This page will remind us of what we have missed! During Gene's long career many roles were offered to him, both as actor and director, which, for whatever reason, never 'got on'. What treats we might have enjoyed. Sometimes fate intervened, sometimes lack of finance scuppered the deal, and sometimes the stubborn attitude of MGM and Louis B Mayer brought Gene's dreams, and ours, to dust.
I will fill in the details as time allows.
SWEENEY IN THE TREES. 1941
New York Times June 1st 1941
Gene Kelly, now playing the amiable Pal Joey, is tentatively negotiating for William Saroyan’s fantasy, Sweeney In The Trees…
New York Times November 5th 1941
Gene Kelly will not be available for the chief role in the musical Hotel Splendide. Word to this effect was announced yesterday by the performer's representative John Darrow,who said no leave of absence could be obtained for Mr. Kelly, as he starts work in a United Artists picture…
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. November 11th 1941
Inability to find the right actor for the male lead – Gene Kelly and Ray Bolger were both approached but turned it down – has forced Dwight Deer Wiman and Richard Rodgers to postpone their musical Hotel Splendide, from the Ludwig Bemmelman stories, until next season.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK FILM 1942
Magazine article 1980. Talking to Iain F McAsh
Gene: I went to Hollywood under a David O Selznick contract. I was to have been in a Hitchcock picture. I saw Sir Alfred just before he passed away, and told him I was to have worked with him. He said he never had me in mind for anything. I thought I might have been in one of his pictures with Jimmy Stewart, and I’ve been trying to find out eve since, which one it might have been. I think it may have been Strangers On A Train, but now I’ll never know.
THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM 1942
Theatre Arts December 1958. Gene:
[Selznick] had intended to cast me in The Keys Of The Kingdom but the role eventually went to Gregory Peck.
Movie Show. October 1947. Van Johnson
Gene was preparing to test for “Keys Of The Kingdom.” With the same thoroughness he used studying dance routines, he was driving to Pasadena every day to take lessons for an accent. Although he never played the role he never resented the time spent on the lessons, believing it was something well learned, if just for a nebulous future.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. February 5th 1942
Gene Kelly is currently being tested on the coast for one of the leads in David O. Selznick’s next picture The Keys Of The Kingdom.
BEST FOOT FORWARD. 1942
New York Times. July 13th 1942
Lana Turner to be in Best Foot Forward. MGM has named Gene Kelly to play Jack Haggerty.
NOTHING VENTURED. 1942
New York Times. July 29th 1942
Gene Kelly, Broadway dancer, whom MGM brought to the Coast in February, will play the male lead opposite Lana Turner in Nothing Ventured, a story by Ian McLellan Hunter and Aileen Hamilton, which will go before the cameras next month.
New York Times. September 4th 1942
Robert Young has been assigned to the lead in Nothing Ventured with Lana Turner, supplanting Gene Kelly.
THE HUMAN COMEDY. 1942
New York Times August 29th 1942
MGM today completed casting of William Saroyan’s The Human Comedy, with the assignment of Lionel Barrymore…Mickey Rooney, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, Marsha Hunt have already been announced, Clarence Brown will direct, starting next week.
Evening Independent. September 16th 1942
Kelly has just been announced for a leading role in The Human Comedy…he will appear as an orphaned soldier who, when wounded, adopts the family and home town of a dead buddy.
ANCHORS AWAY. 1942
New York Times October 23rd 1942
Judy Garland and Gene Kelly will play the leading roles in MGM’s Anchors Away…The story, which tells of the adventures of a girl who is elected sweetheart of a battleship, will follow Girl Crazy on Miss Garland’s schedule.
SWEET ROSIE O'GRADY. 1943
Hartford Courant 21st January 1943
Betty Grable will probably get Gene Kelly as her co-starring dancing partner in Sweet Rosie O’Grady.
