In the early 1940's, Judy Garland was at the top of her game, and Gene Kelly was rising fast. Fresh off the Broadway stage and his success in
Pal Joey, Kelly was brought to Hollywood for his first picture by David O. Selznick. This sort of thing wasn't unusual in those days. It was quite common for the film industry to search for stars on the stage. What
is unusual is that, in his very first film, Kelly played opposite Judy Garland, who was enjoying major box-office success at the time.
For Me & My Gal is an MGM movie, produced by the legendary Arthur Freed unit. It's the story of two Vaudeville hoofers (played by Kelly and Garland) from the days leading up to World War I to the return of "the boys" after Armistice. In many ways,
For Me & My Gal is a propaganda film, like so many others that were being released at that period in Hollywood history. In other ways, it's a distinctive musical-comedy-drama that has aged very well.
Judy Garland's performance as Jo Hayden is the one that made me a true fan. It was her first role in which she was allowed to play a young woman her own age and also to spread her wings and exercise her dramatic abilities. It wasn't uncommon for Judy to portray women who were in love alone, but, for my money at least, this film sports her most compelling performance in such a role.
There is a scene about midway through
For Me & My Gal, when Jo receives news that her brother has been killed overseas and realizes that the man she loves, Harry Palmer (Kelly), has deliberately tried to evade the draft. I think it was a stroke of brilliance to put these two events into the same scene: Jo's beloved brother died in the service of his country and Harry has injured himself in order to put off the draft and fulfill his own dream of playing the Palace Theater. Judy is marvelous as thoughts and emotions wash over her: grief, horror, resentment. You wouldn't know that this was her first mature role. As always, Judy is a pro.
Jo goes through a lot during the movie. She loses her brother; she falls in love with a man who continually breaks her heart. Then everything seems to be coming together: she and Harry are finally going to play the Palace Theater (something they've been working for and dreaming of since they first became a team); he's fallen in love with her, too, and they plan to marry after opening night at the Palace.
But tragedy strikes. Harry is drafted before their engagement at the Palace begins. Desperate to play the Theater and marry Jo after the show, as they'd been planning for so long, he deliberately smashes his hand by slamming the lid of his trunk down on it. Blinded by his own desires and frustration, he reasons that the injury will keep him out of the War long enough for them to fulfill their dream. Poor Harry. Not only is he acting selfishly, his timing is rotten.
On the same day that he is temporarily exempted from the draft because of his injury, Jo receives the telegram informing her that her brother, Danny (Richard Quine), is dead. When he arrives at her hotel room, she's passed from the first moments of shock and into tears. It's as he is trying to comfort her that she first sees his hand and comes to the only natural conclusion. "It won't stop us from playing at the Palace," he tells her, but she's beyond caring about such things.
As for Harry, he changes a great deal during the course of the film. It's not a dramatic change with one great turning point, but here and there you can see him growing from the egotistical heel to a wiser, much more subdued man. Kelly was a natural for roles like this, and he played it several times in various ways. Think of Joe Brady in
Anchors Aweigh and Eddie O'Brien in
Take Me Out to the Ball Game: cads who are changed by love and circumstances.
For Me & My Gal features one the most marked changes.
First, there is his confession to Jo, early in the film, after he tried to "play her for a sap," failed, and realized what a sweet and true girl she really is, causing him to feel like the heel that
he is. Then, later, he is given the chance to move up in the show business world, but he has seconds thoughts about taking advantage of the opportunity when he learns that he would have to leave Jo behind. The Harry Palmer who stepped of the train at the beginning of the movie wouldn't have given her a second thought, but this Harry is trying to rationalize the idea of - well, essentially, dropping Jo like a hot potato - and jumping into a more prestigious, already well-established act.
He ends up dropping the idea and not Jo, but don't be fooled into thinking that his transformation is complete. He's still very imperfect. But there's hope for him, yet. And then everything blows up in his face.
