Gene Kelly, Creative Genius
A personal celebration of his life and work
I feel I should give the 'Fred V Gene' issue its own space, I have found so many articles and quotes recently on the subject. In reality there was 
never any serious competition between the two Masters. They were very good friends, and often had to bear much nonsense concerning their so-called rivalry. They always insisted they were different as chalk and cheese, and Cyd Charisse, when asked who was the better partner, said it was like comparing apples with oranges. Diplomatic but true!!
I have transferred quotes about and by them, from other pages, and will add pics and new quotes as they come to light. They are also featured together in the section on That's Entertainment II on the Movies That We Know page. And Fred's appreciation of Gene can be read in the transcript of the AFI tribute on the No Contest page.
Douglas McVay
Astaire for athletic elegance, Kelly for elegant athleticism.
Paula Abdul, People magazine Feb. 1996
Men like Fred Astaire but women love Gene Kelly. He’s so handsome, so sexy and so self assured.
St Petersburg Times. August 4th 1984
In contrast to Astaire’s polished elegance, Kelly would bound across the screen wearing his white socks and a short-sleeved shirt and tight pants that showed off the line of his muscular dancer’s body.
Daily Collegian. State College Pennsylvania. September 26th 1950
Fred Astaire may be more slick and sophisticated but he’s never been as original or entertaining….
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. July 1st 1974
Thank God I didn’t see Astaire until I was a fully grown man, and had my own style. By the time I met him he was already well established and I was stuck with whatever it is I’m stuck with. That way I didn’t get trapped into trying to dance like him, which physically I could never have done. No one has his cool, his elegance.
Peter J. Levinson Puttin’ On The Ritz. 2009
Russ Tamblyn remarked, “I think Fred’s greatest contribution to musicals, to movies, and to dancers could be that he was heterosexual.” Richard Schickel, however, believes, “Gene Kelly was even more heterosexual.”…
Modern Screen. August 1944
Naturally, after showing his magic heels the way Kelly did in Cover Girl, they had to whip up one of those quick rivalry rumors between Gene and Fred Astaire. Hollywood has had to have a phoney feud of some kind since the days of Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson, and the Bing Crosby-Sinatra one was expiring for lack of legs to carry it along. Somebody asked Gene what he thought of Fred Astaire. (They’re good friends, by the way, and right this minute Gene is working out a routine with Fred for the Ziegfeld Follies.)
Gene spoke right up: “Fred Astaire? I think he’s a great artist. There’s a lot of things in his dancing I wish I had. And,” he added without a speck of false modesty, “I’ve got a lot of things Fred could use, too.” Just like that.
Screen Guide July 1947
Level-headed and down-to-earth, Kelly believes that Fred Astaire is without doubt the most accomplished dancer in the world today. Astaire himself, however, believes that he is past his peak and that Kelly will reign supreme in the field for at least another ten years.
Los Angeles Times. April 23rd 1944
Last week he was working out new routines in MGM’s Ziegfeld Follies with Fred Astaire, for whom he has an admiration that amounts to veneration. “The average guy is just an imitator – a hoofer,” Kelly says. “But Fred -! The public can’t realise what he does with the lines of his body, the endless new and inventive steps, a bouncing ball, a cane or a piece of furniture. A hundred years from now they’ll still be studying Astaire – and marvelling!”
Which is rather a nice tribute from a personality who is no slouch as a dancer himself.
Los Angeles Times. July 25th 1954. Hedda Hopper.
Gene: Fred Astaire and I are the only old song-and-dance men in town – in fact, we’re unique in the whole world. Even stage dancers don’t understand our problem; they don’t know how it feels to try to make a dance come alive with the camera’s eye on you and bored guys, who’ve seen you rehearse, watching. Fred and I get together to crab a little and talk a little. We chat like two men on a desert island…
Evening Independent. March 21st 1947
Fred Astaire’s new dance studio in New York, honors all of screening partners. The names of Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth…Gene Kelly, George Murphy, Joan Crawford and Bing Crosby are all there. But the name of Lucille Bremer is conspicuous by its absence.
Irish America magazine December 1990
Gene: The only big thing that ever bothered Fred and myself was that a lot of people who didn't know much about
dancing would say, “Well, those fellows dance alike.” They liked both of us, you see, and they couldn't see that we were different. And that always annoyed Fred and me because our styles were so completely different. In fact, when we danced together we had to ameliorate our stuff so that it could work.
