Saturday, December 15, 2007

A Gene Kelly Christmas

To get in the mood for the wonderful season of Christmas, here is a great photo of Gene Kelly and his daughter Bridget that comes from the December1962 issue of McCall's magazine. In that issue, editors asked several celebrities the question: "What was your most memorable Christmas?" Here is Gene's answer:

"It was the Christmas when I was six and my brother was seven. We sneaked downstairs early Christmas morning while my parents were asleep. Under the tree, we found two air rifles. We started to shoot the decorations off the tree. When my parents finally came down, the tree was a shambles. Yet, because it was Christmas, my parents didn't take the guns away from us; but that was the last time we ever shot in the house."

There is also a Christmas-related story in Gene's biography, Gene Kelly by Clive Hirschhorn: "But the biggest, most exciting holiday of all was Christmas. "We'd all go to bed on Christmas eve, " Jay [Gene's sister] recalled, "and when we came down at five-thirty, on our way to Mass, the living-room would be transformed. From nowhere there would be an enormous tree laden with presents and decorated from top to bottom with tinsel and paper bells. This was always a thrilling moment for us."

1 comment:

Charlotte Welcher said...

To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year. nice post and thanks for sharing...