86 Fun Facts About Singin' in the Rain

When Kathy flees the premiere at Singin' in the Rain's climax, what does Don do?

Has the audience stop her: Don tells them she is the girl whose voice they loved, and she returns to the stage to sing with him.

Gene Kelly co-directed and co-choreographed the film with whom?

Stanley Donen had long assisted Kelly with choreography, and Kelly asked him to co-direct On the Town (1949), Kelly's first film as a director.

Which 2022 sequel has a silent film shoot turn into a talkie, echoing Singin' in the Rain?

Downton Abbey: A New Era has Lady Mary dub a star's cockney voice, but unlike Lina, the star is coached into an American accent that could save her career.

In Singin' in the Rain, where on the talkie set is a microphone hidden for Lina to speak toward?

In a bush, yet Lina can't manage to speak into it, one of the sound troubles that leave director Roscoe Dexter exasperated.

What is the truth behind the rumored off-screen romance between Don and Lina?

It's entirely fabricated, a stunt fed to the fan magazines, and although Lina believes Don truly loves her, he can barely stand her.

What is the name of the fictional Hollywood studio in Singin' in the Rain?

Monumental Pictures boss R. F. Simpson shows his party guests a talking-picture demonstration they dismiss as a fad, yet he soon converts his own studio to sound.

Which president does Lina boast she out-earns in Singin' in the Rain?

Calvin Coolidge is the one she claims to out-earn, in a tirade against the studio's plan to reveal on screen that Kathy does her talking and singing.

In Singin' in the Rain, which real Warner Bros. hit makes the studio switch its next film to sound?

The Jazz Singer is such a smash that R. F. halts filming to remake the picture as a talkie, only for Lina's grating voice and microphone fumbles to wreck the shoot.

After the flop preview in Singin' in the Rain, Don and Lina's talkie is reworked as a musical under which title?

The Dancing Cavalier gains a modern Broadway ballet, though R. F. admits he can't quite visualize it and agrees to the change before seeing any of it on film.

Which song does Cosmo perform in Singin' in the Rain to cheer Don up after his search for Kathy fails?

Make 'Em Laugh was written new for the film because nothing in the producer's old song catalogue suited Donald O'Connor's solo spot.

Which Cole Porter song does Donald O'Connor's solo number in Singin' in the Rain closely resemble?

Be a Clown is so close a match that the film's own co-director later called the new number 100 percent plagiarism, yet Cole Porter never sued.

Most songs in Singin' in the Rain came from the back catalogue of its producer and which composer?

Nacio Herb Brown wrote the tunes to Arthur Freed's lyrics, and Freed, by then a producer, had his screenwriters build a story around those old songs.

Which writing team wrote the screenplay for Singin' in the Rain?

Betty Comden and Adolph Green struggled to find a story before settling on Hollywood's painful switch to sound.

In Singin' in the Rain, Don and Cosmo perform 'Moses Supposes' while mocking a tutor during what kind of lesson?

A diction lesson, forced on the stars by the coming of talkies, is where Don and Cosmo turn their tutor's tongue twisters into a mocking tap routine.

Singin' in the Rain's title song was first heard on screen in which earlier MGM film?

The Hollywood Revue of 1929 had Cliff Edwards sing it, and lyricist Arthur Freed, later MGM's musicals chief, ordered up the 1952 film named after his song.

What was Gene Kelly suffering from while filming the title-song dance in Singin' in the Rain?

A 103-degree fever didn't stop him dancing through the man-made downpour on the studio back lot.

A myth claims the rain in Singin' in the Rain's title number was mixed with what to show up on camera?

Milk was never added, and getting the falling drops to show on camera was an exceptionally hard lighting job.

How do Don and Cosmo expose Lina's miming at the climax of Singin' in the Rain?

Raise the curtain: as Lina mouths the title song, Don, Cosmo and the studio boss hoist it to show Kathy singing behind her, and Cosmo then takes over the microphone.

How was Singin' in the Rain's Debbie Reynolds discovered as a teenager?

In a beauty contest: as Miss Burbank 1948 she caught a talent scout's eye, and four years later she was starring opposite Gene Kelly.

Which dance legend found Reynolds crying under a piano and let her watch his rehearsals?

He wanted to show her that dancing was hard work even for professionals, but worth it.

In Singin' in the Rain, which song do Don, Kathy and Cosmo sing after deciding to make their flop a musical?

Good Morning erupts late that night in Don's kitchen, and the three friends dance it through the house and over the furniture.

In Singin' in the Rain, what gives Lina the power to keep Kathy's name off the screen?

A clause in her contract gives Lina control of her own publicity, so R. F. must leave Kathy uncredited or face a lawsuit.

When the studio switches to talkies in Singin' in the Rain, what job does R. F. give Cosmo?

