Debbie was only 19 years old when she made this. She was not a dancer. Gene was told he had to teach her in a few weeks. He wasn’t happy. He was a very hard taskmaster, and worked her so hard her feet bled. Fred Astaire found her crying, hiding under a piano. He asked her what was wrong. She explained about Gene. Fred gently explained to her that’s what being a dancer was. Long hours of rehearsal, bleeding feet, blisters, injuries, hard work to make it look easy. This film made her a star.

Shirley Temple is the girl you are thinking of. This is such a great movie; it really hits on all cylinders.

So, in the movie Kathy Selden (played by Debbie Reynolds) dubs the dialogue for Lina Lamont (played by Jean Hagen)...but in reality Debbie Reynolds' speaking voice wasn't quite what they wanted so they actually had Jean Hagen use her real voice (instead of her "Lina Lamont' voice) for that dialogue.

Gene Kelly had the flu when he did the Singin' in the Rain sequence. He was so good and such a professional that you can't tell. Debbie Reynolds was Carrie Fisher's mother. She had no experience as a dancer before this movie. Gene Kelly trained her, and she said later she never worked so hard before or since. Too bad you cut the fantasy sequence with Cyd Charisse. She was Gene Kelly's equal (at least) as a dancer, and the whole sequence is a masterpiece of cinematography.

I just love seeing people react to hearing Lina Lamont's voice the first time.

Such a wonderful example of Americana. This is one of the best feel-good movies you'll ever see. Donald O'Connor's Make 'Em Laugh number is so infectiously funny, you can't help but grin broadly. So happy you two watched this genuinely classic movie musical.

When Actors had to know how to Sing and Dance... That's Entertainment!!!

It’s hard to overstate what a revolution sound was and how quickly it happened. The last totally silent movie was released just 30 months and a day after “The Jazz Singer” came out. Many silent film stars were through overnight because their voices were not suitable. Some had thick accents that had never mattered before.

Good to see young folks enjoying the classic old films. When Hollywood still had magic.

It's great that you're willing to go off the beaten path to do an old musical. You would love "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", a Broadway play turned into a movie in 1968. It used to be known as one of the funniest movies of all time, and of course it still is, but people got to renting recent movies and they forgot about it.

Jane Powell in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". The main male lead was Howard Keel, who had one of the most wonderful singing voices in movies during his era.

Not only the best musical ever, but one of the funniest films as well! Glad to see you guys watching older classics

Fun fact, if you look for footage of make em laugh you can see older version of the same actor 20 years later doing the same performance in front of a television audience

In every list of best movies ever Singing In The Rain used to be in the top positions, it's really an amazing movie about making movies. And given by your funny, amusing and entertaining reaction it doesn't gets old after 71 years

I have great memories of watching Harold Lloyd movies with my Dad in the '60s..... He was famous for doing his own stunts. In one of his films, he is actually climbing & then hanging off of a building's clock that was 10-15 stories up w/ no safety gear. The movie is a short (7-10 minutes) called *_Safety Last_* from 1923.

“Here’s ONE thing I learned from the movies!!!” - one of my favourite scenes of any movie 😂

You mean Seven Brides for Seven Brothers starring Howard Keel and Jane Powell. My two favourite Shirley Temple films are “Just Around the Corner” and “Heidi”. Marni Nixon is the woman whose voice was dubbed for many of the best musicals. Marni Nixon dubbed Audrey Hepburn’s voice in “My Fair Lady”, Deborah Kerr in “The King and I” and Natalie Wood in “West Side Story”, and she sang the high notes for Marilyn Monroe in the song ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ from the film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. Whereas Bill Lee provided the singing voice for Roger in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians (1961). Bill Lee also dubbed the voices of Christopher Plummer in “The Sound of Music”, John Kerr in “South Pacific” and Matt Mattox who played Caleb Pontipee in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”.

Thank you for reacting to this wonderful movie you beautiful people.

13:50 - Shirley Temple is the name you're looking for. The girl that tapdances. Great that you are reacting to this pleasant cheerful classic movie.

Debbie Reynold's Daughter. Carrie Fischer was Princess Leia in Star Wars. Another great Gene Kelly Musical you don't want to miss is "Brigadoon". Two Hunters get lost in Scotland and discover a village that only appears for 1 day in a hundred years, Gene Kelly falls in love with a girl from that village. Does he stay or go? Great Dancing and Songs,

If you go through the original talkies MGM really were the lead in musicals. Their songbook was great. Even dramas were elevated by it. When TCM does an actor's marathon from that time the music is always wonderful.

