A Mel Tormé story

Show biz:

One night, at a party at Jack Lemmon’s house, Gene Kelly walked over to me and inquired if I knew where he could get a print of Singin’ in the Rain. He wanted to run the film for one of his kids who had never seen it.

“Gene,” I said, “Films Incorporated has a rental print listed in their catalog. But I simply can’t believe you’re asking me about this. You were the king of the MGM lot. You mean to tell me you don’t have a print of every movie you ever made?”

He smiled sadly. “No, I don’t. Not one of them. You see, Mel, in those days, I would call for a projection room, invite thirty–forty people, and run anything I pleased. Seven nights a week. Any movie I wanted to see. From any studio. And you know,” he concluded, with a catch in his voice, “we thought it would never end.”

Mel Tormé, It Wasn’t All Velvet (New York: Viking, 1988).

My dad put me onto this book. He suspects that I am becoming a Tormé fan. Could be.