If you look at his pictures and mine, you'll see that he was always sleek and rich with a top hat, white tie, and tails, and I was the more common man in the street with a T-shirt. And that difference was reflected in the dances. And certainly in my political ideology, I was always a liberal Democrat, and I felt for the masses and I didn't want the dancing I did to be any kind of high class looking. And I say this, of course, with no sense at all of derogation. I just wanted my style to look athletic and reflect the common man.
Photoplay June 1944
Hollywood knows, but do you… that after Cover Girl Gene Kelly is hailed as the greatest dance sensation since Fred Astaire and Mr Astaire, cold to the press and aloof with the natives where Gene is warm and friendly, is looking slightly worried? He should.
Theatre Arts 1945
If only two dancers - Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly – have made outstanding successes on the screen, it is not because theirs were the best or even the most persistent talents available…it is rather because these two have known best how to modify their talents to the peculiar demands of the medium.
Photoplay January 1946
Gene Kelly is probably the most accomplished dancer in show business today. Kelly himself would deny this heatedly however. He is convinced that any such distinction belongs to Fred Astaire.. He looked upon his chance to dance with Astaire in “The Zeigfeld Follies” as the most extravagant compliment ever paid him.
Theatre Arts 1945
Gene on Fred: His fine close style was perfect for the camera, and at the same time it was masculine enough to delight the spectators. He would slip into one of those small, wilting movements of his, neat and precise, and the cameraman would relax and the audience would smile and everybody would be happy.
Silver Screen. April 1947
Gene wishes Fred Astaire would relent and do another picture, with one Gene Kelly.
“He has been my idol and ideal for a long time…I really wish we could do a feature length together. He’s tops.”
Screen Guide July 1948
When Fred Astaire’s comeback film, Easter Parade, hits the screen, the one-time champion among Hollywood steppers won’t find a clearcfield before him. Moviegoers will already have seen Gene Kelly in The Pirate. Electric dances like this one state a warning: On your toes, Fred! – if you want your title back.
Screen Guide July 1948
When Fred Astaire’s comeback film, Easter Parade, hits the screens, the one-time champion among Hollywood steppers won’t find a clear field before him. Moviegoers will already have seen Gene Kelly in The Pirate. Electric dances like this one state a warning: On your toes, Fred! – if you want your title back.
Modern Screen 1948
Fred on taking Gene’s role in Easter Parade:
…I wanted to be in again – but not at the expense of another dancer, not to profit by another chap’s misfortune. Gene cleared that up with one of the nicest remarks I have ever heard in such circumstances. He said to a columnist, “Naturally I hated to break my ankle, but if it means seeing Astaire on the screen again, it’s worth it.”
There is a gentleman. There is also one of the finest dancers in America today….
Thank God, Gene’s injury will not mean the end of dancing for him. He broke the same ankle once before, in the same kind of accident, and his doctors tell him that it will heal in the same fashion. I say “Thank God” fervently, because I can think of no greater loss to the American stage and screen than if Gene Kelly should not dance again.
I shan’t soon forget the first time I saw him, in Cover Girl. When Gene did his Alter Ego number I realized that I was watching an artist. I grabbed my wife’s hand. “Look!” I said. “Look at that!” She maintained a loyal silence.
And when I saw his inspired cartoon sequence in Anchors Aweigh, I knew Gene’s technique was not only superb; he had imagination and a genius for producing.
It is one thing to dance flawlessly through a piece of music. It is another to take an idea, a mood, and interpret it in terms of rhythm and movement so that an audience discovers what that idea is without hearing a word or reading a line.
Gene’s ingenuity is boundless. There have been times when I have known in advance the interpretations Gene would be asked to invent in certain scripts, and I have asked myself, “How would I do that?” On a number of occasions I have had to admit to myself, “I don’t know.”
Then, when I see what he has created in the finished product, I am aware that I am watching, not my greatest rival—although he would be that if we were in competition—but a contemporary whom I regard with respect and admiration.
This is a calculated personal appraisal of Gene’s ability, and if it sounds like a back-patting spree I can’t help it. Just thank your lucky stars that he’ll be back with you in a few months, while I thank mine that I’m back where I belong, on a sound stage.
Saturday Evening Post July 1950
“My own style is strong, wide, open, bravura, Fred’s is intimate, cool, easy…He always makes you feel you’re in the same 
room with him. He can give an audience pleasure by just walking across a floor, and I envy him that ability…when he dances, he makes you feel that if you only had about four stiff drinks and a little training, you could do it too…half the charm of his dancing lies in his clever and imaginative use of props. I try to stay away from props and let my dancing do the job by itself.”