Head of music is his new post, handed over just as Cosmo jokes that talking pictures have put him out of work.

Donald O'Connor won which award for his performance in Singin' in the Rain?

A Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, helped by a solo whose dangerous back flips he worked out with his brother, his childhood vaudeville partner.

Which singer dubbed Debbie Reynolds on 'Would You?' in Singin' in the Rain?

Betty Noyes sang it, so in the scene where Kathy records the song for Lina to mime, the voice heard is actually a third woman's.

Who plays the vamp in the green dress in the 'Broadway Melody' ballet of Singin' in the Rain?

Cyd Charisse plays the mysterious woman who dances with the young hoofer and wins his heart, then rejects him.

Singin' in the Rain ends with Don and Kathy kissing in front of what?

A billboard for their new film, itself titled Singin' in the Rain, shows Kathy as Don's co-star rather than a hidden voice.

Singin' in the Rain's gossip columnist Dora Bailey is loosely modeled on which real Hollywood columnist?

Louella Parsons inspired the character, who interviews Don live on radio at the premiere.

After the party mishap in Singin' in the Rain, what does Lina do to Kathy?

She gets her fired, and when Lina later admits it, a furious Don likes her even less.

Which Singin' in the Rain cast member earned the film's only acting Oscar nomination?

Jean Hagen, up for Best Supporting Actress, also supplied her own natural voice when Kathy is shown dubbing her character's lines.

Which institution chose Singin' in the Rain among its first 25 films to preserve?

The Library of Congress picked it for the new National Film Registry, created in answer to the colorizing of black-and-white films.

In Singin' in the Rain, what one-word motto does Don claim at the premiere to have always lived by?

Dignity is the word, spoken as the opening line of a polished rise-to-fame story that the flashbacks quickly contradict.

In which 1971 film does a young gang leader mockingly sing Singin' in the Rain's title song?

A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell ad-libbed it on set, and Stanley Kubrick then licensed Gene Kelly's own recording for the film.

Where does Don take Kathy to tell her how he feels in Singin' in the Rain?

An empty sound stage is where Don, who can't reveal his feelings without the proper setting, finally declares his love for her in song.

In which city was Singin' in the Rain star Gene Kelly born?

Pittsburgh produced a boy who dreamed of becoming a professional athlete before his mother steered him into dance.

In which city did Singin' in the Rain first open?

New York saw it first, while the story itself begins at a fictional premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Which Gene Kelly musical outshone Singin' in the Rain on release?

An American in Paris, fresh from winning Best Picture, overshadowed it at first, but Singin' in the Rain has since overtaken it in critics' esteem.

Which 2022 film about the movies ends with a character watching Singin' in the Rain in a cinema?

Babylon ends in 1952 with a Hollywood veteran of the silent era watching the musical retell the upheaval he lived through.

How does Don meet Kathy in Singin' in the Rain?

He jumps into her passing car to escape fans, and a frightened Kathy only reluctantly agrees to drive him home.

What does Kathy throw at Don at the party in Singin' in the Rain, hitting Lina instead?

A cake, and Kathy then flees the party, leaving Don searching for her in vain for weeks.

Which song do Don and Kathy sing on stage in Singin' in the Rain's finale?

You Are My Lucky Star closes the film as a duet, yet Kathy's solo of the same song was cut before release.

Kathy claims she's a stage actress, but what is she really?

Chorus girl is the truth: she dances at the Cocoanut Grove and turns up that same night among the entertainers hired for R. F.'s party.

In Singin' in the Rain, Don goes along with having Kathy dub Lina's voice on what condition?

Only for one picture, since Don fears that, heard but never seen, Kathy would be throwing away her own career.

Who interrupts Don at the end of Singin' in the Rain's title-song dance?

A policeman eyes him suspiciously, so a sheepish Don stops splashing, hands his umbrella to a passerby and strolls off.

What is the title of Don and Lina's silent film whose premiere opens Singin' in the Rain?

The Royal Rascal is a swashbuckler, and when the crowd calls for speeches, Don insists Lina merely smile and does all the talking for them both.

Which Judy Holliday character does Lina Lamont imitate in Singin' in the Rain?

Billie Dawn from Born Yesterday is the model: silent audiences find Lina elegant, but off screen she speaks in a shrill, common voice.

Debbie Reynolds said making Singin' in the Rain and what else were the two hardest things she ever did?

Childbirth was the only thing Debbie Reynolds ranked alongside the shoot. She was not a dancer when cast, and Gene Kelly later admitted he had not been kind to her.

Singin' in the Rain's Debbie Reynolds was the mother of which actress, her partner in the documentary Bright Lights?

