# Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American musical about a silent film star who falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
    Directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

## Don Lockwood

* [Lina believes the tabloid reports of a romance between her and Don] Now Lina, you've been reading those fan magazines again. Now look Lina, you shouldn't believe all that banana oil that Dora Bailey and the columnists dish out. Now try to get this straight. There is nothing between us. There has never been anything between us. Just air.
* Ladies and Gentlemen! Stop that girl! That girl running up the aisle - stop her! That's the girl whose voice you heard and loved tonight! She's the real star of the picture! Kathy Selden!

## Lina Lamont

* You mean it's gonna say up on the screen that I don't talk and sing for myself?...They can't DO that!...They can't make a fool out of Lina Lamont. They can't make a laughingstock out of Lina Lamont. What do they think I am, dumb or something? Why I make more money than—than—than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!
* People? I ain't people! I am a---'a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firm-a-mint!' It says so - right there.
* If we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothing. Bless you all.

## Cosmo Brown

* [singing] Moses supposes his toeses are roses But Moses supposes erroneously Moses he knowses his toeses aren't roses As Moses supposes his toeses to be.
* [on Lina Lamont] She can't act, she can't sing, and she can't dance - the Triple Threat.
* [after Dexter says Talking Pictures will never amount to a thing] That's what they said about the horseless carriage.

## Kathy Selden

* You might as well know. I'm the one who hit Miss Lamont with a cake. [looks at Don angrily] Believe me, it was meant for Mr. Lockwood.

