"ukulele ike" sang and danced singing in the rain in the early mgm musical the hollywood revue of 1929.
"ukulele ike" sang and danced singing in the rain in the early mgm musical the hollywood revue of 1929.
who sang and danced singing in the rain in the early mgm musical the hollywood revue of 1929?
"ukulele ike"
highlights of the film are a comedy routine starring stan laurel and oliver hardy as inept magicians, and a variety of musical performances. one of these is the debut of "singin' in the rain", performed initially by cliff edwards as "ukulele ike,'" and later performed at the end of the film by the entire cast. this latter all-star color sequence was a last-minute addition to the film, shot late at night on june 10, 1929, just ten days before the premiere at grauman's chinese theatre. the only major m-g-m stars missing from the revue are greta garbo, ramon novarro, and lon chaney, although chaney is referred to by name in one of the songs performed and garbo is spoken of during one of the introductory dialogues. only one sequence was cut from the film: three songs by the brox sisters, which was recycled into a short subject, "gems of mgm". another sequence, a parody of the albertina rasch ballet's "pearl dance" by marie dressler, was planned but not shot (as the film's production records reveal). instead, the number was replaced by one featuring buster keaton, though dressler did pose for stills wearing a lady godiva wig.
the hollywood revue of 1929
"singin' in the rain" was first performed by doris eaton travis in the 1929 revue "the hollywood music box revue". the song became a hit and was recorded by a number of artists, notably cliff edwards, who also performed the number with the brox sisters in the early mgm musical "the hollywood revue of 1929". b.a. rolfe and his lucky strike orchestra recorded the song possibly as early as 1928 but perhaps 1929. the song was recorded by annette hanshaw (reissued on the 1999 cd "annette hanshaw, volume 6, 1929"). it is performed on film by a nightclub band as dance music and sung in a chinese dialect in "the ship from shanghai" (1930), by jimmy durante in "speak easily" (1932), by judy garland in "little nellie kelly" (1940), and as background music at the beginning of mgm's "the divorcee" (1930) starring norma shearer.
singin' in the rain (song)