HONEY BOY. 1943
New York Times March 29th 1943
MGM will star Mickey Rooney in a Technicolor musical Honey Boy, to be based on the life of George Evans the famous minstrel of the early 1900s. Slated for second lead in the picture, to be produced by Arthur Freed, is Gene Kelly.
THEY SHALL NOT MARCH ALONE 1943
Modern Screen. June 1943
In his next picture, “They Shall Not March Alone,” he plays an army chaplain who, seeing his sister violated by the Japs, loses his faith, then finds it again.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. March 17th 1943
James Craig and Gene Kelly get together in They Shall Not March Alone. In this Gene Kelly is the heavy. I’m not sure I like that, do you?
STRANGERS IN THE DARK. 1944
New York Times January 6th 1944
MGM will co-star Susan Peters and Gene Kelly in Strangers In The Dark, a drama to be based on The Outward Room, a novel by Millen Brand which the studio acquired four years ago.
DRAGON SEED 1944
Hollywood Songsters: Garland to O’Connor. James Parish, Michael Pitts. 1991/2003
Gene was among the many who tested to play the Oriental lead opposite Katharine Hepburn in MGM’s Dragon Seed (1944), but he did not get the part.
THE CLOUDS ROLL BY. 1944
Hartford Courant. Hedda Hopper, May 18th 1944
If Uncle Sam doesn’t get him first, Gene Kelly is a cinch to play Jerome Kern in The Clouds Roll By. Not only is he Arthur Freed’s choice, but Kern’s as well. There’s no holding him…
PARADISE FOR THREE. 1944
New York Times. July 17th 1944
A remake of Paradise For Three in its new form, temporarily titled White Waltz, the story is being prepared for Van Johnson, Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly.
ARE YOU WITH IT. 1945
St. Petersburg Times. November 30th 1945
The price of Are You With It has been upped to $300,000 and MGM is willing to pay it for Gene Kelly. But the boys who wrote it, Sam Perrin and George Balzer…are not in a hurry to dispose of their property, for it is a smash hit in New York.
FUTUROSY 1946
Photoplay January 1946
Kelly himself would like to get back on Broadway when he is released from the Navy. Metro, for its not entirely unselfish part, is all in favor of this, provided, of course, that it owns the movie rights to whatever vehicle Kelly chooses. Right now it appears that it might be Futurosy, a musical which takes place in the year 2046. It is sheer fantasy, of course, and, as such, Kelly’s dish. His name in the cast would be a pretty good guarantee that it would have some marvellous dancing.
ROBERTA. 1946
Chicago Daily Tribune. October 25th 1946. Hedda Hopper
Jack Cummings will not only remake Roberta, but he already has lined up the following stars for it: Gene Kelly, Lucille Ball, Kathryn Grayson, Frank Sinatra, Keenan Wynn and Lucille Bremer.
CABBAGES AND KINGS
Hartford Courant April 15th 1944
Metro bought Cabbages And Kings for Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. From the pen of Alec Templeton and Stella Adler.
Spokane Daily Chronicle. November 12th 1946
Don’t look for an early sequel to Anchors Aweigh. Gene Kelly has to do The Pirates, then Cabbages And Kings, in which he’ll play a Coney Island barker. Producer Joe Pasternak doubts if he can get Kelly, Kathryn Grayson and Frank Sinatra together for All Ashore, within two years, and by that time the navy idea will be passé.
Movies January 1947
He’ll do Cabbages and Kings next.
EAST RIVER. 1947
Los Angeles Times March 13th 1947
Gene Kelly will take the straight and serious course in East River. This will be Mervyn LeRoy’s first directorial assignment at MGM.
THREE LITTLE WORDS. 1947
St. Petersburg Times. September 1st 1947
Jack Cummings will film the life stories of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, song composers. June Alyson and Gene Kelly are the stars. I don’t know whether Gene will play Harry or Bert.
FINIAN'S RAINBOW. 1947
St. Petersburg Times. October 13th 1947
Arthur Freed saw Finian’s Rainbow in New York…Judy Garland would play the Ella Logan part, Mickey Rooney the Leprechaun, Gene Kelly the romantic lead and Barry Fitzgerald Finian.