2:27 The lady in the purple dress narrating the movie premiere at the big microphone was Madge Blake, who worked on TV series a lot in shows like Leave it to Beaver and Batman in the 50's and 60's. Prior to that, in the 1940's, she and her husband worked on building detonators for nuclear weapons.

This movie just a lot of FUN. When Gene Kelley did the song and dance for the song Singing in the Rain he was very sick with the flu and his temperature was over 100 degrees.

Even now, they dub singing in movies. Loren Allred dubbed the singing of Never Enough in the movie "The Greatest Showman"

When the guy pulls the cord to the microphone and flips the lady...I laughed so hard at that when I first saw this movie XD

Gene Kelly's resume: Dancer, choreographer, stuntman, director, screenwriter, actor, producer and overall good human. He's up there alongside Charlie Chaplin as one of the Hollywood geniuses. Had more talent in his left foot than most in the industry. Other must-see musicals: Swing Time (1935) (classic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - those two were the original musical stars) Anchors Aweigh (1945) (With Gene Kelly and Sinatra) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1956) (same director of Singin In The Rain) Duck Soup (1931) (Hilarious musical satire with the Marx Brothers) Disney's Mary Poppins (1966) (I think you've already watched it?)

I finally just subscribed, in hoping you two would react to more of these classics regularly.

Little known fact: the brunette starlet in the beginning of the film getting out of the car (Zelda Zanders) was played by the brilliant Rita Moreno (Oscar winner from "West Side Story", she also won an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy--a splendid demonstration of her enormous talent)

I never thought this movie would be good, then when I was about 15 I watched it. The story was not what I expected and its one of my favorite classic movies. It introduced me to Gene Kelly who's a great actor and dancer. I never thought I'd see a movie reaction to this, so I'm so happy you did one. 😊

You mentioned the Harvey Boys (where I think you might mean Laurel & Hardy) but there is a Judy Garland musical titled "The Harvey Girls" which is a fun film. Angela Lansbury plays a dance hall girl in the movie who is competing with Judy for the male lead. Nice to see you reaching back into the Golden Age of Hollywood for films.

Yeah, as others have said, Shirley Temple is the little girl you were thinking of, and the style of dancing is called, Tap Dancing. Shirley went on to be "named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States" - Wikipedia She was given the honorary title of America's Sweetheart at just age six (6). She claimed the title after Mary Pickford, who first was crowned as such, being America's #1 box-office draw (1935-1938).

Shirley Temple is the girl child dancer/actor/singer. She later went on to become a United States ambassador to Ghana in the 74-75 and Czechoslovakia 89-92

This is an understatement...this musical on film is iconic....often was voted the best musical of all time. The scene for Gene Kelly dancing in the rain to the title song is so familiar even to the young. if they have not seen it before they won't ever forget it after they have. Same for Donald O'Connor with Make Em Laugh. The movie star girl ha s a sort of New York or New Jersey accent, and she talks quite loud, not matching the image people have of her. in real life this actress, Jean Hagen, did not talk like that and frankly she was a damn genius in this role.

There was usually a Piano/Organ player off to the side of the stage to make Music/Sound effects for the Films. Orchestra 'PITS' in larger theaters had more musicians to add to Stage Acts & Silent Movies.

I love when y’all react to classic movies! I grew up in the 90s, but all my favorite movies and tv shows were from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Seeing y’all react to these always makes me happy and nostalgic! 😊

My favourite Gene Kelly films are Singin’ in the Rain, Anchors Aweigh, Take Me Out to the Ball Rain, On the Town, An American in Paris, Cover Girl, For Me and My Gal and Summer Stock.

That was fun! More of the old classic movies would be a good change from the usual movies everyone reacts to.

Best remembered as Lina Lamont, the silent-film star in Singin' in the Rain (1952), who could not manage the transition to talkies. That is, not without Debbie Reynolds's help, albeit ironically the voice she gets dubbed with is in real life her own voice and not Debbie Reynolds'.

GREETINGS EARTH PEOPLE: Gene Kelly was an athlete before he was an entertainer. He originally wanted to play professional baseball, as I recall. You can see this athleticism when he dances.

This is my go to movie when I'm having a bad day. Always cheers me up! ♥🎶

Gene Kelly had a 102 degree fever when he filmed the singing in the Rain song and dance.

