Thu 1/2 @ 7PM
You’ve probably never heard of the 1953 MGM movie musical I Love Melvin, starring Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor. I hadn’t, and I was a big fan of musicals as a kid. The stars had just come off the hit Singin’ in the Rain, released in 1952, and 20-year-old Debbie was an especially hot commodity: she made five movies that year!
The premise of the film is as lightweight as you’d expect from something dashed off for low-calorie entertainment: Reynolds is an aspiring actress who wants to be a movie star. She accidentally meets O’Connor’s Melvin, a photographer’s assistant in the Central Park one day, becomes infatuated and lies that he’s a magazine bigwig who can get her on the cover of Look magazine. Yes, everything works out in the end.
I Love Melvin is the focus of this month’s Movies at Home, presented by The Musical Theater Project and hosted by its artistic director Bill Rudman, along with co-host Liz Baumgartner. First watch Bill’s video explaining what to look for in the movie; then watch the film on YouTube. Finally join Bill and Liz on Zoom to talk about the movie. It’s free and open to all. Here’s the link.