PBS: "Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer"

The Documentary is Part of the "American Masters" Series

This week, the "American Masters" series on PBS features a star from Hollywood's Golden Age in the 90-minute documentary "Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer." The film aired on Wednesday, June 8, at 9 p.m. ET (check local listings).

At the age of 30, Kelly experienced his first major film success and 10 years later he enjoyed his last hit. The performer, choreographer and director was determined to incorporate an athletic, American style into dance. "I didn't want to move or act like a rich man. I wanted to dance in a pair of jeans," Kelly said.

The PBS film illustrates Kelly's charisma, creativity, volatile temper, perfectionism and the need for attention, while also highlighting his achievements, including such films as "Singin' in the Rain," "On the Town" and "An American in Paris." Kelly even helped write his own movies. At the age of 40, Kelly achieved icon status. "He was the most athletic, the most exciting, the most masculine, the most commercial dancer of his time," choreographer Kenny Ortega says in "Anatomy of a Dancer."

Series producer Prudence Glass and filmmaker Robert Trachtenberg were online Thursday, June 9, at Noon ET to discuss Kelly's life and career, the PBS documentary and the series "American Masters." Series creator and executive producer Susan Lacy was unable to join the conversation.

Trachtenberg's career includes photography, writing and filmmaking. He has won several awards and his photographs have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, The New Yorker, In Style, Interview and numerous foreign publications.

Lacy has been responsible for the production and national broadcast of 130 documentary biographies on artists who have made a significant impact on American culture.

The transcript follows.

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Robert Trachtenberg: Hello all of you out there in cyber land! Thanks for watching the program last night...Hope you enjoyed it!

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Alexandria, Va.: I admire Kelly's work and have read a lot about him and the consensus of his co-workers appears to be that while he was a fanatic about doing good work and was undoubtedly enormously talented, he could be very difficult to work with and was often less than gracious about giving credit to others for what they did to support his efforts. Your comments?

Robert Trachtenberg: You are right! I think that he really had a tough time with co-=workers who weren't as dedicated and hardworking as he was. As he said, he didn't brook amateurs lightly, was his term. I think a lot of the problems might have stems from that, his feeling that people weren't doing their very best work or giving it their all.

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Strasburg, Va.: Comment: When my dad came to this country (to Pittsburgh PA) from Vienna, Austria, he had a small upholstery shop. Next door to him was a dance studio. My dad had no idea why, whenever the dance studio owner, came - the studio was swarmed with people. Then my dad and my mom went to the movies - that is how they learned English, and my dad said to my mom "I know him!" Anyhow, the dance studio owner was Gene Kelly, and my dad had no idea. He and Gene became friends, and my dad thought Gene especially liked my dad because he (my dad) had no idea who Gene was and made no fuss over him. After learning who Gene was, my dad still made no fuss, and they became friends.

Robert Trachtenberg: That's a great story!

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Bethesda, Md.: How did Gene Kelley and Fred Astaire get along? They're often compared to each other, but I have to say that I prefer Mr. Kelly's athletic, innovative dancing style to Astaire's. Also, I think Kelly had the superior singing voice and was a better actor.

Robert Trachtenberg: From everything, all the information that I gathered, I believe that they were friendly towards one another and respected each other as professionals. They didn't hang out together, they each had their own circle of close friends. There was not a rivalry, they understand clearly the differences in their approach. The difference between a more athletic style, and as Cyd Carisse said, you are dancing from a lower, more athletic place, where Astaire it was a higher, lighter center of gravity. I think that was the main difference. I actually like both of their voices. Fred Astaire recorded a jazz album or two in the fifties with Oscar Peterson, that is terrific. I wish Gene had taken on a project like that.

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Gainesville, Fla.: I wonder if Kelly's macho image was driven in any part by homophobia, especially considering the stereotype of the male dancer as gay. I think he was an intelligent and open-minded person, but on the other hand, he created unsubtle heterosexual propaganda like the "Dancing: A Man's Game" TV special.

Robert Trachtenberg: I don't think it was conscious on his part. I think he was smart enough with Dancing is a Man's Game to know how to market himself and dance to reach the widest audience. I think he'd been working with gay dancers from the time he started, I think he was perfectly comfortable with them. The way he danced was what came naturally to him. I don't think it was that calculated.

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Reston, Va.: Did Gene Kelly choreograph his own dance routines for his movies?

Robert Trachtenberg: Yes. Sometimes he worked with, early on he worked with Stanley Donen. Later his assistant was Carol Hayney. He worked very closely with these assistants, but he did his own work.

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Anonymous: Why didn't Gene Kelly star in Finian's Rainbow? He would have been a natural along with Moureen O'Hara.

Also, I don't understand why Gene directing of "The Chyenne Social Club" wasn't mentioned in the PBS special on Kelly's career.

-Rapid City S.D.

