Mrs Gene Kelly's Letter to Maureen Dowd

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 8:47pm

Published: March 19, 2008

To the Editor:

Re 'Soft Shoe in Hard Times' (column, March 16):

Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president's clumsy performances. To suggest that 'George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly' represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.

When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker -- particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing -- would have sent him reeling.

Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.

Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility.

Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 9:14pm

I think I just fell in love with Mrs. Gene Kelly.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 9:16pm

I actually think it sounds a bit desperate. I expected something better.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 9:22pm

Yeah, it's not like she has to "sell" Gene Kelly to the masses.

Sure sounds like she think she does. She could dial that down a bit.

Still, I love her comments about W.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 9:26pm

That last paragraph is fine, but the rest is kind of bizarre. HE DID THE TIMES SUNDAY CROSSWORD IN INK! DON'T SAY HE WAS A MESSY DANCER!

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 9:29pm

It's like she took that opportunity as a platform to knight ol' dead Gene.

Thank you, Mrs. Agenda. Still I love your dislike for W.

Ulterior motives, and all.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 3/30/08 at 12:22am

I think the NY Times crossword puzzle comment is simply to show the sharp contrast between someone who was literate and someone who is not.

Gene Kelly was also a staunch, active and well-known Democrat his whole life. He would abhor the current administration.

[DG]

Posted: 3/30/08 at 2:14am

"I expected something better."

I can't imagine why anything at all would have been 'expected'. I'm just glad she did it - and amusingly, at that.

[Silbee]

Posted: 3/30/08 at 9:04am

I applaud her. Dowd's throwaway comparison hit a nerve, and she reacted from the heart, good for her...



Updated On: 3/30/08 at 09:04 AM

[nealb1]

Posted: 3/30/08 at 1:15pm

I was at a screening of "Hello, Dolly!" last night here in Los Angeles, and Mrs. Gene Kelly was there. She talked about the letter that she wrote to "The New York Times."

She spoke about his experience of making HD and the trials and tribulations of keeping the film on time and under budget....which it was. The clause in the contract between David Merrick and 20th Century Fox was really what main issue for the film going over budget.

She brought letters and telegrams to the screenings. She had a telegram that Irving Berlin sent to Darryl Zanuck after he saw "Hello, Dolly" in NYC in 1969, saying it was one of the greatest film musicals he had ever scene.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/30/08 at 1:26pm

Was Dowd's point possibly that GB has turned into a "fancy dancer" in the way he dodges issues and bullets? I don't think she was comparing him to the REAL Gene Kelly, but to what Kelly represents, as a metaphor.

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/31/08 at 12:07pm

First, I thought this thread was about PJ writing to Mo about Lady C...now that I see it's the REAL Mrs. Gene Kelly, I think the widow might have read a bit too much into Mo's comparison. But glad to hear an old rich white person denounce and insult Bush.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/31/08 at 12:11pm

Contrary to your fantasies of me, I do not state, upon appearing publicly for the first time, "Hello, everybody. This is Mrs...EUGENE..KELLY" to thunderous applause.

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/31/08 at 12:16pm

Well, not after he slapped you at the Oscars...

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/31/08 at 12:22pm

Poor Gene Kelly's name has been appropriated by politicians for a long time.

Several years ago, in the Texas Democratic primary, there was a guy in the running for Kay Bailey Hutchison's senate seat named Gene Kelly. He was about 80 years old, one of those guys who is always running for something and always considered a joke candidate, but he won the primary -- almost certainly because of his name -- over the much more qualified guy whom the party bosses were supporting. (sadly, that name wasn't enough to overcome that nasty, soulless witch in the general election)