Page "Gene Kelly" Paragraph 40

He also sought to break from the class-conscious conventions of the 1930s and early 40s, when top hat and tails or tuxedos were the norm, by dancing in casual or everyday work clothes, so as to make his dancing more relevant to the cinema-going public.

As his first wife, actress and dancer Betsy Blair explained: " A sailor suit or his white socks and loafers, or the T-shirts on his muscular torso, gave everyone the feeling that he was a regular guy, and perhaps they too could express love and joy by dancing in the street or stomping through puddles ... he democratized the dance in movies.

" In particular, he wanted to create a completely different image from that associated with Fred Astaire, not least because he believed his physique didn't suit such refined elegance: " I used to envy his cool aristocratic style, so intimate and contained.

Fred wears top hat and tails to the manor born — I put them on and look like a truck driver.