You did have some very intense silent dramas, of all kinds, from small, intimate ones like "Sunrise" or "The Crowd" to epics like Abel Gance's "Napoleon", which required three screens for some sequences, and "Alexander Nevsky", or "Battleship Potemkin", all magnificent, groundbreaking movies with big questions, deep drama, and no sound but the music.

Debbie was 18; it was her first movie. You need charlie chaplin's "City Lights"

Little girl to whom I think you refer was Shirley Temple. My favorite movie of her is Heidi. One thing most people don't know is that she helped break the color barrier. Back then (1930's), a black performer was not allowed to do a solo dance number (at least in movies aimed at a general audience), because that might make him or her a star. Nor could there be a black person dancing with a white person. However, in the 1935 Little General , she did a tap dance number on a set of stairs with legendary Bill Bojangles Robinson, where she copied his complicated moves, even though she was still in grade school. (And they remained friends for life.) This interracial dance number was cut from the version shown in the South. You can see the famous clip of this - just type "Shirley Temple," "Bojangles" and or "staircase."

What a wonderful discovery, one of the greatest satires and musical comedies ever produced.

How nice to hear you grew to love musicals and that they are a cherished memory...I am so sorry you have not seen one live on the stage...I used to go all the time with my late wife....perhaps you can do the original West Side Story for the channel and perhaps The Sound of Music around Christmas time. This reaction was great....thank you!

Shirley Temple is the little girl you mention that you want to check into. She was most popular in the 30's. In later years she became an Ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Ghana as well as Chief Protocol of the U.S. Curly Top, Poor Little Rich Girl, Heidi, all good films from her.

What a great movie. My favorite musical is "1776" about the American Revolution, hope you watch it sometime :)

Loved your enthusiasm for the genre, so I’m going to recommend “The Pirate” -1948 with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, also starring the brilliant Nicholas Brothers. As for Shirley Temple, some of here most famous dance scenes are with Bill Robinson. They made three films together; “The Little Colonel” -1935, “The Littlest Rebel”-1935 and “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” -1938.

Zelda was played by Rita Moreno, who was just in 80 for Brady.

I just discovered your channel and what a fun & classic movie (movie was made in 1952 and so was I; born March 1953!) to see you both react to this morning! I heard Marian mention Marilyn Monroe and I'd like to suggest 3 of my favorite comedies she starred in: SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) - 2 musicians on the run from 1920's gangsters; HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953) - glamorous models scheme to marry millionaire husbands; GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) - two showgirls (this one's a musical) on an ocean voyage to Europe. Hope you'll watch and enjoy!

9:14 Fun fact: One of Jackie's biggest inspirations is silent movie superstar *Buster Keaton.* You'll see Jackie pay homage to Keaton's work in several of his movies.

Fun reaction! Fun facts. Gene Kelly starred in the 1948 production of The Three Musketeers. Some of Jackie Chan's stunts were inspired by or were recreations of the silent comedies of Buster Keaton.

One of my favorite movies! "Make 'Em Laugh" is my favorite.

I just saw Larry Mondello's mother from Leave It To Beaver at 2:35 as the radio interviewer.

' anchors aweigh ' ( 1945 ) gene Kelly dances with Jerry from Tom and Jerry

You guys should watch "Nosferatu" to see how well silent movies did horror.

It was really enjoyable watching you guys experience this film. One of my favorites & I only saw it for the first time in the last 15 years. Marian made me laugh when he said the first TikTok!! 🤣 Also when you said it turned into a meme!! 🤣

I think you guys should try watching 42nd St. from the 1930s. That’s an early musical you would probably really enjoy.

5:07 That footage WAS from "The Three Musketeers"... Yes, the one with Gene Kelly!

What a nice movie. I've always wondered why it was so popular.

I loved Singin' In The Rain. Still watch it a lot. Those movies back then were so grand it is different now. The Hardy Boys??? I thought of Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy as wrestlers at that point lol. 😅

One of my all-time favorites! The writers were able to speak with actual studio employees who were there on the lot when the silent-to-talkie transition happened and drew on some of their stories for the script. The music here is fantastic, but my favorite stuff is the dialogue. Lina is just so great-“I am a bright shining star in the cinema fir-ma-mint” and “I make more than Calvin Coolidge, put together!!”

