@TCManiacs Blogs: Gene Kelly dances with Jerry Mouse

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Gene Kelly dances with Jerry Mouse | Paula Abdul's Inspiration

Anchors Aweigh is a 1945 musical comedy film, directed by George Sidney in which two sailors go on a four-day shore leave in Hollywood, accompanied by music and song, meet an aspiring young singer and try to help her get an audition at MGM. It stars Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, José Iturbi and Dean Stockwell. It won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. Anchors Aweigh was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gene Kelly), Best Cinematography, Color (Robert Planck, Charles P. Boyle), Best Music, Song (for Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for "I Fall in Love Too Easily") and Best Picture.

The movie is famous for a musical number where Gene Kelly dances with Jerry Mouse (voiced by Sara Berner). Kelly is live action while Jerry is animated. Tom Cat appears briefly in the sequence as a butler. Originally, the producers wanted to use Mickey Mouse for this segment. Walt Disney agreed, but Roy Disney rejected the deal. According to Bob Thomas' book on Roy Disney, the studio was in debt after World War II and they were focusing on trying to get their own films out on time. According to Roy, they had no business making cartoons for other people.

Anchors Aweigh - The Worry Song
Uploaded by thadk

From "Anchors Aweigh" (1945). Animated by Ken Muse, Ray Patterson, and Ed Barge.

Paula Abdul was inspired by the scene of Kelly dancing with Jerry to create the video for her song "Opposites Attract", where she dances with an animated cat.

In the Family Guy episode "Road to Rupert", the character Stewie Griffin dances with Kelly in an attempt to rent a helicopter. To do so, the animators took the original footage, removed Jerry Mouse, and replaced him with Stewie. The dialogue was performed by Stewie's normal voice actor and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. However, the editing job was not perfect, as Jerry's reflection is clearly seen below Stewie.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009