BIG TOP. 1947
Evening Independent. November 28th 1947
Gene Kelly is making good use of the idleness imposed by his leg break. He has written the script for a circus film, to be called Big Top. This would be ordinary news except for the fact that MGM announces it has bought the yarn and will star Kelly and June Allyson in it. Meanwhile, busy Gene departs today for New York where he’ll have a ten day whirl of shopping and seeing the shows.
SEQUEL TO THE JOLSON STORY. 1947
Evening independent. December 22nd 1947
Larry Parks was reading about the possibility of Gene Kelly starring in the new Jolson picture. Larry remembered his long hours of matching his screen actions to the singer’s voice and commented “I don’t envy him.”
St.Petersburg Times. December 20th 1947
The weirdest deal of the season is undoubtedly the one which MGM made with Al Jolson to sing the songs for the sequel to The Jolson Story at that studio with Gene Kelly playing Jolson instead of the picture falling to Columbia with Larry Parks doing a reprise of that now famous role…Jolson insisted on having his album of recorded songs released to the public long before the picture could be finished, and Columbia figgered that would hurt the film.
Don’t be surprised if Metro tries to borrow Larry Parks to play Jolson and lends Gene Kelly to Columbia for a picture – in spite of current plans. Metro is paying Jolson $750,000 just for the use of his voice.
EASTER PARADE.
We all know the story of how Gene persuaded Fred Astaire out of retirement when he broke his ankle during rehearsals.
Modern Screen 1948 Tough Break Gene. Article by Fred Astaire
I was sitting on a terrace in Hollywood, wearing a pair of shorts and a sweater, my feet up on a table, a glass in my hand..when I was called to the phone. It was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive, and he said. “Fred, Gene Kelly’s broken his ankle. Will you come over here and take his spot in Easter Parade?”
“Oh now wait,” I began, but he wouldn’t let me finish.
“The pictures all set up, the cast is ready, the sets are designed – we’re really in a spot.”
“I’ve retired,” I said.
“Hoofers never retire.”
“But what about Gene?”
The executive made a number of inarticulate but alarming noises.
“All right,” I said hastily. “I’ll come over and look at the script and we’ll talk about it.”
We talked about it all afternoon. Then I went to see Gene.
“Just how bad is this thing?” I asked him. Couldn’t you be ready in a month, two months?”
“I won’t dance again for five months.”
“But they could postpone the picture.”
He said, “Fred, I really mean this. It’s a good picture, and you’re right for it. If you bow out, my accident means trouble for the studio. If you take the part, everybody will be happy, including me. How about it?”
“To tell the truth, I’ll be delighted,” I said, and that was the truth.
Vincente Minnelli. I Remember It Well. 1974
Irving Berlin’s music suited the talents of Gene and Judy exceedingly well…A Couple Of Swells…was to be the spiritual successor to Be A Clown…All the numbers were ready to go…Gene continued rehearsals…He’d been at it for six weeks when the unthinkable happened to him. He broke his ankle…Gene immediately suggested Fred Astaire as his replacement. “Why don’t you wait until your ankle mends?”, he asked Gene. “I really don’t want to take this away from you.” But Gene was adamant.
Someone close to Gene recently pointed out that the dance in the toy shop was choreographed by Gene for Gene. Fred Astaire does not look at all comfortable in Gene's 'skin'. It is a good demonstation of the difference in their styles. It just does not come off well. Fred's other dances were choreographed for Fred by Hermes Pan, and are great.
