Posted on 08/16/2012 2:44:35 PM PDT by OneVike
This August 23, 2012 marks the centennial of the birth of Gene Kelly, the great American dancer, actor, singer; a guy's guy who-along with Fred Astaire-is the only male who ever left me (momentarily) wishing I could dance.
I've always felt a kinship with Gene Kelly. It starts with Pittsburgh, the town of our birth. Kelly was born there, a hardworking Irish Catholic kid, son of Harriet Catherine and James Patrick Joseph Kelly. He attended St. Raphael Elementary and eventually sparred in fistfights and on the dance floor before opening a studio in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill section.....(excerpt)
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In October 1947, Gene Kelly joined a gaggle of Hollywood liberals who forming a group called the "Committee for the First Amendment." They launched a major public-relations trip to Washington to defend accused friends; that is, friends accused of being communists. Their friends had been summoned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities for their blatantly pro-Soviet activities.....(excerpt)
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When the actors watched the hearings, they were stunned that Congress' Democrats and Republicans and their lawyers had done their homework and presented massive volumes of hard evidence: Communist Party card numbers, dues payments, writings for the Daily Worker and New Masses, membership in front-groups, and on and on. The actors had been lied to-big-time. Bogart flew into a rage, screaming with choice profanities that he had been "sold out." He sure had-as had Gene Kelly and the others.
In fact, it was the second time that year that Kelly had been duped. In February 1947, Hollywood's closet communists cast Kelly, the all-American boy, to provide the introduction at the kick-off meeting of the Progressive Citizens of America (PCA), held at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles.....(excerpt)
(Excerpt) Read more at newsblaze.com ...
I excerpted the article in the way I did to give everyone an idea where the writer is going with this, but not so much as to give it all away, while still honoring the letter of the law of excerpting.There is another actor that would one day wake up to the stench of the left. Not just for a day like these leftists did, but truly in his heart he saw the light. He would go on to become the greatest president of our lifetime, the one and only "Ronaldus Maximus".
I enjoyed many of those song-and-dance movies when I was young and we only got 3 network tv channels.
Gene Kelley’s Singing in the Rain is a classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmCpOKtN8ME
Kurt Browning performed an ice skating tribute which was also excellent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXtd7xq7URM
Just a heads up about an interesting article on Hollywood waking up when confronted with facts about their communist friends in the the late “40”s.
Too bad they don’t have such love for America today, that they may see the truth about those they follow now.
What’s the chances of another actor like Reagan, seeing the light and then becoming as great a patriot as he did?
Yea, I know. It will never happen again, because after God made Ronaldus Maximus, he broke the mold.
Another great male dancer was Patrick Swayze....He and his wife had a true love of dance and like Gene Kelly, Patrick look masculine in his dance moves.....
Watching Gene Kelly was like watching an olympic athelete perform. Unlike Astaire, Gene was a very acrobatic dancer and many of his routines reflected this. I remember one where its like he’s dancing on the girders of a skyscraper being built and it was incredibly cool and very acrobatic. I could watch that guy dance all day and I can’t think of anyone else I wouldn’t feel sheepish saying that about. Maybe Mr. Bojangles.
Reagan and some of his friends headed off an attempted post-WWII takeover of the Screen Actors Guild by the communists.
Sadly, their valiant struggle just delayed the inevitable by 35 years.
Today, Hollywood is ground zero for communists-R-us.
I never understood all the talk about Fred being the greatest dancer in movies....Gene Kelly had him beat by miles. Singing in the Rain is a classic, and Donald OConnor was excellent also...
I still love watching him on the screen. He was one of the truly great talents of the golden age of Hollywood.
I thought he was dead.
Gene and Fred together...now that’s entertainment ! !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMKbGRCbsaw
>> never understood all the talk about Fred being the greatest dancer in movies....Gene Kelly had him beat by miles. Singing in the Rain is a classic, and Donald OConnor was excellent also...<<
Gene Kelly was athletic and assertive.
Fred Astaire was elegant — he made it look so easy, which is why it was so hard.
In the few movies Gene and Fred were together it was a visceral thrill to see them ply their art.
And art it was. And now a lost art. When you see a few episodes of ‘Dancing with the Stars” you realize just how badly dancing has degraded. Today’s dancers are simply dancing dogs — poodles with tutus.
***Gene Kelly had him beat by miles.***
Snort: I like Gene Kelly but he NEVER danced on the ceiling!;-D
Thanks for the skating video link!
Damn that glass of wine, thought for sure it said Grace Kelly...yum. One of my favorite movies that was made well before I was even born was Mogambo (other than what appeared to be needless killing of the Wildlife) I mean Eva Gardner and Grace Kelly, how could you go wrong!
I heard he was kind of a jerk in real life. He made Debbie Reynolds cry.
You can see the differences in style.
OH, I’m so glad to see this! I am a Gene Kelly FANATIC. Not only was he supernaturally gifted (!), he was really very, very, very SEXY!
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