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Of all the films made in Hollywood, MGM musicals best embodied the studios' great Golden Age. Of all the producers during the Golden Age, Arthur Freed and Joe Pasternak created the most extravagant musical spectacles. George Sidney was one of the few directors able to work with both musical units drawing on the talents of Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and many more to craft some of the most lavish musicals-including Show Boat (1951) and Jupiter's Darling (1955) --which made the Dream Factory what it was.Sidney entered MGM as a messenger boy in 1933. He was enthusiastic and eager to learn. In the early days of sound technology the talented teen quickly moved up through the studio ranks. He was promoted from editor to assistant director and, in 1935, was assigned a short film. Sidney learned how to direct as he churned out one-reelers on the studio assembly line. After five years of directing these shorts he won an Academy Award for Quicker'n a Wink (1940), a Pete Smith Specialty short film. The next year, Sidney claimed the award again for Of Pups and Puzzles (1941). At 25 years old, with two Oscars already on his mantel, George Sidney had earned the nickname 'boy wonder.'
Thousands Cheer was Sidney's first of three films for producer Joe Pasternak. They would team together again for Anchors Aweigh (1945) which featured Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Again the audiences didn't come for the plot; they came for the extravaganza--which included Gene Kelly dancing with an animated Jerry the Mouse. Anchors Aweigh was Kelly and Sinatra's first film together; and it predictably became a huge hit. Pasternak and Sidney released their third film in Technicolor, the sizzling Holiday in Mexico (1946). Starring Walter Pidgeon as the U.S. Ambassador, Holiday promised fun in the sun when his daughter (Jane Powell) falls for a Latin lover (Jose Iturbi). In addition to a bossa nova score, Holiday in Mexico featured a young Fidel Castro in a bit part-look close for the future dictator! While Joe Pasternak's musical unit relied on the tried-and-true, old-fashioned 'operetta' format for musical films, across the studio lot Arthur Freed's unit attempted to break new ground. Freed had been writing pop tunes for the movies since 1929. In 1939, he began producing with a number of Judy Garland vehicles. The Harvey Girls (1946) was Freed and Garland's tenth film together; the producer recruited Sidney to lent his efficient direction to the tale of a young girl on her own in the wild West. The Harvey Girls also featured a stable of supporting actors including Ray Bolger, Angela Lansbury, Cyd Charisse and Marjorie Main; as well as the Oscar-winning number "On the Atcheson, Topeka and the Santa Fe." Later that year, Sidney lent his hand to Freed's all-star, multi-director musical extravaganza Ziegfeld Follies (1946). The Follies put MGM's top talent on parade in vaudeville sketches-including the one-time-only teaming of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly-- as a celebration of the pioneering Broadway showman Florenz Ziegfeld. George Sidney joined Freed's ranks along with the most prestigious and prominent directors at the studio, including Vincente Minnelli, Charles Waters, Roy Del Ruth and Norman Taurog. The premiere producer called on Sidney again to direct the opulent remake of Show Boat. In this grand show, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner and Kathryn Grayson led an enormous cast on a musical tour down the muddy Mississippi. The luxurious tones of Technicolor augmented Ava Gardner's dazzling beauty while the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II score, with timeless classics "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" and "Old Man River," needed no introduction. In fact, Show Boat could only be rivaled by another Freed Production of that same year--An American in Paris! While Freed and Pasternak stole the spotlight as MGM's top musical producers, other great talents were working away in the Dream Factory. Jack Cummings might have gotten a break because his uncle was Louis B. Mayer, but Cummings' film credits, such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), speak for themselves. Sidney directed three films for Cummings between his high profile projects with Freed and Pasternak. Bathing Beauty (1944) featured Esther Williams and Red Skelton with plenty of songs and synchronized swimming. Kiss Me Kate (1953) was similarly lighthearted film which was loosely adapted from Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew." While Kiss Me Kate starred headliners Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson and Ann Miller, an emerging talent, Bob Fosse, can be seen at an early stage of his musical development. George Sidney had directed movie musicals for two decades before he and Cummings moved into hipper, flashier territory with Viva Las Vegas (1964). Elvis had already made ten films, but Viva Las Vegas set the standard with flashy style, swinging tunes and sexy girls. The stunning Ann-Margaret supported Elvis, shaking her hips to tunes like "What'd I Say?" In the classic George Sidney tradition, plot was minimal--Elvis played a race car driver--but who wants to follow a story when you can watch Elvis and Ann-Margaret?! In addition to musicals, George Sidney directed comedies and light dramas that starred Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner and Clark Gable. But it's for his frothy, lighthearted musicals that Sidney is best remembered. These musicals helped build MGM's reputation as the glamorous Dream Factory and they still trigger toe tapping and starstruck wondrous looks today. list of films! |
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