Peter J. Levinson Puttin’ On The Ritz. 2009
Uan Rasey, one of the most respected trumpet players who ever lived, had a contrary impression of Astaire…"He was so reserved and icy. He would come in and work for five, six hours. He would acknowledge the band but that was about it…He was so into his desire to give a great performance…"
Rasey was effusive in praising Kelly’s outgoing work ethic, however. The well-remembered trumpet solo right after the beginning of the ballet in An American In Paris, played by Rasey, caused Kelly to come up and kiss him after the take. “He had us all come over to the set when he shot that great number,” he recalled.
Gene. Theatre Arts. December 1958
Fred Astaire’s seemingly easy transfer from stage to film suggested that there was nothing to it…But Astaire was never forced to explore the special problems of the screen dancer; his style was so personal that anything he did was all right in terms of the motion picture. He is one of the blessed – everything he did just fits. I was not the Astaire type however.
Fred Astaire, foreword to Thomas 1974
I think I know Gene pretty well. He has his easier, lighter moods and also his very serious moments, which are only natural with an artist’s temperament. …Kelly is a man of multiple talents...completely engulfed when at his work. Gene is also a devoted family man. My respect for him as a person and an artist is unbounded.
Peter J. Levinson Puttin’ On The Ritz. 2009
One day, while rehearsing [That’s Entertainment II] with Fred and Gene, Saul Chaplin watched as Fred suggested to Gene, “Don’t you think we can do sixteen bars of dancing here?” “Both Gene and I were astonished and delighted,” Chaplin
said. “I just sat at the piano and stared straight ahead, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t change his mind. In the film there are three or four scenes where they danced, and it was at Fred’s suggestion.”…
Kelly choreographed and directed their various song-and-dance spots. Fred later reflected, “He’s a very hard worker, Gene. There was no monkeying around, like ‘That’s good enough for them.’ He was very diligent about being on time and working in between shots. I used to say, ‘Direct me! Go ahead and direct me.’ He is a damned good director…"
...“Gene and Fred had become very, very close in those years,” said Dan Melnick. “Gene would pick up Fred to have dinner because Fred had gotten very frail and didn’t like driving at night. Gene was devoted to him and certainly did everything to make the songs not only capable of Fred’s range, but also comfortable so that there was no strain. It was very sweet to see him almost at the seat of the master. He respected him because he knew he had led the way. He would lead him on like saying, ‘Fred, tell Dan about…”
...At the party following the premiere on May 9, 1976, the day before his seventy-seventh birthday, Fred blew out the candles on a huge cake.
“I was Fred’s seat partner at the Ziegfeld Theatre that night,” Marge Champion remembered. “What I was most impressed with was when Gene Kelly was on the screen and did something, Fred muttered to himself – I don’t think that he even thought that I heard him – but he was talking about how wonderful Gene was and how free and easy he was. When he came on the screen, he said things like ‘Why don’t you wipe that smile off your face.’ He was putting himself down in the most astonishing way.”
Entertainment Weekly Jan. 1992
Where Fred Astaire glided across shiny dance floors, Gene Kelly bounced. Where Fred tapped, Gene stomped. Where Fred was an airy continental concoction, Gene was an all-American jock – and his rise to stardom revitalised the movie musical.
Time Magazine February 1996
If Fred Astaire was white tie and tails, Gene Kelly was white socks and loafers – often enough with his cuffs casually rolled up so we could better appreciate the flash of his footwork. If the sinuous elegance of his great (and friendly) rival shone most brilliantly on the polished surface of a ballroom floor, Kelly’s robust athleticism seemed to rise most exuberantly from a gritty city sidewalk. Astaire put us in touch with our romantic ideals and with that perfection of manner the rest of us attain only in our more blissful daydreams. At his best, Kelly reminded us that, in reality, we are obliged to improvise our happiness with such rough materials as fall to hand.
Time Magazine March 2002
In the two men, oppositions abound. Fred was grace, Gene was energy. Fred was poise, Gene was power. Fred was
ethereal, Gene was earthy. Fred was the Continental, Gene was All-American. Fred was top-hat, white tie and tails, Gene was baseball cap, T-shirt and jeans…Fred would just materialise, a slim apparition who hardly noticed the impact he made…Gene came barrelling towards you, arms oustretched…Astaire danced on clouds…Kelly was grounded, seemingly welded to terra firma…
You could say Gene was a football player and Astaire, maybe, a tennis star of the Bill Tilden era. But who knew whether Astaire had biceps? Was there even a body inside those elegant clothes? If there was, it seemed relaxed. Kelly’s body was tense, like an Olympic skater planning the big jump and knowing how much was at stake, how much to be lost...
