Why the Biggest Myth About ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ Is ‘Almost Everything You Read on the Internet’ (Video)

thewrap.com:

The 1952 classic “Singin’ in the Rain” is hailed by many as one of the greatest films ever made. And yet it has also become the subject of countless myths regarding its production over the past 70 years.During a press day for the film’s 4K UHD release, TheWrap asked Patricia Ward Kelly, Gene Kelly’s wife and biographer, what was the biggest myth she could dispel about “Singin’ in the Rain” and she was candid: “Almost everything that you read on the internet.” Kelly, who is also curator of the Gene Kelly archives, is baffled by the amount of misinformation about the film that continues to perpetuate online. “There’s more mythology out there now than there is factual information about it, and the myths seem to just keep perpetuating.

I’ll bust a myth and then somebody will say, ‘Oh that’s not true,’ even though I’ve just quoted Gene and the day he said it to me and then I have the production note corresponding to that to corroborate it.

It’s really strange that people are so addicted to these myths that I don’t think are that interesting.”Not only are these myths rampant, but the truth behind the making of “Singin’ in the Rain” is actually far more interesting than the legend that’s been built up. “When they say that you put milk in the water so you can see the raindrops, well to me it’s really much more interesting to think of how you backlight raindrops so you can see them,” Kelly said of the iconic sequence in which Kelly sings and dances to “Singin’ in the Rain.”“I always use the example that you’re at a stadium watching a sports event and if it starts to rain, you’re looking down at the ground and you don’t see the rain, but then you tilt your head up and you see the rain against the stadium lights.