Singin’ in the Rain: A Conversation with Betty Comden and Adolph Green
I found this interview to be an extremely insightful look into the writing of Singin’ in the Rain (1952), providing us with historical context of the collaboration between the screenwriter/lyricist duo Betty Comden and Adolph Green. We get to read about their prior relationship working on other musicals such as Good News (1927), On the Town (1945), and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), which forged the path for the pair to become a successful name in Broadway and Hollywood alike. From a modern eye, we can easily blur the time periods between early 20th century musicals with the early 1950s, but the two are very much different. Because the two had direct experience writing musical theater in the 1920s, it’s fascinating to view the film as a time capsule of early American comedy and the musical vaudevillian style of the past. One really interesting thing I took away from this interview is the origin of the idea behind Singin’ in the Rain. The fact that producers Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown gave Comden and Green a pile of songs and asked them build a coherent storyline around them speaks to the ingenuity and talent of the duo. Jukebox musicals, as they have come to be known, would later become a much more common phenomenon in American movie and music theater culture, so this was very much ahead of its time.
What shocked me even further was how unhappy Comden and Green were that they weren’t allowed to write their own songs; they were under the impression that their contract with the studio specifically talked about exclusivity on writing their own material, which turned out to be false. They then go into talking about how difficult is was to find the pace of the film in the writing process, admitting that they had three separate openings, which they ended up interweaving into the final product. Another surprising fact was how young Debbie Reynolds was when this movie was filmed with Gene Kelly. I knew that this was her breakout role, but to be around the same age as most of the people in our class is astonishing, as she feels so much older than her age. I appreciated the comfortability of Comden and Green in the interview, it was like reading a conversation between friends. Check it out if you’re interested in the film from a writing standpoint!
Hi Tai,
Thanks for sharing the piece. I wanted to build off your point about how from a modern perspective: early 20th century can be really similar to 1950s. But the truth is cinema and film production has progressed a lot. Just like we are in the 2020s and we would expect 2050s film to be a lot different than what we are seeing today.
Like you said Singin’ in the Rain captures the early-stage history of American comedy and musical vaudevillian style of the past. I believe this film held historical significance because it literally records the transition from Pantomime to film with sounds. Many movie actors at that time did not start with that, someone like Charlie Chaplin, start with acting in silent film. This made me rethink for the progression of film development, and the blurring line between cinematic production and Broadway style musicals.
Another part of the film that records the history of film development was early on the part that showed Don’s progression to be the popular movie star. Like most other Hollywood actors, he started by playing someone insignificant. As a stuntman, he played in western and war movies. Those genres are all popular choices during the era of silent films. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen really achieved their goal of describing the history of film well by using the character Don as an example, using his development as a story to let viewers understand the overall trends of the film industry at that time.