What is interesting about Kelly is that he wasn’t an imitation of Astaire. He wasn’t the '40s Fred. He was the anti-Astaire….
Their techniques were polar opposites…Fred had an ethereal buoyancy, the ability to walk on air, and dance on it, and not make a big deal of it. Gene had gravity. His power would burrow up from the floor, through his powerful thighs, up to his strong, sloping shoulders; and he’d hit those tap steps hard, nailing them, pounding them into the floor so hard they almost left permanent depression marks in the wood….Kelly could be imitated, and was, widely. Astaire and his finesse were inimitable; they could only be appreciated.
Which is precisely why Kelly is the more influential of the two. Astaire’s style had to die with him. Kelly’s persona, the ordinary Joe (yeah – Joe Genius), could be adapted by dozens, hundreds of young dancers…with that industry and application, young men could copy the standard Kelly 
posture: torso erect, legs swerving as if jellified. That is the legacy of Kelly’s teenage tap dancing...
Another patch that Kelly had on Astaire: his movies were far superior as integrated works of popular art. Astaire’s prime-time vehicles with Ginger were pretty inane, except for the glorious tapping, and his directors added little but traffic management to the package Astaire brought. Kelly worked for better directors…but as co-director of two of his best films, he could take a measure of credit for their success, even as Astaire, who was ‘only’ the star and choreographer, could avoid blame for his films’ inadequacies…Fred, like his movies, was nowhere when not dancing…Astaire came truly alive only when he was in the dances. Kelly, a believer in artistic integration, gave just as much attention to ‘the rest of the movie.’ He acted-danced with the same concentrated energy that he danced-acted. Maybe he attended to Selznick’s advice after all.
Hollywood Studio magazine. 1978
They associate Fred Astaire with the rich people. They associate me with the bums
American Film 1979. Gene:
Fred and I always disliked the fact that we were thought of as dancing similarly. We danced completely differently. His 
style is intimate, mine’s broad. When we worked together, we always had to accommodate each other.
I always kid Fred…before he got his award at the American National Theater and Academy, I said, “Well, you see again you’re playing the rich fellow. Helen Hayes is going to come out and give you the award. If it were me, it would probably be Bette Midler. “
Secrets magazine. January 1981
Gene: Fred’s steps are smaller, more elegant. I do somersaults, throw my arms out and kick up a helluva lot more dust than old Fred. He went in for sophistication – top hat, white tie, the elegant cane & tails. Put me in a dress suit and I look like the ice man ready for the Saturday night dance.
Disney Magazine 1989. Gene:
Fred’s ballroom style of partnership was never mine. I never wanted to be part of a team. What I wanted was the role, and I think I brought girls like Leslie Caron, Vera Ellen and Cyd Charisse along by casting them in a role.
Fundamental patterns of orientation. JC Penney
The familiar figures of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly provide a fine example of two very different movement styles. Fred Astaire embodies lightness with a sense of space and grace. It is as if he were suspended by invisible strings, weightless. Gene Kelly’s form is much more muscular; instead of taking off in flight, he seems to be ready to return to the ground. There is a sense of strength and weight about him, compared to Astaire’s airy style.
Time Magazine. March 2002
Kelly and Astaire sang in movies as much as they danced. Both men showed the strain of natural dancers trying to hit the high notes in a form that didn’t automatically suit them. But Gene’s smoky tenor voice was more assured than Fred’s wispy tenor was. So why isn’t Kelly cherished as a singer? It could be that most of Fred’s tunes were written for him, whilst most of Kelly’s were oldies…
Greg Garrison. From Dean Martin Roasts DVD series
…The difference between watching Fred Astaire in a number – he’s brilliant, fast, precise, most precise performer I’ve ever known in my life…I was also fortunate enough to work with Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly had great moves, great dancer, but he had more of a feel for the room, he knew what he was doing.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. January 18th 1985
Leslie Caron: Both were great. Gene was more athletic. I did lifts with Gene. Fred was more nervous in a way, more exacting. He was very demanding about things. Both were perfectionists.
The Ledger. June 25th 1974
Although nostalgic attention has been poured all over Fred Astaire in recent years, it was Gene Kelly who was the crown prince of the Hollywood musical during its golden era at MGM – not just in front of the camera but behind it as well.