Carrie Fisher, Star Wars's Princess Leia, was her daughter with singer Eddie Fisher. Mother and daughter died one day apart in December 2016.

Seven years before Singin' in the Rain, Gene Kelly danced on screen with which cartoon character in Anchors Aweigh?

Jerry Mouse got the part after MGM first tried to borrow Mickey from Disney. Animators matched the cartoon's moves to Kelly's filmed steps, right down to the shadows on the floor.

In which film is Jennifer Lawrence's character inspired by a clip of the Moses Supposes dance from Singin' in the Rain?

Silver Linings Playbook won Jennifer Lawrence the Best Actress Oscar. Her character, a young widow, borrows from Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly's routine for a dance competition.

In Singin' in the Rain, which movie job gives vaudeville hoofer Don his break before he becomes Lina's leading man?

Stuntman is the truth behind the cultured life story Don tells at the premiere. Flashbacks show him taking falls for the cameras after years of scraping by in vaudeville with Cosmo.

Which actress played flapper Zelda Zanders in Singin' in the Rain a decade before winning an Oscar for West Side Story?

Rita Moreno became the first Hispanic woman to win an Academy Award with her role as Anita. She has praised Gene Kelly for casting her as Zelda, a part with no ethnic stereotype attached.

Which film won Best Picture for 1952, the year Singin' in the Rain was not even nominated for the top Oscar?

The Greatest Show on Earth, Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, won in an upset over the favourite, High Noon. It is now often counted among the weakest winners of the award.

Which Christmas-set action film has Michael Kamen weave Singin' in the Rain into the score for the character Theo?

Die Hard ties the tune to Theo, the thieves' computer expert played by Clarence Gilyard. The same score keeps returning to Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

Debbie Reynolds was not a dancer when cast in Singin' in the Rain; what was her sporting background?

Gymnastics was her background, so she had to learn the film's dances from scratch. Kathy Selden was the first leading role of her career.

After a 15-hour day filming one dance routine for Singin' in the Rain, what had happened to Debbie Reynolds?

Her feet were bleeding by the time the cameras stopped at 11 p.m. The shoot for that single number had started at 8 a.m.

A popular myth about Singin' in the Rain claims Gene Kelly filmed its soaking title dance in what way?

In a single take is the legend, helped by talk of cameras fixed at preset spots. In fact the sequence took two to three days to shoot.

The tap duet Moses Supposes in Singin' in the Rain takes its words from what old kind of wordplay?

A tongue-twister of the same name supplied the idea. It became one of the few songs in the film that did not come from the producer's old catalogue.

In which Sigourney Weaver film does her character softly sing a Singin' in the Rain ballad while hiding from a monster?

Alien has Ellen Ripley murmur the tune to herself as she prepares to fight the creature. Ridley Scott's thriller arrived 27 years after the musical.

On which TV series did guest star Gene Kelly reprise Singin' in the Rain in 1980, nearly three decades after the film?

The Muppet Show welcomed Kelly as guest star in episode 501, the start of its fifth and last season.

Which storybook character performs a version of Gene Kelly's Singin' in the Rain dance in a 1983 television special?

Paddington Bear performs it in Paddington Goes to the Movies, made three decades after the film's release.

Which TV series had Gwyneth Paltrow join a mash-up of Singin' in the Rain with a Rihanna hit in 2010?

Glee paired the two songs in the episode The Substitute, with Paltrow as stand-in teacher Holly Holliday. The cast spent twelve hours in a tank of water filming the number.

Which 2011 Best Picture winner about a silent star eclipsed by talkies pays tribute to Singin' in the Rain?

The Artist was itself shot as a black-and-white silent film, the first mainly silent Best Picture winner since Wings. Its story also begins at a Hollywood premiere in 1927.

In which Alfred Hitchcock thriller does Cary Grant whistle Singin' in the Rain in a shower scene?

North by Northwest has Grant's hunted ad man whistle it just after surviving the crop duster attack. The thriller came out seven years after Gene Kelly's film.

During which musical number in Singin' in the Rain is Kathy rediscovered, working as an extra on a studio set?

Beautiful Girl is sung by Jimmy Thompson, and the montage around it pokes fun at the kaleidoscopic style of Busby Berkeley.

Which ballad from The Broadway Melody does Don sing to Kathy to declare his love in Singin' in the Rain?

You Were Meant for Me was a late addition, written in after the screenwriters were asked for one simple love scene to replace a medley planned across several sets.

At the disastrous preview of Don and Lina's first talkie in Singin' in the Rain, what goes wrong with the soundtrack?

It slips out of sync, one of several blunders that sink the screening. The mishap later gives Cosmo the idea of having Kathy dub Lina's voice.

How do the guests at R. F. Simpson's party react to a demonstration of a talking picture in Singin' in the Rain?