Rejected by Jo because of his selfishness and cowardice, he tries in vain to join the Armed Forces, as though his willing enlistment would somehow prove that he isn't a coward, but his new disability causes him to be turned away time and again. His injury turns out not to be temporary, as he had thought: when the trunk lid slammed down on his hand, the tendons were severed. His hand is, for all intensive purposes, useless.
Eventually, he joins the USO and goes overseas to entertain the troops. It's the only way he can serve. While in Europe, he redeems himself by risking his life to tell a caravan of ambulances to turn back because the area is being abandoned and to try and get through would be suicide.
The idea of ending the film with Kelly, Garland, and George Murphy singing and dancing to a reprise of the title tune was toyed with but eventually abandoned in favor of a more sober but still uplifting ending, in which Jo and Harry are reunited. I think this was a wise move. A song and dance number, although very common in musicals, would have been too happy-go-lucky-everything-is-fine-again. The final cut of
For Me & My Gal contains a more bittersweet ending that seems to say, "It's been hard, but we're together again. It's still going to be hard, but we'll be okay. All is forgiven. Time to make a new start.''
Kelly hadn't reached his peak as far as the film industry was concerned. He had yet to dazzle audiences with his duet with himself in
Cover Girl and with the "American in Paris Ballet" in
An American in Paris. But talk about making a dramatic entrance!
In his very first film, he found one of his best partners. Even Astaire had to wait till his second film to find Rogers. Judy and Gene both had very distinctive singing voices that rarely worked so well with anyone else as they did with each other. Think of when they are singing the title tune: it's easy to distinguish both voices if you think about it, but if you just relax, they blend nicely. Gene and Judy were also good at letting the other step into the spotlight: one would be singing melody while the other did harmony, and then they would switch. They complimented each other - and not just with their singing but also with their acting and dancing.
Gene Kelly and Judy Garland would go on to make two other films together,
The Pirate and
Summer Stock. When watching them onscreen, there's no denying that they enjoyed working together and that they were a well-matched pair. They could play off each other. Sometimes one would tone down their performance a bit and let the other take the spotlight. They were a good team onscreen, and it's nice to remember that they were good friends offscreen, too.
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Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made ten movies together: their two most successful and enduring pictures are Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time. I've never been able to decide which one I think is the better of the two. Maybe it's just me. Rogers, however, had no such problem. In her autobiography, she said that Swing Time was her favorite of all the films that she made with Astaire. Although, my personal favorite happens to be Shall We Dance, it's easy for me to see why she felt that way.
It wouldn't be a celebration of Independence Day (even if it is late) without this Fred Astaire number. Holiday Inn is one of those movies that I've been watching all my life. I honestly have no idea when I first saw it - it's always been a part of my movie-viewing life. I absolutely love this dance (part of the reason is probably because it blends two things that I love: dancing and fireworks). Fred is beyond amazing, cool and wonderful, and t's yet another example of why I wish I could tap dance.
In an almost autobiographical turn (that it seems everyone - including myself - feels compelled to note), Fred Astaire plays a fading film star whose biggest successes were released in the '30s. One of the fun things about The Band Wagon is that it doesn't try to hide the fact that it closely mirrors the star's life: that fact is actually pointed out to the audience, before the film has been running even five minutes, when one of his previous successes is mentioned. The name of that movie is an unabashed parody of the title that shot Astaire and Rogers to stardom in 1933: it's called, "Swinging Down to Panama." Makes me smile every time._NRFPT_02.jpg)
The Band Wagon is one of my favorite '50s musicals for so many reasons: Vincente Minnelli's wonderful direction (his films always have the best colors!), the happy tunes that will stick in your head whether you want them to or not (although why you wouldn't is beyond me), and the witty script are just some of the reasons. One of the most important reasons I love this film, though, is the cast._03.jpg)
Astaire and Charisse make great partners for each other. Because of their different styles and the fact that they were roughly the same height, it changes how they dance. Astaire's style had to change a little to suit his partner, just as her style had to change a bit to suit him. The combination of their two styles, as well as the choreography that makes their similar heights less noticeable, is, simply put, elegant. If you don't believe me, watch them in the "Dancing in the Dark" number. If you've already seen it, I'm preaching to the choir.