Robert Trachtenberg: Who knows why he didn't star in Finian's Rainbow, could have been scheduling, a contract dispute, I have no idea. As for not mentioning the Cheyenne Social Club, as is usual with these documentaries, the clips are extremely cost prohibitive. SO my decision in making the film was to use clips that showed significant, sort of momentous portions of his work, that had some impact on his career or for the public. And unfortunately that movie didn't fall into that category.

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Arlington, Va.: Gene Kelly was married to Jeanne (sp?) Coyne and they had a long marriage, and two children, together. What can you tell us about how the two met and their romance that lasted so long?

Robert Trachtenberg: Jeanne was Stanley Donen's wife. Stanley was Gene's partner, co-director. And then Jeanne COyne appeared in many of the films as a backup dancer. She's in Singing in the Rain and SUmmerstock. SO obviously that's how they met. And when her marriage to Donen fell apart and Gene's first marriage fell apart, they got together.

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Arlington, Va.: Will this special be aired again? I missed it the first time around!

Robert Trachtenberg: I hope so! Consult your local PBS affiliate. And it can be purchased on DVD.

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Arlington, Va.: What about the issue of Kelly's reputed tight-fistedness? Result of background or part of creative personality -- or just mean?

Robert Trachtenberg: You know, it's really funny with that. That came up with Cary Grant too. If somebody doesn't pick up a check once, and they are a celebrity, they can really get hammered. I don't really have any evidence of him being ungenerous. HE certainly was incredibly charitable. As his wife Betsy would say, he was a good Democrat.

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Prudence Glass: I'm Prudence Glass, series producer at American Masters, and hello! Susan Lacy had an emergency meeting but I'm here to take your questions if you have any questions about American Masters.

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washingtonpost.com: Check your local listings

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Anonymous: Are there going to be more documentaries for the American Master Series? What are the dates?

Prudence Glass: The American Masters current season began in May and will run through September on Wednesday evenings. Documentaries to come are on everyone from Julia Child to Quincy Jones, Bob Newhart, WIlla Cather, Ernest Hemingway, and we end our season at the end of September with Bob Dylan. IT will be weekly between now and the end of September. And you can log on to the American Masters Web site through pbs.org.

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washingtonpost.com: Amazon.com: Gene Kelly - Anatomy of a Dancer (2002)

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Bethesda, Md.: Hi. I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but wasn't this documentary already shown on PBS a few years ago? I love Gene Kelly, and just wanted to make sure whether this is something I've already seen, or something new. Thanks.

Prudence Glass: This was indeed an encore screening of the wonderful Gene Kelly program. We frequently will do a national repeat of the best from our library.

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Atlanta, Ga.: A question for each of you. Robert, did you know Gene Kelly personally? And Susan, in earlier chats you said that you won't okay a film unless the artists or their estates agree to 100 percent cooperation and access. Was that problematic, given how difficult Kelly was?

Prudence Glass: NO, it was just fine.

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Robert Trachtenberg: I'm a photographer and I was the last person to shoot Gene before he passed away. I shot him a couple of time for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, etc. And we got to be friendly. I did have the privilege of knowing him.

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Washington, D.C.: How much of Kelly's dancing style can be attributed to his self-taught talents, as opposed to learning within the studio machines? Are there any similarities between the early routines from the Kelly brothers and his later work in films? Thanks!

Robert Trachtenberg: I think he came to MGM with his style pretty established. I think he had established it on the New York stage kind of done, and continued to just refine it from there.

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Arlington, Va.: I was introduced to Gene Kelly through my mother's love of musicals. Because I first saw him as a young girl, I thought he was so dreamy, but later heard rumors that he was gay. However, I just read on the chat that he was married at least twice.

Is there any truth to the rumors? Were the marriages an attempt to cover up his true preferences?

Thanks so much.

Robert Trachtenberg: No he was married three times actually, and was not gay.

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Prudence Glass: And he had three children. And anyway there are a lot of dreamy gay guys!

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Niagara Falls, Ontario: Do you find any similarities to Douglas Fairbands and Gene Kelly? I see the similarities in regards to there athletic abilities, grace and presence. Fairbanks was action without the dance and Kelly was dance without the action. Awesome documentary. Thanks for the great 1.5 hours of info and entertainment

Robert Trachtenberg: Thanks for the compliment. I think watching Fairbanks as a small child certainly helped influence him. But I think that's where it sort of ends.

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Arlington, Va.: I heard that Mr. Kelly did his famous "Singing In The Rain" number with a high fever. If that's true, it's definitely a mark of his professionalism ...

Robert Trachtenberg: It is true. He was very sick the day that they shot it. But he kept working.

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Robert Trachtenberg: Obviously he had prerecorded the song, but he did have to do the harder part, which is the dance. Obviously back then there was no such thing as microfibers, and he was soaked and feverish, and wearing wet wool. SO it makes it even more admirable.

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Louisville, Ky.: The one time Astaire and Kelly danced together on film, in an anthology movie the name of which I can't remember, the result was a rather flat performance by both. Any idea why?