They dismiss it as a fad, only for a rival studio's first talkie to become an enormous hit. R. F. then rushes his own stars into sound.

Outside which real Hollywood movie palace does the opening premiere scene of Singin' in the Rain take place?

Grauman's Chinese Theatre hosts the red-carpet scene, set in 1927. The costume adventure Don and Lina are launching there spoofs Gene Kelly's own swashbuckler The Three Musketeers.

Studio boss R. F. Simpson in Singin' in the Rain is a playful send-up of which real MGM producer?

Arthur Freed produced the film and wrote the lyrics for most of its songs, so the studio chief on screen doubles as an affectionate in-joke about the real boss.

Donald O'Connor, Cosmo in Singin' in the Rain, made six comedies opposite which talkative animal co-star?

Francis the mule usually spoke only to O'Connor's soldier, a gag the same director later reused for TV's Mister Ed. O'Connor quit before the seventh and last film.

Singin' in the Rain star Debbie Reynolds earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for which 1964 musical?

The Unsinkable Molly Brown cast her as a real Titanic survivor, though its director first told her she was wrong for the part. Six weeks into filming he admitted his mistake.

Which carmaker's 2005 advert showed Gene Kelly breakdancing through the Singin' in the Rain street sequence?

Volkswagen used the reworked routine to sell the Golf GTI, set to a Mint Royale remix of the song. The remix reached No. 20 on the UK chart that summer.

Mint Royale's remix of Singin' in the Rain topped the UK chart in 2008 after a dancer used it on which show?

Britain's Got Talent made the track a hit when then-unknown George Sampson danced to it. It knocked Rihanna's Take a Bow off the top of the chart.

Which French New Wave director said he knew Singin' in the Rain frame by frame after countless Paris screenings?

François Truffaut told the film's writers so when they met at a party in Paris. He said he and Alain Resnais regularly went to a small cinema where it sometimes ran for months.

Kathleen Freeman, Lina's voice coach in Singin' in the Rain, later played a fearsome nun in which 1980 comedy?

The Blues Brothers cast her as Sister Mary Stigmata, nicknamed the Penguin, a role she repeated in the 1998 sequel. Her part as coach Phoebe Dinsmore went uncredited.

Madge Blake, gossip columnist Dora Bailey in Singin' in the Rain, later played Aunt Harriet in which 1960s TV series?

Batman cast her as Aunt Harriet Cooper, Dick Grayson's aunt, who never learns the heroes' secret. Poor health cut her to two cameo appearances in the third and final season.

Which pianist and songwriter, a famous screen sidekick, was the model for Cosmo Brown in Singin' in the Rain?

Oscar Levant was the template for the part that went to Donald O'Connor, which is why Cosmo is introduced as the studio musician who plays mood music on set.

Which ukulele-playing singer, later the voice of Jiminy Cricket, introduced the song Singin' in the Rain on film?

Cliff Edwards, billed as Ukulele Ike, sang it in an early MGM talkie and had a hit record with it. A waiter who could not remember his name gave him the nickname.

Which MGM music man composed Moses Supposes, the one Singin' in the Rain number with lyrics by its screenwriters?

Roger Edens was associate producer of the unit behind MGM's great musicals and a lifelong mentor to Judy Garland. He set the screenwriters' comic lyric to music.

Which bass-baritone star of MGM musicals was first floated for Singin' in the Rain, in a draft about a singing cowboy?

Howard Keel inspired a plot about a Western star making a comeback in talkies. The writers kept drifting to a swashbuckling song-and-dance man instead, a part that suited Gene Kelly.

Which Catholic watchdog group joined Production Code reviewers in objecting to Singin' in the Rain's vamp dance?

The Legion of Decency objected to a brief, suggestive move between the dancers. No record says exactly what was removed, but an abrupt cut near the end of the number marks the likely spot.

How did the makers of Singin' in the Rain create the puddles Gene Kelly splashes through in the title dance?

They dug holes in the cement of the street so the water would pool where the steps needed it. The number took several months to choreograph.

Which Disney's Hollywood Studios attraction featured an animatronic Gene Kelly in his Singin' in the Rain scene?

The Great Movie Ride put the figure among its opening scenes, and Kelly approved his own likeness before it was shipped to Florida. The ride closed in 2017.

Harold Rosson, who photographed Singin' in the Rain, had earlier shot which Technicolor classic of 1939?

The Wizard of Oz earned Rosson one of his five Oscar nominations. He was also married for a time to Jean Harlow, who proposed to him during the filming of Bombshell.

Which British rock and roll pioneer starred as Don in the first London stage version of Singin' in the Rain?

Tommy Steele led the cast at the London Palladium from 1983, with Roy Castle as Cosmo. The show ran there for more than two years.