MONTGOMERY AND STONE. 1948
Evening Independent. November 12th 1948
Gene Kelly turned down a film treatment of the lives of Montgomery and Stone, famed theatrical team. MGM would have bought it for him, but Gene figures he is too young to play it now.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN 1949
There are two conflicting stories concerning Gene’s being offered the role of Biff in the first Broadway production of the now famous Arthur Miller play. In Betsy Blair’s book she gives the date as 1945, when director Elia Kazan sent the script to Gene. She says that MGM vetoed the plan, would not release Gene temporarily, because they had other plans for him. Hirschorn does not give a date, saying only that Gene was offered the role, then never heard another thing about it. The play was first produced on Broadway in 1949, so it seems unlikely that Gene was first contacted in 1945, unless there was a long delay between the writing and the first production. The role of Biff was played by Arthur Kennedy, who won a Tony award for his portrayal.
WHEN IN ROME. 1950
Chicago Daily Tribune September 1950. Hedda Hopper
Gene Kelly wants to play the priest in When In Rome, the picture Metro originally wanted Bob Walker for, then decided to rewrite it for Spencer Tracey.
THE TOY BULLDOG. 1950
Gene Kelly not only wants former middleweight and welterweight boxing champion Mickey Walker for a part in An American In Paris, he is also hoping to star in a film about the boxer, called The Toy Bulldog.
SOLDIERS THREE. 1950
Los Angeles Times. 8th August 1950. Hedda Hopper
Pan Berman lined up a honey of an all-star cast – Stewart Grainger, Gene Kelly and Walter Pidgeon for Soldiers Three. These fellows should do right well by Rudyard Kipling’s story.
CYRANO DE BERGERAC.
Gene badly wanted to do this, and nagged at the MGM bosses for a long time, without success. They said they could not have one of their major stars looking foolish wearing a big nose!
American Film 1985
Gene: I will tell you what I wanted to do a long time ago… I felt that a musical of Cyrano de Bergerac or even a straight play, was right up my alley, because I can fence, I can do a lot of tricks and jumps and stunts and so forth, but MGM said “No, we can’t have one of our most lucrative stars put a big nose on..”
GHOST OF A CHANCE. 1951
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. February 21st 1951
Gene Kelly stars at Metro in Ghost Of A Chance, a story about two hoofers. The screenplay by Ned Young was originally optioned by 20th Century Fox for Dan Dailey.
BRIGADOON WITH KATHRYN GRAYSON. 1951
Deseret News. March 10th 1951
Brigadoon is being readied for Gene Kelly and Kathryn Grayson. Gene, in Europe, and Kathryn…have not been together on the screen since…Anchors Aweigh…The picture is not pencilled in for production until late summer or early Fall. Kelly has first to make Huckleberry Finn. The dances are as important in Brigadoon as the songs, and there is nobody better on staging and originating the routines than Mr. Kelly.
GIVE THE GIRL A CHANCE. 1951
New York Times August 16th 1951
Gene Kelly, Vera Ellen and Marge and Gower Champion will be the mainstays of Metro’s Give The Girl A Chance, which Jack Cummings will produce.
EDDIE SPECTER THEATRICAL PROJECT. 1954
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. August 21st 1954
The latest show business figure to invest in Eddie Specter’s theatrical project is Gene Kelly. Specter met Kelly in New York last week and Gene went overboard for the idea, in both cash and enthusiasm.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM. 1955
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. December 29th 1954
Gene Kelly has told Gant Gaither he would make his long awaited return to Broadway next season if The Man With The Golden Arm is held off until then. It’s a no-dancing role in which Frank Sinatra has also evinced interest.
Brando snatched the first of two roles from Gene, that of Sky Masterson. MGM refused to release him to Samuel Goldwyn studios, although, or maybe because, it was obvious that the role was made for Gene. There was a personal feud going on between the studio heads and Gene was caught in the middle. Ironically the finished movie was distributed by MGM. What a tragedy for moviegoers the world over. According to Hirschorn, Gene said: "I was born to play Sky the way Gable was born to play Rhett Butler. But the b... at MGM refused to loan me out." Gene was so disgusted by their shabby treatment of him after all the years of dedicated service he had given to MGM, that it helped him make the decision to leave the studio.
WONDERLAND. 1955
Hartford Courant. May 13th 1955
Gene Kelly’s all set for Wonderland with Cyd Charisse at Metro, with Cole Porter’s music and Arthur Freed producing.