Although, for the sake of the story Kathy Kelly dubs the speaking voice of Lina Lamont for the The Dancing Cavalier, Debbie Reynolds was not able to do a refined enough voice so it was Jean Hagen, who plays Lina Lamont dubbing Kathy dubbing Lina, in other words she dubbed herself from one voice to another.

Great job, M&J! Loved it! 😊

Fred Astaire was another famous actor back then who did a ton of dance scenes in movies and got a bit more attention but Gene Kelly was awesome. The title song "Singin' In The Rain" is used in a very bizzare way in the movie "A Clockwork Orange". A Stanley Kubrick film starring Malcom McDowell. Cool movie but not for everyone. Would be an interesting reaction from you two.Since this movie is referencing silent movies so much you guys would like the Mel Brooks comedy called "The Silent Movie".

Donald O'Connor is amazing.

You guys were absolutely correct: silent movies were FANTASTIC for action (Douglas Fairbanks Sr. = Jackie Chan, Marion was totally right.) and comedy (Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Chaplin, etc). Silent movies are fantastic, actually, many of the greatest I've ever seen, and that includes drama and stuff with dialog. it was an incredible, exciting era - actually multiple eras - where the invention and the newness of this young art form is palpable. Singin' In The Rain is a beautiful "history lesson" in that key transition into sound, 40 years into its history.

Fun fact - to achieve the visuals of seeing the rain during Kelly's solo redition they used milk to show the rain since plain water is invisible onscreen :D

Actually, Debbie Reynold's voice WAS dubbed in most of the songs by Betty Noyes!

Haven't seen this movie in years Debbie Reynolds the mother of Carrie Fisher aka Princess Leia lol

Fun reaction to this classic! Other older musicals I recommend are Judy Garland in “Meet Me in St. Louis” and Doris Day in “Calamity Jane.” Both are prime examples of the classic Hollywood musical showcasing 2 marvelous musical stars.

Even after *The Jazz Singer* made its debut, the first five years of talking pictures was a period of Hollywood stumbling to get used to the new medium. I suggest watching The Whole Equation's *The Strange World Of Early Sound Films* , right here on KZfaq, to get a brief overview.

If it's really hot where you are, try loose cotton clothes, put water in a clean spray bottle, put that in the fridge to get cold. Once cold, spray yourself, start with your face, eyes closed, make your clothes damp, so you will cool as they dry off, then do it again. Shirley Temple was in a lot of movies, try the little rebel. The silent films were exaggerated, telling the story without words, the stage was not, when sound or the talkies came along, a lot of actors lost their jobs, then when colour came in, all the people who colourised films, by painting every frame, lost their jobs too. I have an aunt, who used to paint photographs for a photographer. When opera music went out of fashion, all the singers who dubbed voices in lost their jobs, and some directors too. 7 brides for 7 brothers was one of the last opera movies, and entirely shot twice for a new style of camera. It's my favourite movie. In my Fair lady, Audrey Heburn was dubbed by an opera singer, that made her angry. Look out for South Pacific, the King and I, Yul Brynner had 1/2 of his lung removed and needed oxygen between dancing scenes. Gene Kelly was in a film called Xanadu, in his later years, Madonna the singer asked him to choreograph some videos for her. She did a movie about Eva Peron, called Evita. Have you seen Judy Garland in b&w Little Nelly Kelly? A great early Spielberg, Flight of the Navigator, was done without cgi. Re-makes of classics, if it ain't broken, don't fix it, they don't work. Marilyn was in musicals, look her up.

you're watching movie musicals now? oh my... so many good ones! you gotta watch West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and The King and I for starters...

Oh this is terrific, so glad to see this reaction pop up! Would love to see y’all do more classic films. I’m not a “musical” fan in general but I do appreciate many of them, this one included. Gene Kelly was so unbelievably good, his physicality & ability was on another level. The classic films have more to offer versus the modern movies in my opinion, especially the epic films like “Ben Hur”, “Cleopatra”, “Lawrence of Arabia” & “Dr Zhivago”--which I hope you will consider doing all of these masterpieces. As for musicals, I’d suggest “My Fair Lady” which is a absolute must watch. Really appreciate you Marian & Joy…hope you are well, God bless.

It's called Showmanship. ✌️

I love to watch you guys react! Here’s another movie musical you both will like👉🏻 CABARET.

