The Gene Krupa Story The audience rewards Krupa with a standing ovation. The film ends as Ethel tries to sneak off, sure Gene will return to his old ways. He catches up with her, and asks where she is going, "without me"? The closing credits come down on a shot of them walking away together, into the night. In real life, the two were first married from 1934 to 1942; they remarried in 1946 and were together until Ethel's death in 1955. Krupa himself played the drums on the soundtrack for the film, and for the sequences in which Mineo, as Gene, plays the
The Gene Krupa Story success; he throws wild parties in his ostentatious home, embarks on a downward spiral of alcohol abuse and cheating on Ethel, and alienates Eddie. Ethel leaves him. A female singer urges marijuana cigarettes on him, as she slurs her words and behaves clearly under-the-influence. Gene achieves greatness leading his own ensemble, but he develops a crippling psychological addiction to marijuana. A few times, while performing, he drops his sticks and his timing is off, which he later does blame on the illegal substance. At the peak of his career, Krupa is busted on dope charges after marijuana cigarettes in envelopes