The MGM Musical

When I sat down to write this piece I had in mind “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” “An American in Paris,” and “Singing in the Rain” as the epitome and essence of an MGM musical. All a combination of magnificent technicolor, and I do mean technicolor, singing, dancing, character and plot. In my mind, at least, you need all of those things for a movie made even by MGM, to qualify as an MGM musical. This was reinforced by my reading in the “Gramophone” that the sound tracks had been issued on C.D.s for these musicals. It was further reinforced by Grand Army Plaza. having “Seven Brides for Seven Bro1hers” and my making a recording of it. In some ways I was disappointed in my recording. These musicals lose some (even all) of their essence without the visuals. I mean you hear the dancing feet bang the ground or floor but you don’t see it. I do not collect videos, but for these musicals videos, not audios are the way to go. It is certainly true of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” and I’m sure it’s even more true of the other two where you hear Gene Kelly tapping away, but you can’t see him. At what he did only Fred Astaire did it better, but then again I might rate Fred Astaire as better than Nureyev (I’m not kidding). I should also mention that both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were excellent singers, but even here Astaire is better. Now Fred Astaire was in MGM musicals, but only Kelly was in the MGM musicals. In fact, as this article proceeds I will attempt to prove that some musicals that qualify as The MGM musicals weren’t so good though I still love them. I think in this context most of the MGM musicals, within my definition were made in the 50’s. Certainly my three cited were, and certainly they were made in color.

Now I want this article to be a little bit lighthearted. My research really was not that great, and to a great extent I am dependent on memory. I know I saw “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” at Radio City, and what more does one need by means of film nostalgia. I never really cared for the “Rockettes” but I did love the lighting and ‘The Show.” Anyhow in terms of free association I cannot think of the MGM musical without thinking that in her genes (not jeans) Liza Minelli encompasses all of it’s ethos. As a mailer. of fact she was introduced, filmically, to the world in the great (very great) 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me In St. Louis.” Why Liza Minnelli? Why her genes? Her mother was Judy Garland. In my scheme of things as to females there is Garbo, Callas, Piaf and then Garland. Liza’s father is Vincente Minnelli. One of the books I consulted for this article was “Vincente Minnelli and The Film Musical” by Joseph Andrew Casper. Unfortunately, some joker cut out several of the pages so that it was hard for me to tell which of his musical’s were made for MGM unless I knew. Andrew Sarris puts Vincente Minnelli in “The Far Side of Paradise Category” which means he is one step from the pantheon, and a pretty great director – musicals or otherwise. He made “Meet Me In St. Louis” which may be the most famous of the MGM musicals. Then again he made “An American in Paris” which is one of the three first mentioned. I don’t want to give it all away but he made several other MGM musicals. We will return to those later.

Stanlev Donnen made “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and Singing in The Rain.” In Sarris’s categories he comes in third place under “Expressive Esoterica” Sarris apparently feels he is too passive to be a creator, but he says that in the Golden Age Metro Musicals. Donnen was discussed as Gene Kelly’s invisible panner. Sarris cites “On The Town,” “Singing in The Rain,” and “It’s Always Fair Weather.” In “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” Sarris says Michael Kidd’s muscular choreography dominates. It does! It does! But I say it’s also magnificent to hear Howard Keel (perhaps The MGM leading man) sing “Bless your beautiful hide” to Jane Powell, and to hear her sing anything to anyone ever. One of my first contacts with gr:,nd opera was Jane Powell singing “Musetta’s Waltz” in MGM’s “Nancy Goes To Rio.”

The other book I consulted was “The Best of MGM” by Elizabeth Miles Montgomery. This is all MGM and not just musicals. From both books I learned that all of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy musicals are MGM: For me they are, if anything, more magnificent, but they don’t count here. They are in black and white, they just don’t have the zeitgeist I’m talking about, and they are operettas. Operettas as Sigmund Romberg will tell you are not musicals. They are another category and indeed in the Minnelli book they are in a separate category. For that matter the great Ernst Lubitsch made operettas for MGM with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. “The Merry Widow” and “Love Parade” are examples.

Which are those “not-so-goods” I spoke of? Well in the fifties there were a whole slew of Broadway shows filmed. They really didn’t really travel that well, but still there is an essence there. Let us say MGM evoked these shows even if they seldom got them just right. Let’s put “Kiss Me Kate,” “Showboat (1951),” “Kismet.” and “Guys and Dolls,” in this category. None of these comes off as absolutely the equal of Broadway, but Broadway only exists in original cast albums and in the memory. These MGMs exist in the videos. Getting back to Minnelli even his “Brigadoon” unfortunately, falls in this category: big, beautiful and bloated. “Kismet” was his too. Then again I think he did fine with Barbara Streisand and Yves Montand in “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.”

Now it seems that in order to really be top-notch these musicals had to be written for the screen as the main three I’ve cited. In this regard there was Lerner and Lowe’s “Gigi” brought to the screen by none other than Vincente Minnelli. Louis Jourdan as the rake reduced to marriage. Leslie Caron as the schoolgirl trained to be a mistress who becomes a wife. It also starred Chevalier and Gingold. Sarris, somewhat strangely for me, describes both “An American in Paris” and “Gigi” as “curiously depressing musicals”. I don’t remember that at all. Sarris calls “The Band Wagon” Minelli’s best musical. I don’t know about best, but it sure is up there. The MGM book indicates that the “Bandwagon” was not written for the screen. It began as a revue and was filmed before by another studio under another title. In Minnelli’s ’53 version Fred Astaire starred as a Hollywood star attempting a comeback. The real Fred Astaire was himself in a down period. Cyd Charisse is a young dancer hired to be his female lead. I was never a “leg man” but Cyd Charisse could give Betty Grable (the best ever) one hell of a run for the title. She and Astaire dance to the tune of “Dancing in the Dark.” Fred Astaire sings “I want to be myself” in a voice as if the world is passing him by. And he is an American original. I want to leave Minelli, but we must include “The Pirate.” “Cabin in the Sky” (black and white) and “Ziegfield Follies.”

Donnen was not really able to bring much life to “Royal Wedding” though Astaire is partnered with Jane Powell as his sister in a dance team, and Astaire marries Sarah Churchill as in Winston. Though Donnen did manage one of the great Astaire dance numbers wherein he dances up and down the walls and ceilings of his hotel room. He also did “On The Town,” and “It’s Always Fair Weather.”

Now you know there was “That’s Entertainment” which was a compilation narrated by Liza Minnelli. There were biopics such a, “Till The Clouds Roll By” about Jerome Kern. You know I haven’t even scratched the surface. There are more directors and more stars that I have slighted, but when MGM was MGM, what magnificent musicals they made. Then again, I’m sure you’ve heard of “The Wizard of Oz.”