Los Angeles Times. 10th October 1955
Dolores Gray,who was in It’s Always Fair Weather with Gene Kelly, will again join that star in Wonderland, being prepared for February production.
This would have been a perfect role for Gene, but Stewart Grainger insisted on having it as part of the deal when he moved to MGM.
Films In Review. June/July 1983.
…When George Sidney returned to the genre five years after The Three Musketeers, with Scaramouche, he was less successful, principally because his leads (Stewart Granger, Mel Ferrer) were less athletic than Kelly.
TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON. MGM. 1956
Gene was offered the role of Sakini which was then for some reason given instead to Marlon Brando. It is a comedy satirising the US occupation of Japan. There are clips from the movie on youtube if you follow the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTpICKGgZXI
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.1956
I have seen a document concerning the making of this movie, from MGM to Gene, in February 1956:
...If you are assigned to the rendition of your services in a musical based on the story of Huckleberry Finn and if Danny Kaye is also assigned…it shall be discretionary with us whether your name or the name of Danny Kaye will be displayed in first position among the members of the cast…if the name of Danny Kaye should be displayed in first position, then your name shall be displayed in second position…and in the same size of type and on the same line as that used to display his name...
Were they crazy? No offence to Danny Kaye is intended, but surely by 1956 Gene’s name should have been in first position on ANY cast list of a movie in which he had a major role. Though I know he was never too concerned with billing, he was always more interested in the role and what he could make of it.
According to Vincente Minnelli, who was to direct the movie, it was while Gene was still working on Singin’ In The Rain, that he was scheduled to start work on Huck. MGM, in its slavedriving wisdom, decided Gene would work on Huck Finn during the mornings, then on his own picture in the afternoons! Gene, not surprisingly, could not cope, so he asked for a six-week postponement of Huckleberry Finn.
Gene said: “Danny quit the picture because he wasn’t very enthusiastic about it…the two vagabonds were not as important as Huck and Jim…I couldn’t quit. But I wouldn’t have anyway, because I loved what was being done with it… This is the only time in my career I got sick from overwork… Kaye wouldn’t come back. The studio shied away from it. They couldn’t see it without Kaye. It’s a crime, because this was probably the best score [by Alan Lerner & Burton Lane] ever written for films.”
Minnelli has a different version of events. He says that the project was abandoned because of Gene’s desire to move to Europe in order to take advantage of the new tax laws, with the blessing of MGM who could use money ‘frozen’ in Europe.
I have not been able to discover which version is correct. Maybe when Kaye left, the studio felt free to cancel the movie and make it possible for Gene to go to Europe.
The strange thing is the 1956 dating of the letter quoted above. Gene went to Europe in 1952. Were MGM planning to try to make the movie at this later date? I wish they had gone ahead with the project, it would have been perfect for Gene, and I am sure he and Danny Kaye, who were friends, would have had great chemistry.
Los Angeles Times. October 7th 1951
The work on Singin’ In The Rain persisted so long that Huckleberry Finn, which will probably have the screen title of I’m From Missouri, had to be postponed until the fall of 1952.
This is because Danny Kaye has a commitment to appear soon for Samuel Goldwyn in Hans Christian Andersen and other personal appearance dates after that…Kelly and Kaye will play the fabulous Duke and his Dauphin…
“In Huckleberry Finn, said Kelly, we will not bring the traditional story to pictures, but rather premise it with the idea that this is the way Mark Twain would have adapted his story for a musical picture.
“This is not some fictional thing. We conduct extensive research in order to obtain the proper viewpoint.”
THE FANCY DANCER. 1957
Los Angeles Times. October 4th 1957
Gene Kelly bought The Fancy Dancer from David Lord, who will also do the screenplay. It’s about a Latin American who sees a miracle which changes his life.
PAL JOEY. 1957.
