Santa Monica College will host a tribute to renowned film legends Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, and Stanley Donen at 6 p.m. Oct. 15. The tribute includes a free screening of the classic film “Singin’ in the Rain.” SMC Film Studies professor Josh Kanin and SMC Dance Department chair Judith Douglas will provide a brief history of the film prior to the screening. Kanin will also talk about Stanley Donen and selected aspects of the film, and Douglas will discuss the film’s choreography and dancers.
The tribute is sponsored by the SMC Associates (www.smc.edu/associates) and SMC Dance Department. The screening is free and held in Room 165 of the SMC Humanities & Social Sciences building, 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. Seating is limited and on a first-arrival basis.
“Singin’ in the Rain,” nominated for two Academy Awards (including Best Musical Score), is a 1952 dance musical about the dawn of the ‘talkies’ – and the ‘difficulties’ in making the transition to films with sound – and the on- and off-screen lives of two stars: a smug, but dashing silent-film star who is a swashbuckling matinee idol, and the screechy narcissistic diva the studio wants to present as his glamorous, blonde, romantic ‘partner’ – at least in public.
Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, and starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, the film was more or less ignored when it was released. Today, it is considered one of the top 10 American classic films.
For additional information, please call (310) 434-4856.
- Submitted by Grace Smith, SMC Public Information Officer
