Ha ha, WEL! Gotcha!
You may have seen Singing in the Rain several times, but have you heard it several times? That wasn't the sound of Gene Kelly tap-dancing in the rain, because Gwen and Carol dubbed his taps for the soundtrack--in a bucket of water, no less.
I learned that from a TV show Gwen did in the 70's with the American Dance Machine.
At the risk of sounding argumentative, maybe she did and maybe she didn't. She may have dubbed/overdubbed taps, but it does seem a bit unlikely that Gene Kelly would have left the dubbing of his taps to anyone.
Verdon may have been remembering incorrectly. It would not be the first time a beloved celebrity misremembered the extent of his or her involvement in a project. Mercedes McCambridge, for one, is said to have overstated her role in "The Exorcist."
I found this bit of trivia on the internet:
Some Rain trivia:
The title song has been included in six other movies. Most notably it was first used in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, given jazzy swing by Judy Garland in Little Nellie Kelly (1940), and served as counterpoint to violence in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971).
The Broadway Rhythm ballet lasts 14 minutes and was as expensive (in rehearsal/shooting time and overall cost) as the climactic ballet in American in Paris. Running MGM $600,000, it’s also almost exactly the amount SITR went over budget.
The film was the tenth highest-grossing picture of 1952, with film rentals of $3,300,000.
Since no one can really tap in loafers or in water, for the famous puddle dance Kelly had to dub his own taps after the fact in the sound studio.
Reportedly Debbie Reynolds’ midwestern accent and lack of professional experience were problematic. Playing the role of an understudy who dubs the voice of a silent star, ironically Reynolds was sometimes dubbed herself by Betty Noyes for singing and Jean Hagen for the lines Debbie was supposedly dubbing for Hagen’s character, Lina Lamont. Got that?
The film received only two Oscar nominations (Best Supporting Actress for Hagen and Musical Scoring) and won neither.It was at a site for "summertheaterfestival". I googled "singin in the rain, taps, dubbing" and it was there.
Of course, I'm devilishly advocating against the above by suggesting they ALL may have done some dubbing for it. They may have each dubbed taps and then had the decisions made during sound editing as to which were the best to use.
