Paul Schleifer

The word premiere can be a noun, a verb, or even an adjective. As an adjective, it means “first, initial,” as in “Michael Jordan was the premiere basketball player of his generation.” As a verb, it means to perform something publicly for the first time. And as a noun, it can mean either “a first public performance” of something or “the leading woman, as in a drama” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/premiere?s=t). Of course, if you drop the final –e, the word refers to the leading officer in the cabinet of the Italian or French governments, or what the English call the “Prime Minister.”

The latter word enters English back in the middle of the 1400s, with the political meaning appearing first around 1710. But premiere appears, according to www.etymonline.com, in “1889, ‘first performance of a play,’ from French première, in phrase première représentation, from fem. of Old French premier ‘first.’ The verb is recorded from 1940.” It is interesting how a word like premier(e) has entered the language twice

Speaking of premier, on this date in 1952, Singin’ in the Rain, starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Movie musicals were a big thing back in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. On the American Film Institute’s list of best movie musicals, those three decades are over-represented. The list includes The Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, and An American in Paris, among many others. But the top of the list is Singin’ in the Rain.

Gene Kelly starred in and choreographed the movie. Kelly was one of the two great male dancers of the period, along with Fred Astaire. In my opinion, Astaire was the better at ballroom dancing, but Kelly was more athletic, and I think I preferred his style.

Donald O’Connor was the funny-man dancer of the era. In fact, while Kelly’s dance routine in the rain is probably the most famous number from the movie (right?), O’Connor’s dance number “Make ‘Em Laugh” is probably my favorite.

Debbie Reynolds was more the singer/actor than the dancer, but she was one of my favorites when I was growing up. I actually had the opportunity to see her in Irene, on Broadway in 1973, but on the day my high school group went to New York to see the show, Reynolds wasn’t feeling well, and her understudy, Janie Sell, performed the title role. I did not know then that Reynolds’s daughter, Carrie Fisher, was in the chorus.

Radio City Music Hall used to be one of the truly great venues in the U.S. I don’t think it has the prestige it had decades ago, but it’s still there. I have been to Radio City once, to see The Out-of-Towners (1970), starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis. I also got to see the Rockettes, live. And the art deco style is really fine.

I know that old movies are not everyone’s cup of tea, but a lot of those old movie musicals are fun. And Singin’ in the Rain may be the most fun of all of them. The music is great; the dancing is great; and the story is, well, Debbie Reynolds is great.

 

The image is a poster of the 1952 MGM movie Singin’ in the Rain.