In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Lyhapter òixteen "It is Kay Kendall who shines brightest. . . a constant pleasure and surprise. " Kay arrived in Los Angeles and MGM's press attaché took her to a rented apartment: she got one look at it and became hysterical. "It looked like an Amsterdam tart's parlor," recalled Dirk Bogarde, "swagged and buttoned satin, scatter cushions, an immense lilac nylon Teddy bear." Particularly grisly, under the circumstances, was an undertaker's sign in green neon opposite Kay's bedroom window, repeatedly blinking the message, "It's Later Than You Think." The phone rang at Harrisons Long Island home: it was Kay, alternately laughing and crying. "I can't stay a night here, I'll slit my throat, wifey! Oh, Fse sick, Miss Scarlett!" Harrison got hold of MGM, and Kay was bustled off to the much more suitable Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Les Girls began filming in February of 1957; Kay's medical exam for MGM's insurance company proved to be no problem, which Harrison and her doctor had feared: there was as yet no hint of illness, so a blood test was not administered. The film's other "girls" were sparkly-eyed dancer Mitzi Gaynor (a Chicago native who was to have her biggest hit the following year with the film version oí South Pacific) and Finnish-born Taina Elg, a successful ballet dancer who had appeared in several minor roles at MGM. The film's star was forty-five-year-old Gene Kelly, whose best days were behind him. After the early-1950s successes oiSinginin the Rain and An American In Paris, he had suffered setbacks with such box-office failures as Invitation to the Dance and lu Always Fair Weather. A director and choreographer , Kelly found all creative control taken away from him in Les Girls'. George Cukor directed, and Jack Cole choreographed. Kelly—who was used to doing his own choreography—was not a happy man. Cukor, who did not want Mitzi Gaynor in her role, was also not happy. Les Girls was the story of Barry Nichols (Kelly) and his trio of danc- L^haptep òixteen 111 ing girls, who love and fight their way across Europe. The clever framing device had them all testifying to their own version of events when Angele (Elg) sues Sybil (Kay) for libel over her memoirs; sort of a musical-comedy Rashomon. The only real false step was the title, which tended to be mispronounced "Lay Girls" or "Lez Girls," both of which give a highly misleading idea of the goings-on. After costume fittings with Orry-Kelly, Kay had to get down to work. Her three co-stars were famed for their dancing talents, and Kay was terrified of looking foolish. "I have legs like a kangaroo," she moaned to UPI reporter Aline Mosby. "I have a deal with Mitzi Gaynor. I'm going to hide behind her." Kay added—while the MGM publicist visibly cringed in the background—"I'm the same height as Gene Kelly without heels so I guess he'll have to stand on a box." She was also unhappy about the revealingly sexy showgirl costumes she had to wear. "They'll have to photograph me through some old kitchen curtain," she groused self-consciously. She and Kelly had already gotten off to a rocky start: on her first day on the set, there was no greeting from him in her dressing room. She made sure that on Kelly's first day, his dressing room was pointedly stuffed with flowers from her. Jack Cole rehearsed Kay mercilessly; he had previously guided such highly insecure non-dancing stars as Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner through musical films, so Kay was not that big a challenge. "I used to crawl back to the Beverly Hills Hotel at night with my legs literally so tired I could hardy move," she recalled. "Then, too, I'd never sung onscreen before [her London Town songs had been dubbed]. That took lots of work. I still look for the audience to start for the doors when they hear me." As it turned out, Kay did quite well by herself in the vocal department. She took part in three numbers: the title song; a comic ensemble piece, "Ladies in Waiting"; and a marvelous knockabout duet with Kelly, "You're Just Too, Too." Jack Cole managed to choreograph around her: all of Kay's dance steps could probably have been executed by her eighty-four-year-old grandmother. George...

Share