strokes. Although doctors at UCLA’s Medical Center labeled it “mild,” the stroke kept him in the hospital for nearly seven...
read moreGettin’ My Culture On: The Clarke House Museum (Chicago)
Over the weekend, the husband and I got our culture on at the Clarke House Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (more on the MCA later). According to the pamphlet and our tour guide, the Clarke House (right) is “the oldest surviving domestic structure in Chicago” (fancy way of saying “oldest house around these here parts”). Built in 1836 before Chicago was even a city, the Clarke House belonged to Henry and Caroline Clarke and their six or seven children (the reading material says they had six; the tour...
read moreTCM’s 31 Days of Oscar Promo
In case you missed this year’s super-cool, seamlessly edited promotion for TCM’s upcoming 31 Days of Oscar (Feb. 1–Mar. 2), I’m embedding it here. Sure, the “trailer” features scenes from An American in Paris (1951) and Singin’ in the Rain (1952), reasons enough to showcase it, but they’re not even the most entertaining of the lot. Check it out, and then go clear out your...
read moreI’m Not Impressed: Elaborate CGI vs. Old-Fashioned Planning (Quote of the Day)
This entry is part 21 of 21 in the series Quote of the Day.The opening pre-title-card sequence in Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011) takes us through all the mechanisms of all the clocks in the colossal train station that Hugo, the boy who lives, orphaned, inside the clocks, maintains daily. It twists and winds its way through in a way that I know that camera actually couldn’t, so I know I’m not watching an actual set and scene presented on celluloid but a CGI construction. This is thoroughly unimpressive to me. The more...
read moreGene Kelly Fan vs. Scholar (Dancing in the Rain)
This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Dancing in the Rain. You set Gene Kelly Fans. What has the response to the site been? Overall, pretty good. Some days the site receives 100 hits, other days 500, and the day when one of our contributors’ essays comparing Astaire and Kelly made it on IMDB’s hit list, over 4,000 people visited. The Gene Kelly Fans Twitter account, which I began first, grows weekly as well. To date, there are almost 1,000 fans following and interacting with us. All in all, it’s nice to know so many people out there...
read moreGene Kelly: The Scar, The Rug, The Number, The Stilettos (Dancing in the Rain)
This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Dancing in the Rain. Gene Kelly’s appearance: the rug verses the scar. Why cover one and not the other? My guess is that the scar suggests masculinity and virility; the hairpiece does not. It’s no secret that Gene Kelly was interested in — or some would argue, obsessed with — displaying conventional American masculinity both on- and offscreen. In fact, he devoted an entire television special to that notion called Dancing: A Man’s Game (1958) [video] in which he pairs himself with...
read moreGene Kelly: Status, Style, and Substance (Dancing in the Rain)
This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Dancing in the Rain. What place do song-and-dance men (like Gene Kelly) hold in cinema history? An important one in Hollywood’s classical era, at least. After synchronized sound hit Hollywood in 1927, the musical was the go-to genre of choice. Hearing people speak and sing was novel, and also, more music meant less dubbing and subtitling for foreign markets. In 1930 alone, the industry cranked out something like 100 musicals; compare that to the year 2010, when only ONE adult-oriented, feature-length...
read moreGetting Hooked On, Teaching About, and Rating Gene Kelly (Dancing in the Rain)
This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series Dancing in the Rain. You came to Gene Kelly quite late didn’t you? Your first experience of his work? I did. I was in the second year of my PhD program, studying Shakespeare actually, and on a whim signed up for a class on the American film musical. In my mind, this course was strictly an Arts elective, not something I thought I’d pursue later in life. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve always loved musicals; I grew up watching The Sound of Music (1965), Annie (1982), Grease (1978), Bedknobs...
read moreGene Kelly’s Prominence in American Film (Dancing in the Rain)
This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Dancing in the Rain.This is the portion of my BBC Radio interview that made it into the final broadcast. See series “Dancing in the Rain” for more questions/answers. Is Gene Kelly still a prominent figure in American film? If you mean within the study of film history, definitely. In fact, in some of my classes, I find it hard to discuss cinema of the ‘40s and ‘50s without referencing Gene Kelly and his creative partner, Stanley Donen, not to mention their many contributions to...
read moreDancing in the Rain: Gene Kelly, the BBC, and Me
This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Dancing in the Rain.In October 2011, BBC Radio 2 invited me to take part “Dancing in the Rain: Gene Kelly,” a documentary celebrating the life and talent of the song-and-dance man 100 years after his birth. Featuring commentary from Len Goodman (Dancing with the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing), Matthew Morrison (Glee), Leslie Caron, Kerry Kelly Novick (Gene’s eldest daughter), biographer Ruth Leon, choreographer Matthew Bourne, tap-dancer Rusty Frank, and yours truly, the program aired for...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,