Columbia wanted to ‘borrow’ Gene again following his success in Cover Girl, to reprise his hit stage role in the film. Rita Hayworth was to star alongside him once more. But that very success worked against Gene, MGM having finally realised what a gem they had in Gene Kelly. Mayer demanded a hugely unrealistic sum of money for the loan out. Harry Cohn, the Head of Columbia, tried again and again over a long period, to secure Gene for the role, but MGM would not let him go. It was a major disappointment for Gene. The role eventually went to Frank Sinatra more than ten years later, with Rita Hayworth now playing the role of the older woman Vera. The film was a very watered-down version of the stage play and Sinatra a very watered-down Pal Joey.
Free-Lance Star. April 1st 1954
Everyone from Frank Sinatra to Marlon Brando has been rumoured for Pal Joey. I asked Gene Kelly if he would like to do the role which he created on the stage. “Sure, I’d love to do it. But Columbia won’t sell it, and we haven’t been able to work out a deal for me to go there. I’m hoping we can meet half-way.”
American Film March 1985
Gene: The thing I regret was that MGM wouldn’t loan me out for Pal Joey. It was my Broadway milestone, but you know, that happens in Hollywood…very few people do the roles they created in the theatre.
THE DIAMONDS/DIARY OF MADEMOISELLE ANTOINETTE. 1957
Los Angeles Times November 1st 1957
Gene Kelly has received word that Maria Schell has read and likes The Diamonds of Mademoiselle Antoinette.
[Gene bought the rights to the novel].
Chicago Tribune. March 17th 1958
When Gene Kelly was in Europe he signed Gina Lollobrigida to co star with him in Diary of Mademoiselle Antoinette, about a waif who meets a smuggler…
GRAND TOUR. 1958
Chicago Tribune. March 7th 1958. Hedda Hopper.
Gene Kelly knows Brigitte Bardot quite well and will go to Paris to try to tie her up for Grand Tour, which he’ll make on the Continent.
ROAR LIKE A DOVE. 1958
Chicago Tribune. March 27th 1958
Gene Kelly and Doris Day are being paged by Mirisch and Arvin Productions to co star in Roar Like A Dove, which they’d like Kelly to direct.
GENTLEMAN'S GENTLEMAN. 1958
New York Times. September 26th 1958
Gene Kelly and Sheldon Reynolds have formed a production distribution alliance with the J. Arthur Rank organization of England.
Los Angeles Times. November 6th 1958
Moira Shearer signed for Gentleman’s Gentleman with Gene Kelly. He’ll co star as well as dance…
A GENTLEMAN'S GENTLEMAN. 1959
According to Hirschorn, Gene flew to London during the rehearsals for Flower Drum Song, in order to discuss this project with the Rank Organisation. It was to be set in Edwardian England and star Moira Shearer. Gene was to star, direct and choreograph. It was to be a huge musical extravaganza. To Gene’s disappointment it was later cancelled, because of ‘a readjustment of Pinewood Studios production plans for 1959’. After Christmas Gene returned to London but to no avail. The trip nearly cost him his life, when the plane on which he was returning from Paris to America, almost went down in the Atlantic. The replacement plane also almost crashed into the East River. It was a miracle that he survived. He always said he was accident prone!
It would have been so wonderful to have Gene and Moira Shearer dance together.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS TV SERIES 1960
The Best of MGM. The Golden Years. 1928-1959. James Robert Parish and Gregory Monk.
In 1960 Gene formed Voli Productions to produce telefilms. His first project was to be a 30 minute series, An American In Paris, starring Van Johnson. It was to be filmed in Paris, with Michel Legrand composing and conducting the music, but it never materialised.
LE JAZZ HOT/THE BOHEMIANS 1960
Hartford Courant August 11th 1960
Gene Kelly, home from Paris, saw Bob Goldstein at 20th Century Fox who wants him for two pictures. Le Jazz Hot, to be shot in Paris with some of the ballerinas Gene worked with there, and The Bohemians.
