Leslie Caronmade her screen debut oppositeGene Kellyin the Best Picture winning musical.
“I wish to God Gene [Kelly] was still there.
Gene was such an inspiration.
Credit: John Springer Collection
[Director] Vincente Minnelli was such a darling man with such a passion for doing beautiful things.
I wish they were here to appreciate the immense success that their work still has.”
When the director says, “Roll ‘em and action,” it is so quiet.
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I found myself in front of a piece of metal and that is what froze me at first.
I found it very difficult working in front of a piece of metal.
Little by little, I got accustomed to feeling the reaction of the crew and the director.
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And I even got to enjoy working for this piece of metalthe camera.
The story of how you were discovered when Gene Kelly saw you dance is so remarkable.
How aware were you of his star power?
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in ‘La La Land’.Dale Robinette/Black Label Media/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Were you familiar with his career?
No, no, no, I’d never heard him.
During the war, we had no contact with America.
And this was soon after the war.
I had never heard of him or seen his films.
Was he very demanding as a choreographer and dancer on set?
Or no more so than what you were already used to at the ballet?
He was by no means the most demanding ballet master I had.
Roland Petit, with whom I was working at the time, was infinitely worse.
When he chose you and asked you to come over, what was your reaction?
Where was there hesitation?
I was not really excited, because I really loved being in the ballet company.
I loved the company.
We had enormous success wherever we went.
It was the first French company that came around Europe after the war.
We were acclaimed everywhere we went.
I didn’t know anything about the fame of Hollywood.
I wasn’t movie struck at all.
My mother, who was born American.
enjoyed seeing American films after the war.
Her favorites were Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.
You also have many beautiful costumes.
Was there one in particular that took your breath away when you first saw it?
Well, don’t think for a minute that I wasn’t used to beautiful costumes.
My first costume was designed by Christian Dior!
When I was 16, my first costume was done by Dior.
Don’t forget that I was coming from Paris.
I was no country bumpkin.
Some of the costumes were lovely, but frankly, we had great costumes in our ballet company.
Can you tell me more about that and what the problem was?
Gene Kelly had an assistant called Carol Haney.
She was a very sensual dancer, and she worked a lot on the choreography with Gene Kelly.
She taught me that number and all I did was imitate her movements.
I must admitit was rather sexy looking.
However, I was only dancing with a chair.
But the person from the censorship bureau thought that the number looked too sexy.
Gene was asked to make me do it again and tone down the sex appeal of it.
But what could go on with a chair?
I was particularly taken by the one [paying homage] to Renoir.
I did love the whole ballet.
I thought it was beautifully done.
And of course, I simply adored dancing.
The most magnificent thing about makingAn American in Pariswas dancing to the music of Gershwin.
Were you a big fan of Gershwin’s music already?
Or were you not familiar with it?
No, I didn’t know anything about jazz.
That was completely new.
Although there was very good jazz in Paris at the time, but I was strictly with classical ballet.
I thought that music was fabulous.
That’s what I was really extremely taken by.
What was the process of like of reaching a final decision on that?
Oh, no, no, there never was a question of me singing.
I was extremely shy about my voice and couldn’t possibly imagine singing.
Gene tried to push me into trying to sing but I was very, very shy about singing.
You must remember that ballet is totally silent.
Acting with the voice was already a great novelty for me.
And I couldn’t speak English of course.
So, all of that was extremely difficult and new and a little forbidding.
But when it comes to singing I never thought that I could.
Why do you think the film has endured as it has?
We all thought we were doing something magnificent.
When you work on Gershwin’s music, it’s just the top.
Original movie musicals went away for awhile, but are tentatively starting to return.
Why do you think they fell out of favor?
Oh, because of money, money, money.
I mean, we were all under contract with very small salaries.
So were the musicians, so were the creatives in every department.
Doing a musical is immensely expensiveso many talented people are involved.
When actors started having big salaries and also writers, everything followed.
It just became prohibitive.
Otherwise, they would not embark on such a big expenditure.
Why do you think it’s important we continue to have new ones and not just adapt stage material?
Well I don’t think the situation is changing.
It’s still too expensive to make musicals and find the talent to perform.
The story has to be attractive, so many things have to be so quality.
It’s really a very dicey enterprise.
I quite understand why musicals are only done from well-tried stage musicals.
La La Landreally drew on the imagery ofAn American in Pariswhat did you think of it?
I love to see amateurs dancing.
Did you recognize that it was drawing onAn American in Pariswhile watching it?
I can spot where the inspiration comes from, whether it’s a musical or straight film.
Lastly,there is a stage production ofAn American in Parisnow.
What do you think of it?
I liked it very much.
I just fell down on the floor.
It had absolutely not occurred to any of us during the film.
We were a bunch of young people.
Gene Kellyhe may have been demanding, but he was full of fun.
