Hey, PJ --- I just posted a little about that (above). We were probably writing at the same time.
My one "real" connection from back then was a key member of the publicity department at MGM. He was there during Singin' in the Rain and also the big publicity switch from Brigadoon to Seven Brides, which he described as a nightmare.
He said there was a lot of backlash internally against Kelly. He was difficult to work with, from co-stars to cameramen to PR folks, he made their lives miserable.
There was one other factor in 1952 ... Singin' in the Rain was performing well at the box office and didn't need the extra "awards love" help. But another MGM movie did need help --- "Ivanhoe," which was an expensive A-list movie, performing poorly at the box office.
The budgets had been slashed when Dore Schary took over in 1951 and tried to bring the studio back "in the black" again.
So they actually pulled some of the publicity money from Singin' in the Rain and put it into Ivanhoe to push it for Oscar consideration, which worked. It did get nominated for Best Picture, despite being a so-so film.
And with Brigadoon, the studio spent a fortune on it with all those elaborate sets, but when it began performing poorly at the box office, the PR department abandoned ship and focused on a low-budget musical that got great reviews and became a huge hit --- Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 1/9/15 at 03:06 PM