PLEASE BE SURE to watch 1954's "Rhe Glenn Miller Story" starring James Stewart and June Alyson. Although not totally accurate, it is nonetheless an absolutely beautiful tribute to such an amazing musician. And I can guarantee you WILL recognize most if his hit tunes. Just be sure to keep some Kleenex handy for the, um, post-December 15, 1944 end scenes... 😢

I just love this movie! So glad you did this classic! A professor of mine in college even used it in a film class to show the difficulties with changing from silent films to “talkies”.

I think you will enjoy another Oscar winner - " My Fair Lady " - even more.

I've always said in regards to Gene Kelly that when someone sneezes you say God Bless you. But if God were to sneeze, you'd say Gene Kelly Bless you.

Just watched Ashleigh Burton react to “Field of Dreams”; I came here to watch you two because I need the laughs❗💜🍸

According to several interviews Gene Kelly hated to use of the song Singing in the Rain in the movie A Clockwork Orange.

Cathy's real name is Debbie Reynolds and she is princess Leia's mom(carrie fisher)

Fun fact: the one acting as she doesnt sing and have a silly voice its the one that CAN sing and has an awesome voice. The one acting as voice dubbing doesnt sing. So in the last escene in the theater the one that can sing is acting as she cant and its being dubbing by the one that cant sing that is being dubbing by her. So basically Jean Haggen (lamart) is dubbing HERSELF.

Maybe the little girl you refer to who could dance was - Shirley Temple? She was extremely famous from about age 4 to 12 and made a lot of films where she danced.

When you get a chance, both of you should definitely check out "The Artist (2011)". It's a really well done silent film about the same subject of the transisition of sound in movies aka "Talkies". Crazy enough it could've taken place from the 1920's but done in 2011. It's really good and worth watching. :)

True story: Debbie Reynolds worked for weeks, and harder than sheever had before, to learn the Good Mornin' dance. Gene was very tough on her. One day Fred Astaire found her hiding under a piano crying her eyes out. He told her stick with it because it will all be worthwhile. In the end, they were able to film the dance, but it took days and days for her feet to recover

Yes Gene Kelly was D'artagnon in the three musketeers!

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a 1958 classic film is a good one to check out.

You should put Arsenic & Old Lace on your list of classics to react to, if you haven’t seen it. It’s a dark comedy starring Cary Grant, and it is very, very funny. It would actually make a great one to do for Halloween, since that’s when the film takes place.

This was the greatest reaction!!! Thank you!!! I have been wanting to see you guys watch this movie since I discovered your channel! I love how Joy already knew Gene Kelly. (I think she's thinking of "An American In Paris"). (And Marion is thinking of Shirley Temple, I think). (And Laurel & Hardy are great! At Christmas, watch Laurel & Hardy in "March Of The Wooden Soldiers"! (also known as "Babes In Toyland"). "Singin' In The Rain" is one of my favorites, and is one of the few movies I feel like I could recommend to ANYBODY. Your faces during some of those spectacular dancing sequences (like "Make 'Em Laugh") was priceless! THANK YOU!!! :)

This is such a classic movie musical, one of the best ever. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) is one of my favorites if for no other reason then the barn-raising dance number. Show Boat (1951) is another must see musical, but check out recording made by Ava Gardner, they didn't use her own singing for the movie but should have. There was also an earlier film version from 1936.

Oh! one of my favorite films!! MGM at it's best! Gene Kelly was my first celebrity crush because of this film.

Gene Kelly was such a perfectionist, they had to do the dance numbers again. Debbie Reynolds recalled that after they finished the Good Morning number, her feet were bleeding. And Kelly had a bad cold and running a temperature when they filmed the rain number.

Now do "An American In Paris"!

Have you ever watched an actual silent movie? If not, I strongly suggest Buston Keaton's 1926 The General (and also review it). Despite the lack of the spoken word, just like people can look past a black-n-white movie and still appreciate it (and soon forget it is not color), ditto for a silent movie. On the other hand, lacking sounds, they have to focus on other elements of storytelling more than a "regular" movie does. Keaton did all his stunts himself and it is a wonder he didn't get himself killed. (His career suffered when movies went to sound as it actually seemed to have constrained his real talents. The General is often shown in filmmaking classes as it was very innovative in using the camera in a way that has forever been standard. PS - The General is in the public domain, so you can see it on KZfaq, many different places, and you shouldn't have to bother about KZfaq busting on you for copyright infringement.

Another great film that touches on the turnover from silent films to talkies is Sunset Boulevard. Well worth a look.

I think perhaps you'd enjoy the musical *Guys and Dolls* (1955).