## Dialogue

    Don: [about Lina] What's the matter with that girl? Can't she take a gentle hint?
    Cosmo: Well, haven't you heard? She's irresistible. She told me so herself.
    Don: Hey Cos, do something, call me a cab.
    Cosmo: OK, you're a cab.
    Don: Well, we movie stars get the glory. I guess we have to take the little heartaches that go with it. People think we lead lives of glamour and romance, but we're really lonely - terribly lonely.
    Kathy: I don't go to the movies much - if you've seen one, you've seen them all...Oh, no offense. Movies are entertaining enough for the masses, but the personalities on the screen just don't impress me. I mean, they don't talk. They don't act. They just make a lot of dumb show...
    Kathy: Acting means great parts, wonderful lines, speaking of glorious words, Shakespeare, Ibsen.
    Don: Words, tell me, what's your lofty mission in life that lets you sneer at my humble profession?
    Kathy: I'm an actress.
    Don: What?...
    Kathy: On the stage.
    Don: Oh, on the stage. Well, I'd like to see you act. What are you in right now? I could brush up on my English, or uh, bring along an interpreter, that is, if they'd let in a movie actor.
    Kathy: Well, I'm not in a play right now, but I will be. I'm going to New York.
    Don: Oh, you're going to New York and then some day we'll all hear of you, won't we? Kathy Selden as Juliet, as Lady Macbeth, as King Lear. You'll have to wear a beard for that one, of course.
    Kathy: Oh, you can laugh if you want to, but at least the stage is a dignified profession.
    Don: [scoffing] Dignified profession!
    Kathy: And what do you got to be so conceited about? You're nothing but a shadow on film, a shadow. You're not flesh and blood.
    Don: Oh, no? [He moves closer to kiss her amorously]
    Kathy: Stop! [She pushes him away]
    Don: What can I do to you? I'm only a shadow.
    Kathy: You keep away from me. Just because you're a big movie star, wild parties, swimming pools, you expect every girl to fall in a dead faint at your feet. Well, don't you touch me.
    Don: Fear not, sweet lady! I will not molest you. I am but a humble jester. And you. You are TOO far above me. Farewell, Ethel Barrymore! I must tear myself from your side. [Kathy then laughs hysterically as Don's suit rips while he gets out of her car]
    Lina: I arranged it...Well, they weren't gonna fire her, so I called 'em up and told 'em they'd better.
    Don: Why, you rattlesnake you. You got that poor kid fired.
    Lina: That's not all I'm gonna do if I ever get my hands on her.
    Don: I never heard of anything so low...What did you do it for?
    Lina: 'Cause you liked her, I could tell.
    Don: So that's it. Believe me. I don't like her half as much as I hate you. You reptile!
    Lina: Sticks and stones may break my bones...
    Don: I'd like to break every bone in your body.
    Lina: You and who else, you big lummox?
    Lina: [after filming a love scene] Oh, Donny! You couldn't kiss me like that and not mean it just a teensy, weensy bit!
    Don: Meet the greatest actor in the world. I'd rather kiss a tarantula.
    Lina: Oh, you don't mean that.
    Don: I don't -- Hey, Joe, bring me a tarantula.
    R.F. Simpson: The public is screaming for more...talking pictures...Every studio is jumping on the bandwagon, Dexter. All the theatres are putting in sound equipment. We don't want to be left out of it.
    Cosmo: Talking pictures, that means I'm out of a job. At last I can start suffering and write that symphony.
    R.F. Simpson: You're not out of a job, we're putting you in as head of the new music department.
    Cosmo: Well, thanks, R.F.! At last I can stop suffering and write that symphony.
    R.F. Simpson: Don, it'll be a sensation! "Lamont and Lockwood: they talk!"
    Lina Lamont: [with a voice to peel paint] Well of course we talk. Don't everybody?
    [Simpson, Don, and Cosmo look back at Lina, worried.]
    Roscoe Dexter: All right, here we go! QUIET!! ROLL 'EM!!
    [Dexter recording the sound. But Lina's voice can't pick up the mike]
    Lina Lamont: Oh, Pierre! You shouldn't have come!
    Recorder: She's gotta talk into the mike. I can't pick it up.
    Roscoe Dexter: CUT!!
    Don Lockwood: What's the matter, Dexter?
    Roscoe Dexter: It's Lina! Look, Lina, don't you remember? I told you. There's a microphone right there in the bush.
    Lina Lamont: Yeah.
    Roscoe Dexter: You have to talk into it.
    Lina Lamont: I was talking. Wasn't I, Mrs. Dinsmore?
    Dinsmore: Yes, my dear. But please remember, round tones. "Pierre, you shouldn't have come!"
    Lina Lamont: "Pierre, you shouldn't have come!"
    Dinsmore: Yes, yes, my dear. That's much better.
    Roscoe Dexter: Hold it a second! Now, Lina, look. Here's the mike, right here in the bush.
    Lina Lamont: Yeah!
    Roscoe Dexter: Now you talk towards it. The sound goes through the cable to the box. A man records it on a big record in wax. But, you have to talk into the mike first. In the bush! Now, try it again.
    Lina Lamont: Gee, this is dumb.
    Don Lockwood: She'll get it, Dexter. Lina, don't worry. We're all a little nervous on the first day. Everything's gonna be okay. Oh, Roscoe! You know the scene where I say, "Imperious princess of the night?" I don't like those lines there. Is it okay if I say what I always do? "I love you, I love you, I love you!"
    Roscoe Dexter: Sure. Anyway, it's comfortable. BUT, INTO THE BUSH!! Okay, again! QUIET!! ROLL 'EM!!
    [Dexter recording the sound. But Lina's voice keeps turning her head around that they're missing words]
    Lina Lamont: Oh, Pierre, you shouldn't have come! You're flirting with danger. You'll surely find you out.
    Roscoe Dexter: CUT!! Lina, you're missing every other word. You've got to talk into the mike!
    Lina Lamont: Well, I can't make love to a bush!
    Roscoe Dexter: Alright, alright! We'll have to think of something else.
    [During a test screening of "The Duelling Cavalier," with Don playing Pierre and Lina playing Yvonne]
    Yvonne: Oh, Pierre! You shouldn't have come. You are flirting with danger! They will surely find you out. Your head is much too valuable!
    Roscoe Dexter: [to R.F.] She never could remember where the microphone was, boss.
    Pierre: T'was Cupid himself who called me here. And I, smitten by his arrow...
    [Pierre begins exaggeratedly moving around the set, and addresses his dialogue to the camera rather than Yvonne, causing the audience laughter to drown out his dialogue]
    Yvonne: The night is full of our enemies. [lightly hits Pierre with her fan, generating several loud thuds]
    Boy in audience: Hey, Lina, what are you hitting him with? A blackjack?
    Pierre: I love you.
    Yvonne: Oh, Pierre...
    Pierre: [starts kissing Yvonne up her arm, as the audience laughter grows louder] I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!
    Man in audience: Did someone get paid for writing that dialogue?
    [During a test screening of "The Duelling Cavalier," with Don playing Pierre and Lina playing Yvonne]
    Pierre: [out of sync] What's this? Yvonne!? Captured by Rogue Noir of the purple terror!? Oh, Oh, my sword! I must fly to her side! Yvonne, Yvonne, my own.
    Yvonne: Pierre will save me!! PIERRE!!
    Noir: Pierre is miles away, you wench! [Noir kisses Yvonne against her will] No, no, no!
    (Then, the voices reversed. Yvonne's voice is Noirs and Noir's voice is Yvonne's)
    Yvonne: [Noir's voice] Yes, yes, yes!
    Noir: [Yvonne's voice] No, no, no!
    Yvonne: [Noir's voice. But the sound is getting lower] YES!! YES!! YES!!
    Noir: [Yvonne's voice. But it gets even way more lower and began to slow down] NO!! NO!! NO!!
    [After Don Lockwood's latest film is jeered by test audiences]
    Don: Everything you ever said about me is true, Kathy. I'm no actor. I never was. Just a lotta 'dumb show.' I know that now.
    Cosmo: Well, at least you're taking it lying down.
    Don: No. No kidding, Cosmo. Did you ever see anything as idiotic as me on that screen tonight?
    Cosmo: Yeah, how about Lina?
    Don: All right. I ran her a close second. Maybe it was a photo finish. Anyway, I'm through, fellas.
    Kathy: Don, you're not through!
    Cosmo: Why of course not. Why, with your looks and figure, you could drive an ice wagon or shine shoes!
    Kathy: Block hats!
    Cosmo: Sell pencils!
    Kathy: Dig ditches!
    Cosmo: Or worse still, go back to vaudeville.
    Cosmo: The price of fame. You've got the glory, you gotta take the little heartaches that go with it. Now look at me: I've got no fame, I've got no glory, I've got no big mansions, I've got no money! But I've got - what have I got?
    Don: I don't know, what have you got?
    Cosmo: I gotta get out of here.
    Rod: Lina, you're a beautiful woman. Audiences think you've got a voice to match. The studio's gotta keep their stars from looking ridiculous at any cost.
    Cosmo: Nobody's got that much money.

## Taglines

* What a Glorious Feeling!
* MGM's Musical Treasure!

## Cast

* Gene Kelly - Don Lockwood
* Donald O'Connor - Cosmo Brown
* Debbie Reynolds - Kathy Selden
* Jean Hagen - Lina Lamont
* Millard Mitchell - R.F. Simpson
* Cyd Charisse - Dancer
* Douglas Fowley - Roscoe Dexter
* Rita Moreno - Zelda Zanders

## External links

* Singin' in the Rain quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Singin' in the Rain at Rotten Tomatoes
* Singin' in the Rain at filmsite.org