Singin' in the Rain Trivia
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86 free Singin' in the Rain trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Singin' in the Rain was a routine MGM musical that opened to decent reviews in 1952 and only later became the film most critics call the greatest musical ever made. This Singing in the Rain trivia quiz covers the story of Don, Kathy, Cosmo and Lina at Monumental Pictures, the disastrous preview of The Dueling Cavalier, the cake, the dubbing ruse and the curtain that gives it all away. It then goes behind the camera: Gene Kelly dancing the title number with a 103-degree fever in a shrinking wool suit, the milk-in-the-rain myth, Debbie Reynolds' bleeding feet after Good Morning, Fred Astaire finding her crying under a piano, Donald O'Connor's hospital stay after Moses Supposes, and the irony that Reynolds herself was dubbed. There are questions on where the songs really came from, the Cole Porter number Make 'Em Laugh resembles, Jean Hagen's Oscar nomination, and the film's places on the AFI, Sight & Sound and National Film Registry lists. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the film and its cast, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 86 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01When Kathy flees the premiere at Singin' in the Rain's climax, what does Don do?
Has the audience stop her
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.
Q 02Gene Kelly co-directed and co-choreographed the film with whom?
Stanley Donen
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.
Q 03Which 2022 sequel has a silent film shoot turn into a talkie, echoing Singin' in the Rain?
Downton Abbey: A New Era
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.
Q 04In Singin' in the Rain, where on the talkie set is a microphone hidden for Lina to speak toward?
In a bush
In a bush, yet Lina can't manage to speak into it, one of the sound troubles that leave director Roscoe Dexter exasperated.
Q 05What is the truth behind the rumored off-screen romance between Don and Lina?
It's entirely fabricated
It's entirely fabricated, a stunt fed to the fan magazines, and although Lina believes Don truly loves her, he can barely stand her.
Q 06What is the name of the fictional Hollywood studio in Singin' in the Rain?
Monumental Pictures
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.
Q 07Which president does Lina boast she out-earns in Singin' in the Rain?
Coolidge
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.
Q 08In Singin' in the Rain, which real Warner Bros. hit makes the studio switch its next film to sound?
The Jazz Singer
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.
Q 09After the flop preview in Singin' in the Rain, Don and Lina's talkie is reworked as a musical under which title?
The Dancing Cavalier
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.
Q 10Which song does Cosmo perform in Singin' in the Rain to cheer Don up after his search for Kathy fails?
Make 'Em Laugh
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.
Q 11Which Cole Porter song does Donald O'Connor's solo number in Singin' in the Rain closely resemble?
Be a Clown
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.
Q 12Most songs in Singin' in the Rain came from the back catalogue of its producer and which composer?
Nacio Herb Brown
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.
Q 13Which writing team wrote the screenplay for Singin' in the Rain?
Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Q 21In Singin' in the Rain, which song do Don, Kathy and Cosmo sing after deciding to make their flop a musical?
Good Morning
Good Morning erupts late that night in Don's kitchen, and the three friends dance it through the house and over the furniture.
Q 22In Singin' in the Rain, what gives Lina the power to keep Kathy's name off the screen?
A clause in her contract
A clause in her contract gives Lina control of her own publicity, so R. F. must leave Kathy uncredited or face a lawsuit.
Q 23When the studio switches to talkies in Singin' in the Rain, what job does R. F. give Cosmo?
Head of music
Betty Comden and Adolph Green struggled to find a story before settling on Hollywood's painful switch to sound.
Q 14In Singin' in the Rain, Don and Cosmo perform 'Moses Supposes' while mocking a tutor during what kind of lesson?
A diction 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.
Q 15Singin' in the Rain's title song was first heard on screen in which earlier MGM film?
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
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.
Q 16What was Gene Kelly suffering from while filming the title-song dance in Singin' in the Rain?
A 103-degree fever
A 103-degree fever didn't stop him dancing through the man-made downpour on the studio back lot.
Q 17A myth claims the rain in Singin' in the Rain's title number was mixed with what to show up on camera?
Milk
Milk was never added, and getting the falling drops to show on camera was an exceptionally hard lighting job.
Q 18How do Don and Cosmo expose Lina's miming at the climax of Singin' in the Rain?
Raise the curtain
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.
Q 19How was Singin' in the Rain's Debbie Reynolds discovered as a teenager?
In a beauty contest
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.
Q 20Which dance legend found Reynolds crying under a piano and let her watch his rehearsals?
Fred Astaire
He wanted to show her that dancing was hard work even for professionals, but worth it.
Head of music is his new post, handed over just as Cosmo jokes that talking pictures have put him out of work.
Q 24Donald O'Connor won which award for his performance in Singin' in the Rain?
A Golden Globe
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.
Q 25Which singer dubbed Debbie Reynolds on 'Would You?' in Singin' in the Rain?
Betty Noyes
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.
Q 26Who plays the vamp in the green dress in the 'Broadway Melody' ballet of Singin' in the Rain?
Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse plays the mysterious woman who dances with the young hoofer and wins his heart, then rejects him.
Q 27Singin' in the Rain ends with Don and Kathy kissing in front of what?
A billboard
A billboard for their new film, itself titled Singin' in the Rain, shows Kathy as Don's co-star rather than a hidden voice.
Q 28Singin' in the Rain's gossip columnist Dora Bailey is loosely modeled on which real Hollywood columnist?
Louella Parsons
Louella Parsons inspired the character, who interviews Don live on radio at the premiere.
Q 29After the party mishap in Singin' in the Rain, what does Lina do to Kathy?
She gets her fired
She gets her fired, and when Lina later admits it, a furious Don likes her even less.
Q 30Which Singin' in the Rain cast member earned the film's only acting Oscar nomination?
Jean Hagen
Jean Hagen, up for Best Supporting Actress, also supplied her own natural voice when Kathy is shown dubbing her character's lines.