Chicago Tribune. May 29th 1961
Gene Kelly directs the film Le Jazz in Europe. Has sent scripts to Donald O’Connor and Maurice Chevalier. He hopes they’ll both be in it.
SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING 1961
Los Angeles Times. February 18th 1961
Comden and Green want Gene Kelly to direct their Subways Are For Sleeping. But that’s not news, everybody wants Kelly.
THE NEW YORKERS 1962/1963
Los Angeles Times. August 18th 1962
Gene Kelly’s next picture will be a big big Betty Comden and Adolf Green musical, The New Yorkers.
Los Angeles Times. January 9th 1963
Gene Kelly co-stars with Frank Sinatra in The New Yorkers and will possibly co-direct or choreograph this original musical comedy for the Essex Company.
MARILYN MONROE FILM 1962
Toledo Blade. August 6th 1962
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Gene Kelly said he had a date with Marilyn Monroe yesterday to discuss a future musical, and spoke to her on the phone 3 days ago. “She was in excellent spirits – very happy and very excited about her future prospects. I just don’t understand.”
ROMAN HOLIDAY 1964
Hartford Courant. June 19th 1964
Gene Kelly says he’ll co-star in and direct the Broadway musical version of movieland’s Roman Holiday if either Romy Scheider or Julie Andrews get the parts...
BRIGITTE BARDOT FILM 1965
Hartford Courant. August 19th 1965
Gene Kelly confides to pals that he’s all but set with the casting coup of the year. Gene thinks he’s been able to persuade Brigitte Bardot to make a movie…
RENDEZVOUS 1966
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. November 14th 1966
Gene Kelly’s going to give Sally Ann Howes the Mr. Connolly starring role in his musical at Fox, Rendezvous. This story of World War I will utilize Sally as an English music hall singer. The great extra selling point, the movie will have a complete score of unheard, unpublished George Gershwin, courtesy of his brother Ira.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. November 25th 1966
Gene Kelly follows his directorial chores on A Guide For The Married Man with a musical at Fox to be called Rendezvous. It’s not to be confused with the early spy-intrigue film Rosalind Russell did with Robert Montgomery in the late ‘30s.
In 1967 Gene was approached by Richard Zanuck of 20th Century Fox, who asked him to consider a movie based on the Victor Appleton story. He was to work with producer Frank McCarthy who had made it possible for Gene to direct A Guide For The Married Man. Gene was thrilled, it was just up his street, a fantastical airship and a magical story.
Then he was asked if he would temporarily shelve the project in order to direct Hello Dolly! Gene said not unless Frank McCarthy was given another film to make in the meantime. It would not be fair on McCarthy otherwise. They also had to be allowed to return to the Tom Swift project immediately Dolly was finished. The studio agreed.
McCarthy: “There are very few people around today, who would have made those stipulations, and jeopardised a chance to direct as important a show as Hello Dolly! Gene is one of the few.”
Following the completion of Hello Dolly! Gene and McCarthy were reassigned to Tom Swift. But after spending around 2 million dollars on the project, it was abandoned before any shooting had taken place, because the studio thought that type of family entertainment was no longer popular enough to justify the huge budget.
Los Angeles Times. October 8th 1968
Gene Kelly who has always been a man of great taste, wants Michael Crawford for Fox Multi-million dollar roadshow production of Tom Swift.
SEND ME NO FLOWERS.
Gene was set to direct this movie.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC.
I read somewhere that Gene was asked to direct this, but turned it down because he considered it too 'sugary'.
MOULIN ROUGE. 1973
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. May 29th 1973
His wife’s death and his own eye problems caused Gene Kelly to bow out of directing a Broadway musical, Moulin Rouge.
CABARET.
Gene was asked to direct the film, but could not leave the children following Jeannie's death in 1973. He recommended Fosse.
Burt Prelutsky. The Secret Of Their Success. 2008
Gene: My wife had just died and my kids were about 11 and 13 at the time. As a suddenly single parent, I just couldn’t take off for six months in Germany…but I did recommend to the producers that they go with Bob Fosse... I honestly don’t think I or anybody else could have done a better job.
