Vaudeville references in Singin´ in the Rain? (1 Viewer)

[Stefan Andersson]

Hi!

Does the Don Lockwood & Cosmo Brown career montage in Singin´ in the Rain contain any references to historical 1920s vaudeville or musical theater? I realize the movie is basically an affectionate pastiche of silent movies and vaudeville, but in the costumes, choreography or background characters there might be some intentional references, for experts on the subject to spot. The ImdB trivia section has info about references to Clara Bow, Pola Negri and others, but no info about the music numbers in the career montage.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I'm pretty sure the montage songs were from old MGM musicals of the late 20s. "Wedding of the Painted Doll" was from Broadway Melody of 1929 for instance:

 

[Ethan Riley]

The rest were, I think, not actual Vaudeville songs because "Fit as a Fiddle" was written by Arthur Freed.

 

[Matt Hough]

All of the songs in the film had lyrics by Arthur Freed: it was his catalog that Comden and Green based the film's script around, and apart from "Moses Supposes" and "Make 'Em Laugh," they all had been written for films in the 1920s and 1930s.

 

[Cineman]

I believe I read somewhere that the musical numbers in Singin' in the Rain were, wherever possible, references and tributes to the biggest movie musical star and filmmaking influences up to that time (1952) and not necessarily all MGM-related; Best Picture Oscar winning The Broadway Melody of 1929 reference is there as stated above. The obvious Busby Berkeley references are there. The soundstage set romantic couple number would have been just right in an Astaire-Rogers movie. The "Let's turn it into a musical!" bit was classic Rooney-Garland material. I would say the "Singin' in the Rain" number itself starts out as a signature Judy Garland mood soliloquy song sequence and blends perfectly into a Gene Kelly-the-dancer classic while the extended epic Broadway Melody dance sequence near the end was a signature Gene Kelly-the-filmmaker reference.

If that were the intention, I certainly forgive Kelly for referencing and giving tribute to himself as a major influence on the movie musical scene up to that time because, well, he was.

I would even cite the segment in the Broadway Melody number where Kelly goes from a down and dirty hoofer to an elegant dandy wearing a top hat and tails yet barely moving his body at all is a sly reference to the possible replacement of big star dancers in movie musicals with beautiful technicolor sets and costumes, an evolution that he might have sensed happening already. By the time GiGi came around a few years later it was all about the songs with only a 5 second shot of feet doing anything at all in the "The Night They Invented Champagne" number. An MGM movie musical, no less!