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I'm singin'in the rain

Just singin'in the rain

What a glorious feeling

I'm happy again

The year is 1929. The singer, Cliff Edwards,

also known as Ukulele lke.

The film, Hollywood Revue.

It is the first all-talking...

all-singing, all-dancing movie ever made.

Everyone from the place

Come on with your rain

I've got a smile on my face

I'll walk down the lane

In the years that followed,

Singin' in the Rain would become...

a theme song for MGM.

Singin'in the rain

In the 1930s, Jimmy Durante

gave us this rendition.

You wrote that this morning?

Yeah, it's something they'll remember.

Yeah, I remember it already.

I'm singin'in the rain

I'm singin'in the rain

What a grand, what a glorious feelin'

I'm happy again

In the 1940s, Judy Garland did it her way.

So dark up above

The sun's in my heart

And I'm gettin'ready for love

Let the stormy clouds chase

Everyone from the place

And come on with the rain

I've a smile on my face

I'll walk down the lane

With a happy refrain

And singin'

Singin'

I'm singin'in the rain

In the 1950s, Gene Kelly,

Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor...

put it all together in what many folks

would call, "the best musical ever made."

Singin'in the rain

Just singin'in the rain

What a glorious feelin'

We're happy again

If you are wondering

what happened in between...

sit back and relax.

You're about to find out.

It's been quite some time

since I first came to this place.

And MGM is certainly

not the same studio...

and Hollywood's not the same town.

But the films we made here

are still around.

Some studios can claim

they made the finest gangster films...

or the greatest horror movies...

but when it came to musicals...

MGM, they were the champions.

Musicals were fantasy trips

for the audiences of that day.

For instance, boy meets girl,

boy loses girl...

boy sings a song and gets girl.

The plots were that simple.

The musicals of the 1930s, '40s,

or even the '50s...

may not tell you

where our heads were at...

but they'd certainly tell you

where our hearts were at.

And all of this lovable nonsense

began back in 1929...

when the silent film had suddenly become

a thing of the past...

and sound was the king.

Don't bring a frown to old Broadway

You've got a clown on Broadway

Broadway Melody of 1929 won

an Oscar for Best Picture that year...

and MGM was off and running

with a new formula for success.

Charles King and a line of

slightly overweight chorus girls...

were the beginning

of a new motion picture art form...

that would captivate audiences

for years to come.

No skies are gray on that Great White Way

That's the Broadway Melody!

No skies are gray on that Great White Way

That's the Broadway Melody!

Within a few short years,

the musical had come of age.

The primitive stage show

had now become a cinematic spectacular.

Here Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger,

Nelson Eddy and a cast of thousands...

watched Eleanor Powell dance in Rosalie.

When I'm calling you

The most successful singing team

in the history of motion pictures...

Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald

in Rose-Marie.

Will you answer too?

Then I will know

our love

will come true

You'll belong to me

I'll belong

to you

In 1936, The Great Ziegfeld won

an Oscar for Best Picture that year...

and it's no wonder.

Virginia Bruce

and a gang of lovely ladies...

cluttered up

Hollywood's biggest staircase.

And somewhere in that lovely mob,

you'll find Dennis Morgan singing a song.

If anyone could afford to film

this extravagant number today...

perhaps it would look something like this.

Just like a heavenly rhapsody

She captures you right from the start

Just like a beautiful melody

She'll play on the strings of your heart

A pretty girl is like a melody

That haunts you night and day

Just like the strain of a haunting refrain

She'll start upon a marathon

And run around your brain

You can't escape

She's in your memory

By morning, night and noon

She will leave you

And then come back again

A pretty girl

is just like a pretty tune

By morning, night and noon

She will leave you

And then come back again

A pretty girl

is just like a pretty tune

The last of the big black-and-white

production numbers...

starring Eleanor Powell

and Fred Astaire...

Cole Porter's music, the sets

and the camera work...

the direction by Norman Taurog,

the incredible tap dancing by these two...

it all seemed to come together

in Broadway Melody of 1940.

You know, you can wait around and hope,

but I'll tell you...

you'll never see the likes of this again.

Don't be afraid, you'll make your grade

Why, you can sing as good as Bing

And here, the old pro, James Durante,

gives a newcomer...

a few pointers in It Happened in Brooklyn.

Sing it, Danny, make me proud.

Okay, Nick, stand back.

It doesn't have to be witty or smart

Smile.

Long as it comes from the heart

Keep going.

It doesn't have to be classic or rock

Great.

Long as it comes from the heart

I'll give 'em that

I'll give 'em this

I'll strut away

Boy! You can't miss!

Just put a star on my chart

You won't need this anymore.

Cause the song's gonna come

from the heart

Don't work cheap.

On opening nights, your name in lights

Why we won't stop, 'til you reach the top

We'll order our meal la carte

That's expensive!

If the song comes from the heart

We'll be tremendous!

If the song comes from the heart

They'll holler "Bravo."

If the song

comes from the heart

Heart

That's just a sample of what's been going

on around here for the past 40 years.

The work was hard, but it was great fun.

Because the people you worked with

really knew what they were doing.

And it was said that through those doors...

passed the most famous stars

in Hollywood.

And I don't think many in this town

will argue about it.

Here's one of the most lovely

and talented of those stars...

Miss Elizabeth Taylor.

I was 10 years old

when I first came to MGM.

And I spent most of the next 18 years

of my life...

behind the walls of that studio.

As a young girl growing up

in that strange place...

it's hard to recall

what was real and what wasn't.

Perhaps, my most vivid memories

were of MGM musicals.

Just to stand there on the set and watch...

the singing and the dancing.

It was like fantasy come true.

Total innocence. Loveliness.

I love a melody

of spring

Lilac in bloom

Birds on the wing

I made my musical debut

when I was 15 years old...

in a film called Cynthia.

I was certainly no threat

to Jane Powell or Judy Garland...

as you will see.

For life is an eager

joyous thing

Whenever I hear

the music

of spring

Maybe that experience helped give me...

the enormous regard

that I have for musical talent.

And believe me, at MGM, I saw the best.

Every honeybee sighs with jealousy

For instance, if Lena Horne

was in a movie...

then it almost had to be from MGM.

Honeysuckle rose

When we're passin'by

Flowers droop and sigh

And I know the reason why

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