PAVLOVA. 1974
Dallas Times Herald. June 1974
There have been offers that Kelly has turned down in recent years, among them a third bid from Russia asking him to do a film biography of Pavlova. “I have turned down offers for years from Broadway because I didn’t want to disrupt my family life, so a trip to Russia makes even less sense,” he said. "I don’t want to live in Russia for a couple of years, which I am sure is how long it would take to get this project together. Besides, I’m not interested in creating old ballets.”
WOMAN OF THE YEAR. 1974
Los Angeles Times. November 11th 1974
Katleman has nabbed Gene Kelly in the coup of the year to direct that 1942 MGM classic Woman Of The Year…a two-hour television version for CBS starring Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna.
IRENE. 1974
Dallas Times Herald. May 1st1974
…Kelly will be directing the screen version of Irene this fall with Debbie Reynolds.
HOW SANTA CLAUS GOT HIS NAME 1975
TV &Movie Screen. August 1975
This September Kelly will direct How Santa Claus Got His Name, a family musical. “I didn’t want to dabble with any other kind of movie,” he says. “I think today’s films are too realistic, too shocking. I wanted to work on something that would give people pleasure and amusement.”
D'ARTAGNAN AT 50. 1975
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. December 12th 1975
I had a chance to recreate D’Artagnan…at the age of fifty. But the picture had to go right away, so I had to turn it down.
THE MAN WHO WAS MAGIC. 1975
Pittsburgh Post Gazette. December 12th 1975
Now I’m having talks about a picture called The Man Who Was Magic. It would be made in Yugoslavia next summer, so I might do it.
TV SPECIAL 1976
Magazine clipping 1976. Source unknown
My Kids Talked Me Into the Knievel Movie.
There is a chance that Kelly soon will star in a musical television special. It will provide the opportunity for him to put on his famed dancing clothes once again – the gray flannel trousers, sweater, loafers and white socks.
“That outfit was my trademark,” he said, grinning. “And for a very good reason. Astaire was always elegant. He danced as a rich man…I played poor guys…
“The television show will give me an opportunity to dance and bring a little joy to people. That’s all I really want to do.”…
ZOETROPE VENTURE. 1980
The Ledger. October 4th 1980
Biggest yackety-yak in the film colony is over Francis Ford Coppola’s astonishing and imaginative decision to have Gene Kelly head up a musicals unit for Coppola’s Zoetrope Studio…There are three musical movies already scheduled for Kelly to oversee. Not a bad new career move for a talented kid of 68 years.
SATCHMO. 1981. A stage show based on the life of Louis Armstrong
This project never came to fruition, because of financial difficulties.
GENE KELLY PUTS STRUT IN SATCHMO
By John Corry. August 1981
For years Gene Kelly has been asked to direct Broadway shows; for years he said no. His kids were too young, he said. He couldn’t leave California. But here is Gene Kelly in the Alvin Theatre, wearing a seersucker jacket and black loafers, auditioning singers and dancers. This season he will direct and choreograph Satchmo, a musical about Louis Armstrong, starring Ben Vereen.
“Louis Armstrong was a man I knew and loved,” Mr Kelly said.
Yes, but why is Mr Kelly, absent from Broadway since he directed Flower Drum Song in 1958, doing Satchmo now? “Because they asked me”, he said amiably.
Satchmo will go into rehearsal in January, play Detroit in February, and open on Broadway in March.
The question is whether Mr Kelly will ask Mr Vereen to impersonate Mr Armstrong, or instead only suggest him.
“That’s a raw nerve”, Mr Kelly said. “Structurally I think I’ve got it in my head, but I’m not sure. I’ve read the biographies, and listened to the tapes and records. But Louis is a hard man to get a handle on.”
Daily Mail 17th September 1981
When he returns [from Paris, September 1981] to America it will be to work on Satchmo, a Broadway musical starring Ben Vereen which he is directing.
