Singin' In The Rain

Maddie here.  With the theme for April being Rain, I decided to write up a little post on the film
Singin' In The Rain!
My first memory of this movie takes me back to a day I spent at my grandma Dallyne's.  I'm not
sure if I stayed home sick from school that day, or if I was just spending the day at her house,
but I told her I wanted to watch a movie. She had all of the classics on hand, but I'm pretty sure
I wanted to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Rescuers Down Under, or one of the many
other cartoons she had.  But she convinced me that I should watch Singin' In The Rain.
"But it's an old movie!" I complained.  She said "It doesn't matter, you'll love it, it's fantastic".  So, I gave in and she popped the tape into the VCR.
This movie is indeed fantastic.  It's one of those movies where, when I hear the name, it takes me back to sitting in my grandma's guest bedroom, looking through her jewelry box while she would sing and dance along.  She knew all of the words of course.  And I smiled ear to ear watching and listening to her.

The plot from Wikipedia:

Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer and stunt man. Don barely tolerates his vapid, shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity. Lina herself is convinced they are in love, despite Don's protestations otherwise.

One day, to escape from fans, Don jumps into a passing car driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). She drops him off, but not before claiming to be a stage actress and sneering at his undignified accomplishments. Later, at a party, the head of Don's studio, R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell), shows a short demonstration of a Vitaphonetalking picture^[3] but his guests are unimpressed. To Don's amusement and Kathy's embarrassment, she pops out of a mock cake right in front of him as part of the entertainment; Kathy, it turns out, is a chorus girl. Furious at Don's teasing, she throws a real cake at him, only to hit Lina right in the face. Later, after weeks of searching, Don makes up with Kathy after he finds her working in another Monumental Pictures production, and they begin to fall in love.

After a rival studio has an enormous hit with its first talking picture, 1927's The Jazz Singer, R.F. decides he has no choice but to convert the new Lockwood and Lamont film, The Dueling Cavalier, into a talkie. The production is beset with difficulties.^[4] By far, the worst problem is Lina's grating voice. An exasperated diction coach tried to teach her how to speak properly, but to no avail. A test screening is a disaster. In one scene, Don repeats the line "I love you" to Lina over and over, to the audience's derisive laughter.^[5] Then in the middle of the film, the sound goes out of synchronization.

Don's best friend, Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), comes up with the idea to dub Lina's voice with Kathy's, and they persuade R.F. to turn The Dueling Cavalier into a musical called The Dancing Cavalier, complete with a modern musical number called "Broadway Melody". When Lina finds out, she is furious and does everything possible to sabotage the romance between Don and Kathy. She becomes even angrier when she discovers that R.F. intends to give Kathy a screen credit and a big publicity promotion. Lina, after consulting lawyers, threatens to sue R.F. unless he cancels Kathy's buildup and orders her to continue working (uncredited) as Lina's voice. R.F. reluctantly agrees to her demands.

The premiere of The Dancing Cavalier is a tremendous success. When the audience clamors for Lina to sing live, Don, Cosmo, and R.F. improvise and get her to lip syncinto the microphone while Kathy, hidden behind the stage curtain, sings into a second one. While Lina is "singing," Don, Cosmo and R.F. gleefully open the curtain. The deception becomes obvious when Cosmo replaces Kathy at the microphone. Now exposed as a fraud, Lina flees in embarrassment. Kathy tries to run away as well, but Don introduces the audience to "the real star of the film." The final shot shows Kathy and Don kissing in front of a billboard for their new film, Singin' in the Rain.

My mom and I watched this clip together, and all of the memories came rushing back :)
Gene Kelly is quite the cool cat.  That man has got moves.

This movie is just the ticket to get you in the spirit of spring showers!

So, remember this month, to put on your favorite wellies and get out there and sing and dance in the rain!

and as always, remember to treat yourself to a hot cup of tea :)