Robert Trachtenberg: The name of the film is the ZIgfield FOllies. I think everyone has different opinions about that number, some like it, some don't. I think it really points out that in deference to one another, they didn't want to "step on each other's toes" - no pun intended! SO what ended up was neither Astaire's vision not Kelly's vision, they ended up in the middle. And that's what you see.

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St. Paul, Minn.: Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire did one dance number together on film (in Ziegfield Follies). Who did the choreography -- or how was the choreography negotiated?

Robert Trachtenberg: I think they worked it out between themselves. Trying to modify their own styles...you see in the piece where they both have little moments, where Kelly is hoofing and Astaire is sort of gliding around on air, they gave each other little showcases within the number. I have to say how these questions about the two of them always come up. You never see comparisons between Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney, or Tyrone Power and Errol FLynn. It's funny, these two had the marked cornered on this sort of thing. They were so completely in a class by themselves. I understand why these questions come up.

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Seabrook, Md.: My favorite role for his was as D'Artagnan in "The Three Musketeers." Did he do his own choreography in it?

Robert Trachtenberg: Yes he did. I think that was one of his favorite roles as well. It was like a childhood fantasy for him to be able to jump around like that. It's interesting because his daughter gave me a pile of movie posters that he had collected. He collected foreign versions of his own movie posters. And there were many versions of the Three Musketeers, so he obviously had a great fondness for it.

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Arlington, Va.: My teenage children remember recorded children stories that they listened to as small kids. Their grandparents bought these records when my husband and his sister were young. My kids remember seeing Singing in the Rain for the first time and telling me that that was the guy who read the story about the boy who called wolf too many times! Mr. Kelly's dancing is an inspiration to a generation of tap dancers ... including my daughter. Thank you for bringing his life into ours!

Robert Trachtenberg: I believe that those stories or some of them, have just been reissued on CD. So maybe your grandkids or other children can hear him. He did a series of children's albums in the 1940's. I believe they have just been reissued on CD.

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Greenwich Village: Since Kelly is a movie musical icon as a performer how would you rate his work as director on "Hello, Dolly!" As beautiful as the film looked, I thought the pace dragged. Of course the best parts were Barbara singing! and Louis Armstrong, of course. What do you think?

Robert Trachtenberg: I don't think his strong suit was as a director. With all the admiration and respect I have for him, his best directorial efforts were the films he co-directed with Stanley Donen.

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Conway, Ariz.: I have always been impressed with Kelly's phenomenal physical condition and athleticism for a Hollywood movie star. Do you know anything about his fitness/exercise regimen other than his obviously spending hours practicing dancing?

Robert Trachtenberg: I do know this, which was great to hear. WHen he wasn't making a film, when he was between films, he let himself go to hell. He knew when his start date was and he started back to work and went into rehearsal which will take the weight off right away. THe idea of keeping up that physicality 12 months a year was...I think even Olympic athletes, when they're done with competition slack off a little.

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Los Angeles, Calif.: Arthur Laurents' memoir "Original Story By" offers a far from flattering portrait of Kelly who off-screen could be quite testy and rude. In my work as a journalist covering the film industry this view has been confirmed to me by many different parties. Does your film touch on Kelly's dark side?

Robert Trachtenberg: Absolutely, we interview Arthur Laurents. If you had watched the film carefully, you would have noticed that he was interviewed and confirmed exactly the question you are asking. He realized, and his first wife Betsy Blair has confirmed, they were very aware that at the time that the work that they were doing was better than any of the work they were doing at any of the other studios in terms of musicals. It was like high school -- our high school is better than your high school. He could be a snob, no question about it!

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Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Since I don't care for ballet per se nor ballroom dancing, it is a thrill for me each any every time I watch Gene Kelly perform. His creativeness, style and energy leaves me amazed. I've read two bios on Gene - he was tenacious in getting everything perfect. WHAT AN ENTERTAINER!

Prudence Glass: I second that!

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Anonymous: Hi, Prudence. Is there a way for us regular, non-industry types to suggest future American Masters programs? I'm sure you get many more suggestions than you can possibly use, but if you knew there was a very high public demand for a particular individual, would you be more persuaded to make a film about that person?

Just wanted to say I've been glued to my TV on Wednesday nights. You pulled me in with James Dean and keep me coming back every week. There's no other series like American Masters anywhere, network or cable.

Prudence Glass: Thank you, we're very glad you're such a fan. Although I think it's probably unlikely that there is someone whom Susan has not considered, that we would welcome suggestions -- do you actually have a suggestion in mind right now?

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Robert Trachtenberg: Thank you all again for watching the show, I'm glad you enjoyed it. And stay tuned for the rest of the wonderful American Masters season!

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Prudence Glass: We hope to speak to you again next week after Julia Child on Wednesday, June 15.

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washingtonpost.com: Next week's American Masters , "Julia! America's Favorite Chef," airs on Wednesday, June 15, at 10 p.m. ET on PBS (check your( local listings). A Live Online discussion will follow on Thursday, June 16, at Noon ET.

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Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.